I am giving up............

on breast feeding!! I have been doing it now for 10 days and Ive had enough!! I really enjoyed it when I first started but my little man is so demanding and can sit for hours tugging away!! I am so sore and its really restricting, I left the house for the first time today since Ive had him but was constantly aware of the time!
We had a check up with the MW this mornaing and I told her of my concerns and she basicly said if Im not enjoying it then I should go onto formula.
Im pleased Ive made the decision to change but also feel really guilty doing it as it has only been 10 days!!
I was just wondering what you girls thought on the matter and how long you all stuck to it??

Thanx for advice
Adele + Archie

Bf is not easy!

Withj my little boy, I had a horrendous start! My right nipple was so badly cracked (from the top to the bottom) that I bled at every feed and was in tears when it came near to feed time. That said, I stuck at it, mainly because my in laws were so anti BF and I'm stubborn! And I only stopped feeding Kieran when I was about 6 weeks pregnant with Chloe (Kieran was 9.5 months).

With Chloe, I had the experience to get myself sorted before I got into such a bad way again. But I did notice a pattern with them both. After about a week or so, once your milk comes in, we had a really rough week where I wanted to give up, but then out of the blue, It all came right and I found that they had the hang of it and my (.)(.) started to feel much better. She is just over 8 weeks now and I'm really enjoying it. (Took about 17-18 weeks for my nipple to heal with kieran though)

You have made the right choice for you and your baby, and for that - don't feel guilty! Like everyone has said, he's had the really important stuff! Give yourself a pat on the back for giving it a go hun! You did well!

Love

Ellen, Kieran and Chloe
x

Hello

I breastfed for 5 weeks when I was determined I would do so for 6 months... And I would have given up much earlier hadn ... been for my husband's support (bless him, he was getting up in the middle of the night with me just to give me a bit of moral support

!) . It would take about an hour to feed my son/change his nappy/ burp him, eight to ten times a day... that's a full time job !!!! I just couldn't take it anymore.
Don't beat yourself up, only you know what's best for you and baby. I felt completely trapped at home when I was breastfeeding, and like you, everytime I was going out, I would constantly check the time because I didn't feel comfortable breastfeeding in public.
Switching to formula was a relief and my little boy was also happy with it because he suffered terribly from reflux and colic when I was breasfeeding, and once I switched him to a staydown formula (prethicken formula that is easier to digest, causing less reflux and colics), he was much happier.

This time round, I'm gonna give breasfeeding a go again, if it works, great; but if it doesn't I will definitely not let people judge me for giving up

.
good luck hun,
xxx
Flo, Etienne 17 months, and 35+6 pink bump.

Hiya hun

we had a rough start as of course siri was so ill and i didn't have any milk to start with as i had stuff left in my womb, so a week after she was born (meanwhile she was in intensive care and when able to cope with food again she was on banked breast milk) i had an operation to clear everything out.
so for the first week we had a very difficult 3 days trying to feed her (with no milk), then after that i was told to use the pump every 3 hours. so the majority of the time we were in the hospital she was too weak to feed from me, she'd suckle for a few moments and then fall asleep, so we'd cosy for a bit and anders or i'd feed her through the tube. then i'd go and pump to try and get my cycle to match hers.
then after 2 weeks she was finally strong enough to get everything she needed from me.
i got a bit sore, but just used the wonderful nipple cream that i can't remember the name for and it was sorted out soon enough.
erm... for the first, hmm, cant remember it's all abit of a blur, at least a month i was feeding her and pumping to make sure i had enough and so anders could feed her a bit too. but my supply was very behind and took alot of work to get it up to her level and because she was so sick we had to be sure she got enough, so was half boob feeding and half bottle (feed on one boob, pump on the other, then bottle the pumped milk + medicine). but once we were happy with her health she just went on to boob. hmm, we did actually keep with the pumping until 3 months, thats when we stopped the colic medicine and didn't need the bottle option.

there have been some really difficult times, when siri has colic and reflux issues - she'd scream and faff and arch her back and i'd end up in tears quite a few times because i was trying my best and i thought babies were supposed to calm down on the boob not get all upset and be in pain. anyway, there were some tough days. but... everything calmed down, we found the right colic medicine and tricks like how to hold her more upright and making sure we didn't lie her down flat at all, anyway, different tricks to help her. we've had quite a few 'kedager' as they are called here - increasing production days - when she has fed constantly, every half hour at the largest gaps. but because of those days my milk supply has kept up with her and she's piling on the weight

clever baby

i've always fed on demand and she eats when she wants - for example she loves a drink after working out on the floor, sometimes it can be quite a few hours and sometimes it is every couple of hours.
it's easier than the bottles thing, no sterilising etc, it's great to be able to comfort her with boob and she doesn't eat for the sake of it. she'll stop when she is full and sometimes she just wants to cosy. but thats all good as far as im concerned

im not trying to preach, just wanted to say that though there are some tough times, sometimes it does all work out well

we had a lot of support at the hospital, they wouldn't let us leave until they were sure siri was strong enough to get all her milk from me and that we were comfortable with it all.

today she reached out for my food! so looks like we might be starting her on solids at 6 months after all

i find it's easier leaving the house as i can just pop my boob out (with muslin tucked into my bra strap to cover everything) and feed her wherever we are, no bottle warming or anything. when we go out for a walk i just have her in the sling and cloth tucked in (she uses muslins as her cosy cloths), don't need to take anything with us. i intend to keep feeding her on demand for as long as possible. we'll prob be starting solids in a few weeks, but she'll still be getting most from me. we need to be down to one feed in the morning and one at night by the time i go back to work in december. but those feeds i'll let her choose when to drop. if i wasn't going back to work (lottery win, anyone? lol) i'd keep going for longer i think.

i can't deny i am looking forward to a longer night's sleep, but there is no saying that would be different if she was on forumla. night feeds are certainly easier with boob, no bottle warming. i reach out, pick her out of the hammock, 20 mins later (if she feeds from both boobs, 10 if one) she's back in the hammock and i haven't even got out of bed.

ok, i'll shut up now lol
of course you need to do what is right for you, just wanted to let you know that it can work out as you want it to

huge hugs to you and archie
elizabeth & siri
xxxx

Dont feel bad...

some people enjoy breastfeeding.. some people dont.. I hated every minute of it.. i was so sore that i would panic and be in tears for each feed...
George wasnt latching on properly and i was told this on day 10! so on day 11 i stopped.. i then tried to express but found that hard work too so after 15 days i switched to formula only (before it was 50/50)

I felt really bad about it at first as i felt that i wasnt doing what a mum should do etc.. but after a few days it was clear that George was thriving and happy so i was happy...

Nikki + George 20wks

Hey adele

I found that it was really awful at first and then improved slightly but we still had some horrendous and stressful feeds where Sam would fuss and faff and never seemed full. For some reason I also couldn't express which stressed me to. We somehow managed 4 months but for the last month or so I was combining and even before that Sam's last feed of the day would be a bottle of formula so i knew that he'd had a good feed before bed. It wasn't the lovely bonding experience I was expecting!

Don't feel guilty, Archie has had the colostrum and a good start and my midwife who was anti-breastfeeding (strange but refreshing!) said that formula is so much more advanced now and that altho not as good as breast milk it's not far off. She said it's a choice and no-one should feel bullied into bf.

It's a bit of a pain sterilising but once you've got your system sorted it's so much easier and less stressful. I know exactly what Sam is getting, he's satisfied and it's easier to do in public.

I felt really guilty but now I wonder why, Sam is thriving!

The guilt won't last for long x x x