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Im giving up expressing-help please!

AP

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I have been exclusively expressing for Alex for 15 weeks. In the last few weeks shes been getting half formula half ebm, slowly turning to more formula, until today, where its been just formula.

Expressing, for me, has been very time consuming and yet worthwhile, but i feel slightly guilty.

I would like to relax a bit more to enjoy Alex and my time with her.i'm stressing. Im not even producing enough worthwhile and my health visitor is certainly been the first to agree with me surprisingly.

We even tried her with breastfeeding whilst she was in hospital, but she wouldnt have none of it and i was in a state.

At least i can say i've tried.

Two questions though:

- what should i do if i become engorged(i dont think i'll have much of a problem as its drying up)

-is it safe to immediatley change my pill back from progesatrone-only to the combined pill?

Just looking for a bit of support, really.
 
Awww huni, you have done amazingly well and expressing is hard work! She has had all the benefits of your milk when she was young and tiny but now that she is a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger she would much prefer to spend oodles of time with her very special mummy :flower:

If you have pretty much stopped expressing anyway, you shouldn't get too engorged. Wear a tight bra (but it should not dig in) and have a bath if they do get sore. Take paracetamol and ibuprofen if you need it.

The pill issue, you would have to speak to your GP about it can't help you there at all, sorry!
 
Don't be hard on yourself hun (easier said than done I know), you have done fantastically! I only managed 6 weeks and I also felt really guilty when I stopped! When Imi was in SCBU it was much easier but once I got home I was struggling with the amount of time it was taking an not being able to get all the other things done! That and the fact she was taking 150ml every 2/3 hours during the day and I was unable to keep up!

Re. your questions - Not much good i'm afraid as I'm not sure about the pill (i#m having coil) and i had no prb at all with engorging as my milk seemed to be dwindling anyway. If you've been slowly cutting down, I suspect you will be the same xx
 
Dont just stop it hurts like hell i did it that way and omg and takesa lot longer to dry up just cut it down over time say droop 1 pump a day each day that way ur body will stop making it and it will not hurt at all.

yes it is safe to chang pill the only reson you get put on the mini pill when bestfeeding is that outher kinds can but not allways dry you up.
 
I know what u mean about the guilt, i stopped at 4 weeks due to infection/antibiotics/docs recommendation, i cried soooo much. U have given your Lo a really good start. As for the engorgement mine were very sore for a couple of days, i wore two bras and tonnes of pads!!!!But within 4 days they stopped hurting altogether and i was in my pre pregnancy bras
 
Thanks ladies - that really helps. I feel a bit more confident in my decision - I woke up in a puddle of milk though even though I did pump a bit before going to bed. LOL!

Not as bad as I expected though!
 
Don't really have much advice but I think you're doing the right thing. I had to stop expressing when Ruby was 3 weeks old (she wouldn't directly BF) - I think people who can manage expressing and looking after LO on their own all day are in the minority.

You've done so well, now enjoy lots of time with your little girl.
 
Huge congrats on the 15wks expressing, I expressed for my Alex for 5wks and like yourself i made the hard decision to stop.
I stopped right away, the breast feeding counseller said "that if i expressed even just once a day i would keep producing milk".

Two days after i stopped my breasts felt very full and uncomfortable (only lasted 3 days), i found warm showers/baths eased the feeling.
My milk dried up in about a week.

Cant help with the pill question
 
I know what u mean about the guilt, i stopped at 4 weeks due to infection/antibiotics/docs recommendation, i cried soooo much. U have given your Lo a really good start. As for the engorgement mine were very sore for a couple of days, i wore two bras and tonnes of pads!!!!But within 4 days they stopped hurting altogether and i was in my pre pregnancy bras

your situation depresses me that your Doc gave you such advice most infections will not affect breast feeding and you will give the baby immunity to what ever you have through the milk. 90% of medications don't pass over in significant quantity to affect baby. you did really well based on the info you got but it upsets me that you were given such advice.

It seems our health professionals are lacking knowledge in the boob and BF dept in huge quantities its ridiculous that NCT and le leache issue this advice but medical staff don't know about it.

as to the guilt i can understand how painfull that is but your a brave mum and all credit to you
 
Well ladies, I thought I'd let you know what happened.

i stopped, and it only took about two days til I was fine. i immediatley swapped pills too - which seems to have stopped the AF issues i was having too. In those two days I only pumped once for about 3 minutes each day, so i wouldnt feel engorged.

Nice too feel a bit chilled out. if i was still expressing right now I think i would have had a nervous breakdown by now, as Alex wants more and more attention!
 
Glad you were able to get through the switch without problems. I made the mistake of just stopping suddenly, and it was horrible!
 

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