Question
Can I stop breastfeeding at 3 months?
2 May 2017. Related: All topics, Children.
Can I stop breastfeeding at 3 months instead of 6 cause my family doesn’t know and I have to go back to work.
Answer
Thanks for getting in touch.
How long you breastfeed for is up to you. If you want to stop at 3 months then you can. If you’d like to continue to give your baby your milk, you could express it and give it to them in a bottle. Is this something that you’ve thought about?
If you do stop giving them your milk, its better that you don’t mix feed.
Hi Dee, congratulations on having a baby. Yes it is safe to switch. It is recommended that when you switch you stay exclusively formula feeding until baby is 6 months old.
Switching between the two types of feeding before this can increase the risk of transmission. Though this risk is still low as both you and baby are on treatment.
As you are only switching once from breast milk to formula, this single switch will not increase this risk. This is becasue you are switching to formula which means baby will no longer be exposed to HIV.
Hello, my baby is 3 weeks and on nevirapin I breast feed her but I want to switch to formula since my milk supply is not enough and she keeps on crying for more milk. Am on my medication and take everyday is it safe to switch now
Hi Boitumelo, congratulations on having a baby. Giving baby water and other medicines is not going to increase the risk of transmission to baby. However baby should not need anything more than breastmilk to make sure baby is doing well.
How many times is baby pooing? and does baby seem distressed about constipation? Being constipated is a normal thing for babies and they will grow out of it.
Before needing to give water and other medicines, you can try moving baby to help with constipation. This involves moving the legs and rubbing the tummy. This is explained here: https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/feeding-your-baby/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-challenges/constipation/
Hey i have been breastfeeding my baby for 2 months….yesterday i found out that my mother have been giving my son water for constipation and also other medicine like haarlmensis…but it stopped now is there a chance that my baby might be infected…i have never skip my meds…um so stressed and scared
Hi Princess, I am sorry to hear about this. Yes it is safe to stop breastfeeding. At 5 months baby would still need formula for a month before switching to solids at 6 months, but switching how baby is fed will not risk HIV transmission.
Ma my name is princess,am divorcing my husband bcs I have been In a toxic marriage for long, and am starting a new work,pls my baby is just 5months,if he stop breastfeeding now will it hurt him?,will he be ok ma
Hi Cindy, yes you can. After 12 weeks (3 months) there is no longer benefit to giving baby nevirapine. Even if you were still breastfeeding it would not be recommended to continue.
Can i stop giving my baby Nevirapin at 3 month because i have stopped breastfeeding her
Hi Nono, congratulations on having a baby. Yes it will be safe to switch baby from breastmilk to formula milk. As baby will only be formula feeding there will be no risk of transmission.
Hi i have a 2 months old baby been breastfeeding her since birth…am on treatment and my viraload is undetectable and baby on nevirapin as well she tested negative…she will be 3 months on June and i will stop breastfeeding her because i have to go back to work on July i wont be able to express because i dont produce enough breastmilk.Will these be safe for her