Anyone feel so much happier FF?

[Jaylynne]

I exclusively expressed for 7 months then switched to formula when my body just refused to make enough to satisfy his 40+ ounces a day need. We dealt with tongue tie and prematurity which made it impossible for him to latch and get enough directly from me. While I wish my situation was different, I know I made the right choice and honestly, I'm so so relaxed now that I switched over. I NEVER dread feeding him or worrying if I'm making enough. Liam is 20lbs and happy and thriving. He's hitting all his milestones and I'm so proud of my baby!

I'm proud that my baby is now chubby and growing so big and I'm very thankful that I live in an age where there is a GREAT alternative to breast milk. I'm happy I know I'm doing the best for baby and not starving him to fulfill my previous desire to breastfeed. And I'm happy that my pump is gathering dust and no longer attached to me.

I'm happy there's plenty of ladies on bnb that do what they think is best for their baby and their situation and yup, even if that means ff over bf.

3 months on and I still feel great about my decision to switch. Thanks to many ladies who i find solidarity with in ff.

 

[socitycourty]

I am feeling a lot better now. at first it was really hard after making the switch. but she's so much happier now I can't let myself feel bad anymore!

 

[Kage76]

i felt like arse at first- but the happier she got the happier I was. It was such a blessing to finally put down the bloody pump and play with her. Formula is a god send!

 

[Saphira]

Very mixed feelings when we made the switch over to formula completely, but if I were living in a day before internet and mass media, I would have been 110% happy. Mainly I felt massive relief. The amount of stress I was feeling could be put more at ease because my baby was being fed, gaining weight and doing well. :]

 

[robinator]

I combi fed from day 2 or 3, and I'm happy with that choice (not at the time, but that's another story, lol).

Lane self-weaned off the boob at 10.5 months; and I found FF was a no-brainer. Being used to combi-feeding definitely helped, but yeah, I was happy with it. Goodbye, pump and nursing cover!!

 

[sandilion]

Oh yeah i feel a LOT better now LO has been on formula for a month now and he honestly has been absolutely loving it. And thriving! All my fears and concerns about formula are well out of the window now as my LO is doing great on it!

It's been a up and down process to me accepting FF now. I am a lot better now that my milk is all dried up. I ended up doing a body cleansing detox diet to kick start my healthy lifestyle and eating, and to my amazement it has completely dried up all of my milk! While i have felt sad about it, i am also relieved because at first i found it really really hard handing my LO a bottle of formula when i still had full breasts. Thankfully my husband has been so encouraging, and he stopped me from caving because he knew at the end of the day putting LO on formula is what i needed to now do. I caved once though when he was very restless and had a nasty cold, i tried to put him on the boob and he actually rejected me! That was surprising for me, but also helped a lot with my FF decision. I now feel completely content that LO is so happy on formula, that i am not taking anything from him he is thriving and loves holding his own bottle!

I have been starting to lose weight, and i feel like my old self again. I don't feel so tied down to the couch anymore either and LO is happy to lay on his mat and drink his bottle. Near the end i was becoming very irritated with BF, especially during my AF. I was finding myself not being as cuddly with LO and it felt like a real chore. No doubt the poor little guy would have picked up on my vibes, so this change is definitely for the best for both of us.

Edit: I read over this post and i feel like i just sound so selfish in it... it's all about me "I" this and "I" that ...I really aren't a selfish person, but the theory "Happy mum happy baby" really has come in to play in my situation.

 

[socitycourty]

you are not selfish! mom matters too, it seems like a lot of people don't think so but we are very important too!

 

[re10]

I used to exclusively pump too and when I got 3 months in and it was taking me seven hours a day to make enough milk to not have to give her formula I finally realised how crazy that was and that since I couldn't keep up with her it was ok to drop pumps and give her formula instead. I can't begin to describe how free I felt at that moment! I did still have mixed feelings about it so I continued to pump a bit until she was 7 months but since I stopped I've been soooo much happier.

