Hi ladies

I recently had my little girl 2 weeks ago and after the 4th day of breast feeding I had to move onto bottle feeding because my nipples became to sore and began to crack and bleed and ever since I feel like I've let her down. She's gaining weight like she should be and doesn't seem to have a problem with bottle feeding but I just can't shake the feeling that I've failed.

Anyone else felt like this before?

i do.... im using a pump right now but i have to also use MOSTLY forumla and im debating about going completely formula... i have flat nipples and low milk production. and baby wont latch.. so ya i know how u feel completely..

You did the best you could You aren't a failure at all.

Every day

There's so much pressure to breastfeed. Sometimes it just doesnt work out. Your baby wont know any different. All they think is its milk yum! lol. 4 days is still enough to get colustrum so you did great. Dont feel bad! aslong as baby is happy and healthy. There are more important things to worry about than breastfeeding! x

I'm glad I'm not the only one but its still such a horrible feeling

I know exactly how you are feeling! My little man wouldn't latch properly and I ended up with mastitis. Then decided that I was going to exclusively pump but he had mangled my nipples so much that the blood was going into the breast pump. After 3 weeks of both of us crying during every feed and of spending my days dreading feeding instead of enjoying him I made the decision to switch to ff. It was the hardest decision I've ever made and I still feel guilty about it but I couldn't have bf any longer. Chin up honey, you're not on your own xxx

You are NOT a failure!!! She is thriving and this is all what matters. Do you enjoy feeding her? Do you feel like you're bonding with her? If yes, then you did NOT fail!!! And you're giving her colostrum. I spoke to a lactation consultant, who told me: ''If anything, give the colostrum, it's the most important!!'' I breastfed for 2 weeks. I was dreading feeding time. She would wake up every 30-45 minutes at night. I looked like sh*t and felt like sh*t. DH felt hopeless because there was nothing he could do She lost 10% off her birthweight and hadn't gained any of it back 14 days later, so they told me to supplement, which I did. So I started mix-feeding (breast and bottle). I would also pump and give formula. She was finally gaining. Because she would never drink long enough to get the hindmilk, she would always get hungry soon after. I used medium flow nipples for the bottle and she much prefered the bottle, so I gave up breastfeeding. Until a week ago, I was pumping 3 times a day, but am now slowly stopping because I'm fed up and my milk supply dropped (which is normal), and i have a decent amount of BM in the freezer. I now enjoy feeding her. DH gets to feed her and loves it. My mom also gets to feed her and she loves it. I still feel like I'm bonding with my daughter, so I'm a happy mom. And happy mom means happy baby.

IMO, there's too much pressure to breastfeed and make moms who formula-feed feel like they failed It's wrong. I was formula fed and turned out fine. No allergies, went to university, I'm not fat (if anything I have a low BMI), so I don't really see the point of having this fight between breast milk and formula

Don't feel bad, I stopped bf Rhys after 5 days as he has seriously mangled my nipples
I mean they were bleeding, bruised and cracked and he wasn't feeding for long as I had to take him off as it was so painful but I felt so so guilty over stopping
The same thing happened with Liam but I didn't feel the huge guilt that time as I knew I had given him the colostrum and Rhys had done fine on formula and they are both thriving

for all you ladies