3 week old and wanting to swap from bf to ff.

[hopefulfor1st]

As the title says- but I'm worried that a)ill regret it b) ill feel terrible.

Anyone else give up on bfing early?

I have oversupply and I'm so over leaking and being sticky all the time! At night I wear a shirt with a towel stuffed up it and still wake up soaking! I can't feed in public as the other one gushes when I feed. I can wear 3/4 of my wardrobe and were coming into winter. I kiss my husband and stsrt gushing. I'm just uncomfortable all the time but I feel these are selfish reasons to give up bfing!

Please ladies tell me how u dealt with it?

 

[cat lover]

would you be wanting to give up if u didnt have the oversupply? at 3 weeks ur supply is not regulated and there are definitely ways you can encourage it to settle down. i dont have any sound advice as i cpmbifeed due to low supply, but if u want to carry on bf i would post on the bf forum and u will get some great advice. if you do want to switch to ff dont beat urself up at all, and we can all advise here on any specific ff questions xx eta the horrendous leaking will probably settle down in a few weeks

 

[hopefulfor1st]

Its a combination of the oversupply and how often I need to feed. He's wanting it every hour

 

[cat lover]

hi just saw your post on bf forum. newborns do feed every hour unfortunately, im told it gets better (hasnt for me due to low supply) . tbh now the only thing stopping me from switching altogether is the idea of having to do bottles at night! if u follow the advice on the bf forum im sure in a gew weeks itll be a dream, but do not ever feel guilty if you would prefer to,switch

 

[Leesy]

I switched at 3.5 weeks to FF. My LO was topped up with formula after every feed as he just didn't seem to be getting from the breast. I was enjoying the BF but was struggling with it. I was going to start giving formula for every second feed and slowly stop but then i just decided to stop cold turkey. LO didn't seem to be fussed by it and honestly things felt so much better for it. That was the right thing for me and my LO but I did feel guilty for a few weeks but I got over it. If you are not 100% you want to switch maybe just combi feed for a while and see how you feel. Either way just do what is right for you & your LO. Good luck. xx

 

[hopefulfor1st]

Yes I told hubby ill wait til my 6 week check up and see if things r easier but now he's adamant on me swapping to ff

 

[mandimoo]

I wanted to BF, but had some problems (low supply, tongue tie, poor suck reflex). Things never improved and after 3 weeks I was having a nervous breakdown trying to stay on top of attempting to BF, failing, expressing & topping up with formula. It was just too much for me. My 3 hour feeding cycle was taking me at least 4 hours and that was without me doing ANYTHING for myself! To top it all I ended up with PND. But I was desperate to BF and it took what felt like a long time to accept we couldn't do it. It wasnt that I was beating myself up, but I just felt so sad. Once I made the decision I spent the next couple of weeks feeling really sad, but now I am over it and realise that making the decision to stop was the start of me starting to feel better.
So now, at 11 weeks, I do still have a tiny bit of residual sadness we couldnt do this. I think its alot to do with the fact that we have fertility issues AND I am 41, so our LO is our first and last, so I cant just try again next time. But mainly, Ive come to terms with it and apart from being bored of the dull routine of washing, sterilising and making up the bottles I am happy enough with bottle feeding.

Its not an easy decision to make. If you are not quite ready to make the call I wonder if you could speak to a lactation consultant and get some advice on expressing to ease your supply and feeding your LO with ENM and formula for a while and see how you feel about it after a few days or however long it takes. Doing it this way would see you OK to build supply back up if you ended up feeling too sad about losing BF, but conversely if you were happy FF, you have already taken the 1st steps to reducing supply.

 

[lozzy21]

I would try to ride it out another few weeks untill your supply sorts its self out and see how you feel then. If you switch to FF now you might not stop leaking for another few weeks anyway so your not solving the problem.

You can get nipple pads that catch the milk rather than absorb it. Some thing like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medela-008-0240-Breastmilk-Collection-Shells/dp/B000WHL2RQ

 

[Islander]

i was the same...i soaked through everthing!but i persevered and it stopped a few weeks ago...i have to stop bfing for medical reasons but u can get through the spraying everywhere stage!i also used a lot of muslins x

 

[mommysbaby]

Ur body supplies for twins just in case for first 6 to 8 weeks. I know this is horrible. But after that ur supply is regulated. So don't give up... That's fine.

 

[aliss]

Yes I told hubby ill wait til my 6 week check up and see if things r easier but now he's adamant on me swapping to ff

Your hubby needs to support you. You really REALLY need to get him seen for possible reflux (as mentioned in other threads). IF it is reflux, then formula is only going to make the situation worse, believe me, I've been there. Switching to formula was a mistake with a reflux baby.

 

[mommy0629]

Wait it out. I made the switch to formula at 3 weeks for a few different reasons (related to my lo being a preemie) and I definatly regretted it a few weeks later. I got over it, but I still get jealous of bfing moms. Trust what the ladies in the bfing section advised you and give it a few more weeks before you decide.

