Why did you quit breastfeeding?

[Squiglet]

I have to say I quit with Tia for medical reasons... I would have continued until she was a year old if I could...it still upsets me though that I couldn't. I had a retained placenta, Manual removal, I haemorrhaged, we both nearly died, Tia had the cord round her neck and was admitted to SCBU for swallowing meconium, I had a blood transfusion, no support, help or bfing clinics, Boyfriend was an a*se, never helped, I had sore, cracked bleeding nipples, Tia put Seed to shame with her sleeping so I was exhaused... (there are many reasons why I was scared off having another for 8 years ) but I persevered and even though Tia had top ups occasionally, she was for all intense and purposes bf'd. When she started solids, she was 100% bf'd cos I dropped the formula feed. Why I kept going I'll never know ... the cards were stacked against me, I just felt that it was right if anyone one understands that It was like instinct. And really I enjoyed that sense of closeness that no one else could share with my baby but me.

However when she got to 8 months she contracted meningitis B and then a rota virus while in the hospital, she was really ill for a couple of weeks and it can lead to lactose intolerance in the lining of the intestines, which it did with Tia and sadly all lactose had to be eliminated from her diet....including mummy lactose. I tried going dairy free for a while to see if it would help, but it didn't and after a couple of days of Tia vomiting and having pain and diarrhoea after ever feed, I coincided defeat and the doctor prescribed SMA LF for her. Tia remained lactose intolerant until she was about 5 when she slowly grew out of it.

I still feel terribly guilty that I couldn't keep bfing her and I missed it terribly... And it was so wonderful to start bfing again, I may just keep having babies to bf'd them...

There now I've rambled on...

 

[beanie]

I put my baby weaned. Seren kept dropping feeds and then at the age of 20months decided she didn't want it anymore.

I notice you are asking about supprt Midna, I had none with Seren. I had an horrendous time in the hospital with a baby that screamed no stop for the boob. I thought I wasn'tproducing any (now realise this is very normal behavour for a newbie) and after failing to express colostrum (again very normal but no-one told me) I asked for formula. They made me feel like a failure. Even after I was discharged after three days (after begging to go home) I still got very mixed messages and told to carryon with the top ups, no-one advised me on how to feed exclusively. My nipple fell apart and I had a blood blister hanging from it, no advice. Mastitis, thrush - no advice. It was a few people on this forum that helped keep me going. It is getting better in my area, they have started a babycafe for breastfeeding mums which is lovely and we al go to chat. I wish they had had this when Seren was a baby.

 

[beanie]

I put my baby weaned. Seren kept dropping feeds and then at the age of 20months decided she didn't want it anymore.

I notice you are asking about supprt Midna, I had none with Seren. I had an horrendous time in the hospital with a baby that screamed no stop for the boob. I thought I wasn'tproducing any (now realise this is very normal behavour for a newbie) and after failing to express colostrum (again very normal but no-one told me) I asked for formula. They made me feel like a failure. Even after I was discharged after three days (after begging to go home) I still got very mixed messages and told to carryon with the top ups, no-one advised me on how to feed exclusively. My nipple fell apart and I had a blood blister hanging from it, no advice. Mastitis, thrush - no advice. It was a few people on this forum that helped keep me going. It is getting better in my area, they have started a babycafe for breastfeeding mums which is lovely and we al go to chat. I wish they had had this when Seren was a baby.

Thats fkin awful ...I also received a similar lack of support .. but with the help of the OH and this forum and Morag Ive managed to exclusivley feed her to date .... I too received no info on mastitus other than my HV`s "you better find out what it is you did that caused this..and make sure it dosnt happen again" and painful nips and getting her to latch in the first place was awful .. so traumatising more so than labour as I felt I was failing her.. there really needs to be bf councellors on wards to help mums...it would break my heart to actually see someone else go through what I went through and mine aint as bad as many. Just wanna do summin about it ..or at least try x

you would make an excellent peer supporter - ask your hv if they do the training. its why i became one, so i could give support back

 

[Mrs_Jay]

i put Medical reason(mental)

because i didnt have enough support. i even had people like inlaws telling me he wasnt hungry when im sure he was and then taking him off my hands etc. so i felt it was very draining to feel like i had to fight to feed him . Then we both ended up back in hospital becoz he had lost weight. and i just found it all to much and ended up bottle feeding just so that i could go home i really dont know what to do this time round...

