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So, I can't comment much on the benefits, but we started to supplement once I wasn't producing as much after 3 months. We started with the nighttime bottle being formula...once we did a week of that, we switched to 2/5 formula bottles with the other 3 being pumped breast milk. Once my freezer supply ran out, we switched 100% to formula.

I did this at around 6 months too. I just coulnd't pump enough milk when I returned to work. I cut down to 2 feedings (morning and night) for a couple weeks, but even then I had to supplement with formula. So I eventually just cut it all out. She had no problems transitioning - it was actually surprisingly easy.

Subscribing. My goal is 6 mos then thinking of weaning.

We started supplementing slowly with doing his nighttime bottle of half formula, half breastmilk. Then a week later, another bottle became half/half. Then a couple weeks after that the nighttime bottle became just formula. We did this over the course of 2.5 months so by 6.5 months he was drinking just formula.

When we started supplementing, I would nurse him 2-3 times in the mornings since that's when I had the most milk and he would have only bottles in the afternoons (I would pump 3 times in the afternoon/evening). As he started getting more formula, I would drop a pumping session every couple weeks to let my body adjust slowly.

This worked out really well for us and it helped doing it slowly over a couple months. I remember asking his doctor at his 6 month appt if it was still worth it to keep breastfeeding even part-time and she said yes, definitely, as he was still getting anti-bodies.

@CarrieLouWho: He was really stereotypical...once he started getting the supplemented formula at night, he started sleeping through the night. I don't know if it was necessarily related, but he really took to it well.

The only thing that he showed was looser stool. During the transition, his stool was really watery. We questioned the pediatrician on it and they told us to give it 2 weeks. It took him that long for it to normalize. So don't be alarmed if the stool looks different at first!