 

[zombiedaisy]

I know how you feel hun. I've been breastfeeding and just can't keep up. I had a tumor removed from one of my breasts years ago and could never bf my other two. I was determined to make it work. Now my nipple on that side is cracked and bloody from him being so aggressive as its a very slow leak due to scar tissue. He was never satisfied after a feeding and I started supplementing a bottle. My milk supply decreased and even with pumping I couldn't get enough for roughly half his feedings. I cried for days knowing what was coming. The same thing happened with my daughter when I tried with her. He's now been on formula for almost 24 hours. It's not what I wanted, but I knew it was coming to that a few days ago. In some ways I'm disappointed but he's happy and fed. We still cuddle skin to skin at a lot of feedings and it has helped give me more time with my other two kids. I barely saw them because I was bf all day long. Someone else had to get them dressed, bathe them, play, cook for them..... it was just depressing for me. I still feel guilty because I so badly wanted this to work but it just wasn't. Don't beat yourself up over whatever you decide. If you need anyone to talk to, I'm here.

 

[detterose]

The first couple of days were really rough for me when we swapped to FF. But I was so depressed trying to BF, it wasn't working out at all. He would crack my nipples so bad I couldn't bear to feed him, so I would take a 24 hr break and express and then he would get used to the bottle and I would finally get him back on, he would be fine the first few times then all of a sudden get really aggressive and pull off after spending forever trying to get him on and recrack me. So it was a continuous cycle which ended up with me getting severe mastitis and needing daily injections of antibiotics and a two week course of antibiotic tablets. I ended up being prescribed Bromocriptine from my GP as it was so bad. LO was constipated from the formula and so unhappy at the start that I would bawl my eyes out and blame myself for it because he wouldn't be if I had kept on BF. now he's settling down and such an easier baby, not to mention I actually get some sleep at night now so I feel much more human. At the end of the day, you have to choose what's going to work best for your family. I am returning to work in 16 weeks so unfortunately LO would've just been going onto formula at some point anyway so it was probably best to do it now when he can't really tell the difference rather then later. Hope it all works out xx

 

[hopefulfor1st]

The first couple of days were really rough for me when we swapped to FF. But I was so depressed trying to BF, it wasn't working out at all. He would crack my nipples so bad I couldn't bear to feed him, so I would take a 24 hr break and express and then he would get used to the bottle and I would finally get him back on, he would be fine the first few times then all of a sudden get really aggressive and pull off after spending forever trying to get him on and recrack me. So it was a continuous cycle which ended up with me getting severe mastitis and needing daily injections of antibiotics and a two week course of antibiotic tablets. I ended up being prescribed Bromocriptine from my GP as it was so bad. LO was constipated from the formula and so unhappy at the start that I would bawl my eyes out and blame myself for it because he wouldn't be if I had kept on BF. now he's settling down and such an easier baby, not to mention I actually get some sleep at night now so I feel much more human. At the end of the day, you have to choose what's going to work best for your family. I am returning to work in 16 weeks so unfortunately LO would've just been going onto formula at some point anyway so it was probably best to do it now when he can't really tell the difference rather then later. Hope it all works out xx

Your baby's middle name is jace! Woot!

Well Jace is currently having 2 x formula bottles evening/night and settling well! Still bfing through the day and expressing at the formula times. Eventually ill start adding more form bottles and have a bit if a freezer stash so when I stop bf he can still have 1-2 bm a day

 

[detterose]

The first couple of days were really rough for me when we swapped to FF. But I was so depressed trying to BF, it wasn't working out at all. He would crack my nipples so bad I couldn't bear to feed him, so I would take a 24 hr break and express and then he would get used to the bottle and I would finally get him back on, he would be fine the first few times then all of a sudden get really aggressive and pull off after spending forever trying to get him on and recrack me. So it was a continuous cycle which ended up with me getting severe mastitis and needing daily injections of antibiotics and a two week course of antibiotic tablets. I ended up being prescribed Bromocriptine from my GP as it was so bad. LO was constipated from the formula and so unhappy at the start that I would bawl my eyes out and blame myself for it because he wouldn't be if I had kept on BF. now he's settling down and such an easier baby, not to mention I actually get some sleep at night now so I feel much more human. At the end of the day, you have to choose what's going to work best for your family. I am returning to work in 16 weeks so unfortunately LO would've just been going onto formula at some point anyway so it was probably best to do it now when he can't really tell the difference rather then later. Hope it all works out xx

Your baby's middle name is jace! Woot!

Well Jace is currently having 2 x formula bottles evening/night and settling well! Still bfing through the day and expressing at the formula times. Eventually ill start adding more form bottles and have a bit if a freezer stash so when I stop bf he can still have 1-2 bm a day

Yeah I had a lot of BM frozen and refrigerated because i was pretty much full time expressing but you would be surprised how quickly you go through it!!