 

[monster_munch]

I put medical, but not sure if that's right.

I never felt like I had DD latched on right, but she was getting something and by the time I realised it wasn't quite right (it *always* hurt but I thought it was normal) she was a couple of months old and I didn't want to ask anyone as I thought they would laugh at me for leaving it that long and I thought I should know better
I also felt quite ashamed to BF - I know it sounds odd but I couldn't do it in public and struggled to do it at parents' houses etc - I really felt like I was exposing myself So to cut a long story short (yet another rambling mummy here) my milk started to dry up when she was 4 1/2 months old and by just over 5 months I stopped as I hated doing it
I now totally regret all of it and wish I could go back in time - feel like a failure even though I can now see I did really well to get as far as I did. Just wish I'd found this forum when she was born and I might have done better.

Anyway, all that made me totally determined with Green Bean and now nothing will stop in my way. I am proud to BF and have done it everywhere now - cafe's, in the middle of a field of ladies dancing (warm up for the race for life )in the car in a car park with a car full of lads in the car opposite - it's not easy but I'm determined not to have any regrets this time around.

 

[Mrs_Jay]

i also wanted to add that when i was in hospital i was told to self express and was told i wasnt producing enough... which i dont necessarily think is true becoz i read now now not everyone can express easily.

 

[monster_munch]

How may times did I type car in that last bit

 

[Mrs_Jay]

i also wanted to add that when i was in hospital i was told to self express and was told i wasnt producing enough... which i dont necessarily think is true becoz i read now now not everyone can express easily.

Hi hun babies constantly suck for weeks ....grr I feel angry for you about your inlaws etc ..I strongly say this time tell them politely to fk off and leave you alone. ..goodluck hun .. its not 10 mins a side no more like back in the days eh. Grrr gets my back up Im so glad that breastfeeding is understood more these days ..whoever came up with 10mins a side every 4 hours or whatever anyway ..its ridiculous.

they seemed to think he permantly had wind when he was just fecking hungry. sorry i still feel quite raw about it all. but i really want to give it another try this time and hope that now ive already got a happy healthy lil boy that i can tell ppl to sod off and try and get on with it. rather than feeling so unsure about everything.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

I didn't vote as i am still trying and am not sure which direction I'm going!

The support i've had has been practically non-existant! My midwife was good at the beginning but she wasn't my normal midwife so I won't see her again and now i'm signed off from them anyway.

Faith wouldn't latch for the first few days and she was having whatever I could express plus a tiddy bit of formula in a cup.

When she does latch it hurts like hell and she doesn't stay there - I told my health visitor this and she suggested I go to the breastfeeding cafe, this would be fine BUT I cannot get there without a 20 minute walk each way and I'm still too sore for that! AND it hurts so much that I get upset at every feed and so I really don't want to be in public crying about it!

At the moment i am expressing using a pump and giving that to her in bottles. My nipples are blue with bruises and they bleed and are agony. The pump doesn't hurt them and at least she is getting my milk.

I got to the point where i'd cry at every feed and dread my little girl waking up, and that's just so sad. My mum and OH hugged me last night as I was sobbing and told me that I was doing well and that whatever happened as long as baby was fed she'd grow into a happy healthy baby.

We now have a supply of formula and I will use it if I need to.

I really want to breastfeed but more than that I want to enjoy my baby and so i'll do whatever i can to keep us both happy!

P.S I'm hoping that I may be able to get her to latch on again once my nipples have healed a bit!

Oh and sorry for the long post!

