Ending breastfeeding journey
What made you end your or finish your BF journey? I did both formula and breast milk (boob and bottle) so also pumped - which I do think doing all 3 made it harder, especially as I had a harder birth recovery and a baby that I couldn’t put down (which made pumping harder).
I also did no research at all with BF and had no idea how hard it would be so I was completely unprepared for it.
I was doing okay abut around 6 weeks LO decided to go on a breast strike and it broke my heart. I then moved to bottles only and it felt a lot easier knowing how much he was having so I was quite happy! Before it was just a guessing game of do I give boob, bottle, formula, a mix? at each feed…
He has taken the boob again since but I need to decide whether to fully commit or not as I think the mix of formula and BF seems to be giving him a bit of gas.
I was only ever planning on BF for 6 months (now 2months PP) ish but I genuinely feel guilt/bad for not continuing when my body can produce milk, esp as my partner and family really praise me for BFing.
So curious how BF ended for you guys or what your journeys were and if there was any regret of not continuing.
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21months and going strong. It’s hard work and was super tough in those early months. Do what feels right and works for you!
Completely empathise as I felt the same. I managed for 3 months but it is a whole other level when you are trying to do breast, pump/bottle and formula! I also found easier when little one refused breast, but I was an undersupplier due to some health issues and recovery issues of my own and was advised to formula feed for at least 50% of the time as trying to exclusively breast feed was putting too much strain on my body. In the end at 3 months I got mastitis and by the time that had recovered I had almost completely lost my milk supply and I'd honestly had enough, I felt like constantly pumping was coming between me and my baby. Has now been exclusively formula fed for a month and it's honestly been the happiest for both me and baby, I was sad and felt like I'd failed at first but honestly I look back and wish I'd stopped BF sooner as the impact it was having on my body & mental health was awful. Ultimately a fed baby is best and anything you give them BF wise gives them a great start so don't feel guilty.
Just over 2 because I was pregnant again and my milk dried up and it got super super painful. I’d have kept going otherwise.
It was tough to begin with but so so worth it. We dodged all the nursery bugs his friends had x
I stopped at 1.5 years because my daughter lost interest.
BUT… next baby I plan to only do 3 months. I had horrible sciatic pains (even with physical therapy) until 3 YEARS pp and PPA/Paranoia due to the prolonged pregnancy and PP hormones that come with breastfeeding. My body just doesnt handle those hormones well 🤷🏻♀️ but atleast I’m aware now ♥️
I was so happy to have my body and mind back after 3years and 9 months of suffering. I don’t think I can go that long again even as much as I love the benefits of breastfeeding.
I managed for about 3 weeks! My baby had issues latching, so we worked with shields, and I pumped and we were topping up with formula. It was exhausting, my whole life became centred around feeding. I then got really physically unwell with a UTI, and my body made the decision to stop for me - my milk dried up overnight and I barely had to pump or had any pain when stopping. Felt bad for maybe 1 day but this was overtaken by fact my partner could help with feeds and no longer having to wash up pump parts!! Fair play to all breast feeding and formula feeding mums, it all comes with their own different challenges x
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