stopping bf?

[PinkPunch]

How do you know your ready to stop? The thought of it is making me feel really sad even though part of me thinks it's maybe the best thing, I don't know. Because of the mastitis I've been giving him both boob and bottle but have noticed my supply has been alot less today (possibly affected by antibiotics too). The easy thing to do would be to continue giving both until the infection has gone and just phase out the breast. The hard way is letting him have more boob with very painful feeds and take a few days to nurse in bed to build it all up again. I've been a bit lazy expressing the last day or so and I can see the difference.

It's going to take alot of work (and pain) to get it back but I dont want to go through all that if I'm just as happy bottle feeding. I was going to stop at 4 months and he's 2 1/2 so I was almost there anyway.

In a way I feel determined to not let the infection make me stop but to be honest I was ok giving bottles, I didn't feel that guilty. Now I'm just rambling.. Very confused as to how I feel about it all now and I was so pleased at exclusively bf in the first place and now this.

How do/did you feel about stopping bf? Maybe we all feel sad stopping at any stage?

 

[frankie707]

I've not really thought about it yet but you should defo carry on until mastitis is cleared otherwise you could end up with an infection in boob and that would be a rubbish end to bf for you.

 

[evie_smith]

The last few days I have been giving chloé 2 or 3 3oz top ups just to give her a little something extra as I've noticed with all the recent heat/cold/heat/rain she tends to want a little more in the heat and I thought well this is food and liquid so been doing that she still has anything from 4 to 7or 8 actually since topping her up it's averaging at about 6 feeds in the morning and day and 2 at night lol! But when I started topping her up I got really upset she might reject the boob just at the thought and she is 6 months on the 18th

I gave up bf my son at 6 months and I was happy with my choice at the time coz he kept biting my nipples and it hurt and they were bleeding but I was upset - even tho I had sorta figured I would stop about 6months I felt like it wasn't a natural choice coz I was stopping because of pains not of choice - on the other hand on bottles he was allot more content and happy and it worked out for the best in the end

With chloé I hope to continue bf till 1yr x

What ever you choose just make sure you choose right coz it's hard to change your mind once you've stopped bf'ing coz of milk supply or milk drying up xx

 

[PinkPunch]

Frankie, either way I'll def keep going until the mastitis has completely gone

 

[PinkPunch]

Evie 6 months with your son was great, I wouldn't mind stopping if I managed that. Hope you get to feed Chloe for a year that would be fantastic!!

 

[evie_smith]

Thanks I hope I can feed her for a year that would be great

 

[ZMD]

I gave up at about 4 months as found out LO is Lactose intolerant and i struggled cutting out dairy.
i felt guilty and was upset to start with then saw how much LO was thriving on formula, you have to do what makes both you and LO happy after how much pain you've been through i think you've done great to carry on this long! x

 

[PinkPunch]

Thanks ZMD I've decided to phase it out til 3 months although I have so little milk left that I dont have much choice. Still going to express for a few weeks to help infection etc.

 

[PinkPunch]

His first day without any breast milk and he's been sleeping for 9 hours so far and is still sleeping! Fed him at 8:30pm and it's now 5:30am

Edit: he slept til 8am! So that's 11 1/2 hours. Woohoo!

 

[bethanyann]

I stopped when Eva was four months and felt AWFUL about it, even though I'd always said that I would gradually switch over to formula at 4months ish and have her on formula and food at 6 months. I really struggled with bf'ing, Eva would only latch on in the rugby ball position, which ment when she was 2 months, and got some strength in her legs, she would launch herself off the sofa/bed as i was feeding her, making it a near impossible task, so from 2-4 months i soley expressed, which was such hard work, because I was expressing for 15-30mins 6x a day, and then feeding her that straight afterwards, it was exhausting, every time Eva was asleep/happy to be left, rather than enjoying her/having a rest/getting jobs done, I was just expressing. Then when she was 4 months old, my milk just suddenly stopped. Literally, one day I got 32oz, the next day I got 6oz. I have no idea why. With Eva having just had her injections, and teething, I just didn't have the time to pump any extra on top of the 6 times I was doing, the next day I only got 2oz, so I didn't really get a choice, and cried myself to sleep for about a week (lol) but now I'm so happy with formula feeding her, as I get to spend quality time with her, and I feel like I have a tiny bit of my life back!! But I did have a bit of a crying fit when I had her weighed and she had gone up a centille since going on formula she had always stuck PERFECTLY to her line the entire time I was bf'ing. I felt like such a bad mum. But, nothing I can do about it, and better she has gained than lost I guess! Sorry for rambling!!