 

[purple13]

I didn't vote as i am still trying and am not sure which direction I'm going!

The support i've had has been practically non-existant! My midwife was good at the beginning but she wasn't my normal midwife so I won't see her again and now i'm signed off from them anyway.

Faith wouldn't latch for the first few days and she was having whatever I could express plus a tiddy bit of formula in a cup.

When she does latch it hurts like hell and she doesn't stay there - I told my health visitor this and she suggested I go to the breastfeeding cafe, this would be fine BUT I cannot get there without a 20 minute walk each way and I'm still too sore for that! AND it hurts so much that I get upset at every feed and so I really don't want to be in public crying about it!

At the moment i am expressing using a pump and giving that to her in bottles. My nipples are blue with bruises and they bleed and are agony. The pump doesn't hurt them and at least she is getting my milk.

I got to the point where i'd cry at every feed and dread my little girl waking up, and that's just so sad. My mum and OH hugged me last night as I was sobbing and told me that I was doing well and that whatever happened as long as baby was fed she'd grow into a happy healthy baby.

We now have a supply of formula and I will use it if I need to.

I really want to breastfeed but more than that I want to enjoy my baby and so i'll do whatever i can to keep us both happy!

P.S I'm hoping that I may be able to get her to latch on again once my nipples have healed a bit!

Oh and sorry for the long post!

have you tried nipple shields hon??

i started using them cos connor couldn't latch on to my small nips properly. i've fed him without a few times since starting to use the shields but got nipple blanching and it was agony. so now i'm using the shields full time and i swear by them. good luck hon - you're doing a fab job

 

[mamichuli]

I put medical as i had to stop as i was referred for a visit with a specialist re a breast reduction. Because it was on national health, i could not afford to miss the appt or reschedule - it could have taken years...in any case i slowly dropped feeds with Ani until at ten months she was only feeding from me in the evening before bed, so it was not traumatic, and i felt ready to stop. The reason i reduced feeds so quickly is coz i had to go back to work full time at 6 months and could not express enough. As far as support, Midna, what you girls gave me on here....none this end. If i hadnt already fed two children succesfully, I would have given up a lot earlier.

Lisa

 

[NooNoo]

ive been wanting to have a rant about this for ages lol

I fed mia for a week..but after a week of feeding then screaming feeding then screaming finally i gave in to a bottle..i so didnt want to

basically EVERY midwife i spoke to was adamant a breastfed baby didnt need winding..i thought it was strange but with a combination of the emotional time after having a baby and it being my first and me not having a clue i just took their word for it....no wonder she was constantly screaming she was in pain with wind FFS im so annoyed i didnt just wind her and had to resort to putting her on a bottle..im getting really mad just thinking about it

i so miss it..it was an amazing thing to do

so yea VERY p*ssed off at the 'support' i had

 

[Magic Monkey]

I wanted to vote for more than one choice!

I found it really painful and was sitting crying through every feed.

I was physically and mentally exhausted after the birth and dreaded her waking up as I really didn't want to have to feed her.

I also didn't have the commitment, I was never that fussed about breastfeeding, so gave up at the first hurdle (3 days in). I absolutely hated doing it and totally wasn't bonding as I hated her being awake. Giving up was totally the best thing for us as I think I would have had all sorts of problems had I continued.

I was given loads of support, in the hospital a care assistant came an helped me with each feed, but I still couldn't do it. I then transferred back to the a midwife unit, where I was told to buzz everytime she needed feeding (day and night) and they came and helped me to latch her on. In fact I felt quite pressured to continue as there was so much support. (if I am honest I wanted to give up the first day after I had her, but was too scared to say so as I felt that I had to do it)

Sorry I have rambled on too!

 

[NIE]

I voted the first one.

Not sure if this counts but I started trying to breast feed, when my lo was born, but had to stop as I never produced anything at all. Not even a drop.

Just wanted to add....well done to all you mummy's that breast fed for as long as they could.

 

[leckershell]

I put baby weaned himself..

