Wanting to switch from breastmilk to formula at 2 weeks

[bibicakes]

So when I gave birth to my son, I had a c-section. He was jaundice and my milk took 4 days to come in. He had lost 12% of his body weight and when my milk came in, I was told to give my son hourly feedings for 10 minutes on each breast to get his weight up. In one day he had managed to gain 4 oz. and in a week he's gained over 1lbs. Unfortunately because of that, my milk production increased and a friend of mine told me to start pumping otherwise I'd get engorged. Not having any education of breastfeeding or pumping, I didn't know that pumping the breast till it was dry would also increase milk production. So a mixture of hourly feeding and pumping, I have a really bad over supply. I'm currently trying block feeding to correct it, it's been 3 days and my milk supply is still crazy. I woke up this morning after 3 hours of sleep and really engorged boobs that I had no choice to pump. I've already had 2 plugged milk ducts on my left boob and one on my right. Thankfully LO sucked it out along with me constantly massaging the area. But because of the over supply, i'm very uncomfortable and LO won't take to my breast unless I squeeze some of it out. I'm highly thinking of switching to formula. I feel guilty, but it's leaving me uncomfortable and in pain if I go even 2 hours without release. How can I switch to where it's safe and healthy for LO?

 

[Noelle610]

Aww hun, I had a similar experience! Unfortunately a lactation consultant in my area is fond of telling women they have under-supply and they they need to pump frequently in the early days and it's terrible advice (for most).

If you want to keep breastfeeding, I would continue with the block feeding. No pumping. I would hand express before you feed your baby since you have an overactive letdown. Do you have access to a lactation consultant or a support group like La Leche League? They should be able to help. Your problem isn't uncommon.

If you want to switch to formula, of course that's okay too! You won't want to stop cold turkey since you already have oversupply and are at risk for mastitis and plugged ducts.

 

[MindUtopia]

There's so much bad advice out there when it comes to BF. If you aren't in pain other than the engorgement, I'd really try to push through it with the BF if it's what you want to do. You'll feel equally bad if you switch to formula (your milk doesn't just dry up and you can have weeks to a month or more of that sort of pain until your production drops completely), but you won't get the benefits of still BF. Assuming you're otherwise coping, just drop the pumping, take ibuprofen to help with the pain, and use cold cabbage leaves inside your bra (will also help bring down your supply a bit too). Your body will adjust to the change in demand pretty quickly. I had to stop BF at 10 weeks (due to recurrent mastitis and a low supply) and it was still painful for at least a week (and that's even after I had no actual milk coming out, so that's how low my supply was already). You'll have to cope with being uncomfortable either way, but once you get your supply sorted out, the breast pain really does disappear. So hang in there! It's not easy.

 

[Moorebetter]

Don't stop!! It gets better

Gl

 

[pinklightbulb]

I would space out the feeds and stop pumping. Your body will get the memo not to produce so much when it returns to supply and demand only.

 

[bibicakes]

Thanks for the BF advice. I know it gets better later as time goes but I don't have that time. I'm driving myself crazy being the only one to feed him and not get any sleep since I quit pumping a few days ago. He's a night time baby and sleeps mostly during the day. So he's wakes up every 1-2 hours at night and I get no sleep. And I'm slowly trying to adjust my body to sleep in the morning when he sleeps. I just want to be able to function and be a mom for my son and not a zombie who's sole purpose is to be his boob. I want to enjoy my time with my son and not sleep it away and dred it every evening.

 

[Noelle610]

Thanks for the BF advice. I know it gets better later as time goes but I don't have that time. I'm driving myself crazy being the only one to feed him and not get any sleep since I quit pumping a few days ago. He's a night time baby and sleeps mostly during the day. So he's wakes up every 1-2 hours at night and I get no sleep. And I'm slowly trying to adjust my body to sleep in the morning when he sleeps. I just want to be able to function and be a mom for my son and not a zombie who's sole purpose is to be his boob. I want to enjoy my time with my son and not sleep it away and dred it every evening.

honey. Whichever choice you make is absolutely fine. Your LO is loved and that's all that matters!

In terms of sleep, I'd suggest waking him if he sleeps for more than 2 hours during the day. Keep lights on, windows open and make noise as you usually would. Take him outside for walks - the sunlight helps surpress the production of melatonin, which makes us sleepy. At night, keep lights dim, no talking (or a whisper), limited eye contact and just keep it boring. Day/night confusion is common at this age, but these things will help regulate his circadian rhythms a bit.

 

[bibicakes]

Thanks Noelle!!

 

[mommytobe11]

I found that the beginning was so incredibly hard, and I know a lot of moms will say the same! No matter which you choose, you will probably still be tired because life with a newborn is tiring! If you do continue BFing, I agree with PP that said hand express a little and then feed LO. I had to do that a lot in the beginning and I was constantly leaking everywhere

I had to recently give up BFing because my new pregnancy dried up my milk. Not only am I devastated, I have to deal with bottles bottles bottles! I can't tell you how much easier it is to just wake up in the middle of the night, stick a boob in his mouth and go back to sleep Now I have to mix a bottle and it takes me forever to fall back asleep!

Only you know what's best for you and your family, but for me, I found BFing to be much easier once you get over that newborn phase!

 

[Sinead82]

I switched at two weeks, and the guilt I felt soon went when the reality and freedom of ff kicked in. I felt like a brain dead zombie just feeding and sleeping when I could, even dreading her waking up and feeling v down and anxious. Since I put her in the bottle things have improved every day and hard as it is, I am enjoying being a new mother. My lo is thriving and we have a great system in place re sterilising and sharing feeds.

However, this is just my experience, and you have to do what is best for you, for some people the guilt etc at stopping out weights the advantages. I will say though that you have done great so far, and there is nothing wrong with ff if that is what is best for you.

In terms of how to switch over, I just stopped cold turkey on the advice of my midwife. Yes I was in agony for about a day, and in comfortable for a few days, but it really wasn't too bad, I used cabbage leaves and my breasts were back to normal within 4 days.

Good luck xx

 

[tristansmum]

If you decide to go to formula please don't feel guilty. I seitched day 4 with my first due to delayed milk after emcs, bleeding nipples and baby blues. My toddler is perfectly healthy, never gets ill and incredily advanced for his age (walked at 9 months and speech is a good year ahead). So obviously him not having breastmilk did him no harm.

But before you stop make sure its what you really want as its hard to revearse it in the future. I'm comviq feeding this time. Perhaod that's something you could look into?

 

[Julien6299]

I agree with Sinead. Switching to formula was the best thing for my baby girl and myself. Opposite of you, she was losing weight because I wasn't producing enough. She was always crying, tense and didn't have any bm's unless we used the thermometer trick to help her, and even then she only pooped once in a week. Dr wanted me to supplement and eat a dairy free diet to help her. I started formula feeding and after a day she gained 3 oz (prior to this at 2 weeks she was still down 6 oz from birth Since starting formula she is content and not crying, she is awake more and pooping multiple times a day. I too wanted to exclusively breastfeed but it wasnt worth the stress it brought onto our family and wasnt helping my baby to grow. So basically don't feel bad or have people make you feel bad for choosing formula.