Feel completely trapped by breastfeeding

I could have written this myself at this very minute. I have a tiny little newborn and whilst I’m so proud of myself for breastfeeding, how am I meant to do anything whilst doing it? I’m afraid maternity leave will be really lonely because I can’t get out the house as I’m spending hours either my boobs out feeding. I think I’m giving it until 6 weeks and then evaluating whether it’s worth it. I know this offers no advice but I completely feel for you!! Xx

It definitely gets easier! The first few weeks are the hardest as you try and establish feeding and your body gets used to it. You’ll get more confident with feeding so that you are able to leave the house. I had a rough start with my first baby feeding but ended up feeding for 19 months and was able to go out and about all the time eventually.

On the other hand too, if it is affecting your mental health and putting too much pressure on yourself, don’t feel like you have to continue if you need to combi feed/pump/formula feed. As long as your baby is fed, it is more important that they have a happy mum 🤍

I am also facing the same. I was so exhausted at night time. My baby is 4 weeks and he didn’t sleep at night. He did the same on Monday and yesterday and I was so sleep deprived. My baby could be awake from 11pm up until 5am. The only good thing is he sleeps during the day and I try to sleep too but I barely get anything done even to the point of forgetting to eat cause I feel very sleepy during the day. The only motivation I am giving myself is that it only gets better. We all mothers are really strong honestly

My first was like this. It does feel very challenging. A shower and toast would have been a huge achievement for me 😅 baby wearing helped a lot though!

It is such a struggle and I feel like this some days! I breast feed for as long as I can and when it gets too much I give him a bottle of formula and I don’t feel bad for it because it keeps me sane.

We also do a bottle of formula before putting him down for the night and it gets us a good few hours of sleep before he wakes ups to feed again.

Remember FED is best and if breast feeding isn’t right for you two that is absolutely fine! I’ve worked with children for over 10 years and not once could I tell who was breastfed and who wasn’t

I switched to pumping plus the occasional formula feeds because of latch issues, but honestly even without that I think I would have made the same choice eventually. Pumping saved my sanity. I can be more flexible, I can have 30 minute showers, I'm not tied to baby's feeding needs.

It has its own drawbacks (mainly getting all the bits and sanitising them every day) but it was life changing for me.

You've got to find what works for you, be that pumping, formula or combo. There's no 1 right way.