That's the closest I could get. About 7 months ish Ryan was just really lethargic and unwell and didn't have the energy to feed off me anymore (we already used bottles with him for evening feed anyway), and he refused me and would only take from the bottle.

I went back to work when he was about 8 months anyway so I figured it was as good a time as any and for that reason I didn't persevere. For me 7 months was plenty more than my goal.

 

[jennywren]

I stopped because Oran wouldnt latch on properly and when the Hv came they just said ''oh well try a nipple sheild'' which I did, then his lis started goin blue and we went stright to Drs who sent us to the hospital (5 days old) and we were admitted, they said the Nipple sheild wasnt helping im and my boobs were smotherig him and suggested I expressed, they also said do to Reflux he was a bad feeder ( )

I was new to all this so I follwed their advice and started Expressing - god forbid I didnt want his lips being blue again it was terrifying, I got quite alot at first and managed to excluivly Express for 4.5 weeks then I started getting less and less and topped up with formular, then it was minimal so I switched to forular.

so basicallly its cause I didnt get any help!

 

[Jen & Her Men]

I put other because i gave up for a few reasons.

The size of my little man was a big one. He needed a lot of milk from the word go as he was not newbie size so i felt like all i did was feed but it was also very painful, my nips were red raw and bleeding despite the fact that he was latched on ok, it was literally the amount he was taking that made them so sore and the fact he was feeding nearly all the time. My body wasnt given the time to deal with the supply that he needed - i.e. nipples not given opportunity to toughen up etc and they were ripped to shreds by the time he was 3 weeks old.

Combined with that was the size of my boobage. I found it v difficult as they grew to above a H cup. I had to hold my boob with both hands to not suffocate the poor boy! When I was BF 90% of my day and I couldnt even answer a phone as all my extremities were involved in BF it became nie on impossible! Not only that but my own physical state in terms of backache, sheer weight of boobage, how uncomfortable they were etc etc was very difficult to live with.

In the end it became such a huge psycological battle for me to feed him that I decided that for me, breast wasnt best and me and James would be happier and healthier on formula. (I BF for nearly 4 weeks)

 

[Rosieroo]

I put my babies weaned themselves. DD stopped feeding at 10-10.5 months because my supply had dwindled due to my pregnancy with DS.DS weaned himself at 12 months, it was a battle to get him that far and he decided he just didn't want it anymore despite my best efforts.Support wise there was very little with DD. I ended up with mastitis several times, blocked ducts, bleeding nipples and told to top up with formula which I later found is the worst thing to do. There was one really good MW, which was the same one who delivered DD that came around at 9pm one night to see how I latched her on and to give me advice. She was ace! But the others were really varied, I even had one tell me it was up to me if I carried on breastfeeding cos she wouldn't when I first got mastitis 

 

[Becky]

Lucy showed interest in food from 3 months, started weaning at just before 4 months, she took to it like you wouldn't believe and I gave her the last bf at 8 months.

I followed her lead the whole way and she pretty much weaned herself...


Just want to add that it wasn't that easy in the early days and I nearly gave up but it worked out in the end. Oh and despite what people say - size has nothing to do with how hungry baby is - Lu was small and fed constantly! People are still amazed at her appetite now!

 

[kelsey]

With my first, it was a total lack of support, this is going back 6 1/2 years, i was sore, i bled, he was feeding every 2 hours for an hour at a time and no one suggested maybe i wasn't latching him on properly, or talked about diet etc. With my second it was again due to lack of support, but this time i was a single mum of a baby and a 17 month old. the hv suggested i switch to bottle.

With my third, again no support (three diff hv by now) and my o/h was in the navy so i was on my own a lot and physically exhausted. Again my hv told me i had to switch as he wasn't putting on weight.

Now comes to my last - better hv completely, loads of support, suggestions etc and leela (my baby is 6 months old and i'm still bf her)

Feel so sh*tty that i had no support and gave up with the others
I sometimes feel like i failed them