Since I was pregnant I thought that breastfeeding was going to hurt a lot. But after 2 1/2 weeks of doing it actually hurts even more than I thought it would!!
I am feeding my baby formula and breastfeeding cause I never had a lot of milk coming . I have flat nipples so I use the shield but my nipples still hurt soooo bad! I just want to quit breastfeeding but I feel a lot of pressure to keep doing it from my husband and his mom. It does not hurt as much if I pump so I was even thinking about pumping after every feeding and just give him a little bottle of breast milk.
I am just not enjoying the whole breastfeeding experience. I feel really bad about it though. . I am really trying to do it for at least one month.

I couldn't do it. It hurt too much for me. I have very sensitive nipples, and my son was just beating them up. We had a lot of issues getting him to latch properly, and I'd end up with blisters and sores and just bleeding all the time and crying from the pain. Pumping was definitely so much easier. I went to expressed breastmilk, but eventually I started giving him formula since he couldn't handle the iron supplement I was taking, and I HAD to take it. Now that we're formula feeding, though, we're all much happier.

You definitely have my respect for continuing to do it. It is HARD, but I keep hearing that it gets easier. I have cousins and friends who breastfed until their babies weened, some through latching problems but most without. It's an amazing bonding time that I was very sad to give up. It is HARD, but be strong and try your best to keep up with it. If you can't, your baby isn't going to have any hard feelings, and you're not a failure.

Im very lucky that I never had any issues so I don't know how it feels but I just wanted to tell you not to be pressured!

We all know breastfeeding is ideal but this is not an ideal world - it would be wonderful of you can persevere until things get better but don't let it make you unhappy.

Yes it does hurt. But not for long. My toes curled every time LO latched or anything, including my bra, touched my boobs.
It might be worth getting latch checked though. Maybe you could just express? Lots do.
I really found it worth persevering but everyone is different so don't let anyone pressure you.
There is lots of support in the breastfeeding section.

The more u feed the more milk u make so giving formula might be the reason u don't have enough milk.

Yes bf for the first few weeks hurts like a bitch but it does get so much easier, the only time it hurts now is when Corey bites me...he's a lovely child hahaha

But if ur not happy breastfeeding don't do it! And don't let anyone make u feel bad. I ff my first as I just couldn't feed him, it hurt too much

Best advice I had was count down 6 weeks generally that's when your nipples toughen. Also invest in lanolin cream. Talk lo through it, my lo would bob off and on till he latched. It hurt a lot.

Good luck you've come this far well done!

It's a lot of pressure for what is already a tough, emotional time. Formula feeding is also nourishing for your child and can be a bonding experience with you and others. For me bfing was very painful until about two months. Now when i remember how i used to curl my toes and hunch my shoulders in agony it seems really remote, and that was just six weeks ago. We got treated for asymptomatic thrush twice and my baby had her tongue tie clipped twice. So don't just accept the pain- there may be something going on.

you poor thing
I only had sore nipples for a couple days but nipple cream was awesome! Have you tried that? Dont feel bad about the decision of formula if thats what you choose

I found breastfeeding with ds excrutiatingly painful and had terribly damaged nipples. I stuck at it for about 8 weeks then went over to expressing for every feed. I carried on expressing til he was 6 months old (though gradually reduced the amount of times I expressed) and combination fed. I am going to be trying again to breastfeed when ds number 2 arrives in the next few weeks. Don't beat yourself up about it though. The pressure to breastfeed is enormous and can leave you in the mindset that giving formula is akin to giving your baby poison! Do what's best for you and your baby.

I understand your pain hun, literally... I think you need to do what feels right for YOU. Period! No matter what other people say or have done. They all have opinions.

Deciding to pump instead of BF was SUCH a struggle for me. It was so incredibly painful I finally decided that it was no good for me to be in so much pain and get so frustrated that my LO wouldn't latch properly. It made for a very unpleasant experience... It's not like she latched on and then a minute or so later it was OK- it literally felt like someone was biting my nipple the ENTIRE time (which, she was). And it just got worse and worse as the weeks passed... I too had to use a nipple shield from the beginning, as my LO was too small and weak at first and my nipples were too small for her to latch properly and we were never able to feed "naturally" without the shield.

Honestly, any time someone told me to "push through the pain" or would say "oh, it get's better"- it just made me feel like CRAP! Like I wasn't strong enough or a good enough mother to keep on going even though it was so horrible for me. I wanted to. Badly. But finally had to decide what was best for me AND my LO. And the frustration I felt with myself, and started to feel towards her... was not OK with me. So it made more sense to pump and bottle feed her. She already went between breast and bottle as she had to be supplemented from the beginning.

No one else can tell you how you should handle the pain. No one else is in your exact shoes hun. My lactation consultant (which I saw several times early on) even told me that I need to do what feels right. That no one else has the right to tell me what that is. And I tried everything anyone recommended to help with the pain... creams, rubs, pads, ICE! lol

I truly hope it get's better, whatever decision you make

And KUDOS for all the pumping ladies... it's tough! I was only able to make it 10wks. But least I got LO what she needed early on. And I feel proud I was able to do that!