 

[Jaylynne]

I cried for an hour with the first bottle. I cried because I felt like it was one more "natural" thing my body couldn't do (couldn't carry to term and now couldn't even breastfeed). I cried because I thought LO wouldn't accept the bottle of formula as easy as he did my breastmilk. He gulped it down- have you smelled formula compared to breastmilk?! YUK lol. I cried because my baby was starving because I wanted to keep pumping.

Then, I told myself to shut the fuck up. My baby was finally full again. I had my time back that I spent pumping. I could be happy feeding him. No guilt. Why should I be? I did a damned good job. Only had one breastfeeding person look at me funny in real life (my sil).

Oh and the 1-2% that can't produce enough figure is full of shit. They don't include the mothers who have preemie babies, latch issues, sickness after birth etc. all those things make women produce less milk than a baby can eat. It's not just biologically one who can't produce enough. There are plenty of other factors that can reduce the amount a mother makes and not much can be done.


Anyway. I feel zero need to explain my choices off the forum but it feels so much better to say I have zero guilt about FF and I'm so thankful for it! Love my baby's chubby face

 

[Numero_uno]

I did it until lo was 7 weeks, I found bf easy and never experienced any pain or anything but it was affecting me going out as I was constantly worrying about having to bf in public, ever since I stopped I have not looked back at all, was definitely the right decision to change to ff, I am glad I did it for the 7 weeks and 1 day though"

 

[socitycourty]

It is true about the statistic. It does not account for many things including the fact that a mom could BF (like me) but the baby can't tolerate the milk. I tried diets and everything, did a 24 hour formula trial and she was like a new baby. I felt bad afterward like I was torturing her with my BM. it was an awful time for me but I'm getting much better now

 

[cat lover]

i thnk anyone who ee for ANY amount of time is a saint. my lo has just got out of hospital and i had to ee while she was in there a week and NO WAY could i do it on a long term basis,.big respect

 

[loves_cookies]

It is true about the statistic. It does not account for many things including the fact that a mom could BF (like me) but the baby can't tolerate the milk. I tried diets and everything, did a 24 hour formula trial and she was like a new baby. I felt bad afterward like I was torturing her with my BM. it was an awful time for me but I'm getting much better now

This is exactly the same situation for me. My LO wouldn't latch for the first 48 hours, bit after that BF like a champ and I was lucky enough to not have any issues either, but she screamed 24/7. There was such a difference in her from the first formula feed that I couldn't be happier that she's FF.

 

[jd83]

I'm going throught the transition right now, due to work stress and just not having the time to pump at work anymore (I'm the only one in my dept. now because my coworker moved). I'm still in the feeling incredibly guilty faze, every time I drop a pumping session. I am down to only one pump a day and one bf, and the rest are bottles. It's so hard going through it, I feel sooo guilty! But I've done this before, and my baby did NOT care that we switched him to ff, so I know its not going to matter to him. I am sure I will be perfectly happy in a month or so when we are fully transitioned and my milk is dried up.

 

[Nurse1980]

I breast fed Sophia until she was 5 weeks old.

I didn't enjoy it at all. I had an infected episiotomy and my nipples were agony. Plus I got thrush too due to all the antibiotics. I used to dread every feed and cried most of the time it was that painful.

It was so difficult for me to come to a decision. But I wa miserable breastfeeding (even though Sophia was doing great on it)

Anyway after all those guilty feelings initially I now know I've made the right decision and 5 weeks is better than nothing.

Now anyone can feed her, I'm no longer in pain and dreading every feed. Plus she is thriving on formula too.

I still have small moments where u wish I could have carried on to 6 month, but I did make the right decision for us both.

Happy mummy equals happy baby!

 

[lilbeanhoping]

It helps me to read this because emotionally I'm struggling with this decision. My lil guy was a premie and he just can't breastfeed. So I've been exclusively pumping and dealing with multiple clogged ducts, thrush and mastitis infections. Due to that I produce a lot less and need to supplement with formula.
It kills me every time I have to.
Also struggling because with the formulas we've tried lo is all "snorty" and congested sounding. So that's not helping. (we have a doc appoint, to discuss what ones to try next)
I'm still pumping because I'm not ready to fully ff, but it's really hard physically for me with everything.