Stopping breastfeeding/expressing

[TwinkleMerrick]

So I'm making the decision to stop attempting to Brf and pump. I have had all sorts of issues and baby lost 15% weight so had to combination feed. As she wouldn't latch properly I have been expressing and bottle feeding along with formula feeds. It has taken so much time to express I'm not getting time to eat or sleep. I'm beaten! I'm down to expressing once a day for 15mins each boob. Baby occasionally has a feed when I can get her to latch. No more than twice a day for 10mins each boob.

Any tips on how to stop? I'm terrified of getting mastitis. My partner has broken his foot so I really can not afford to get poorly as I am having to do everything in the house as well as look after baby and a man!

Thanks I'm advance xx

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

No need to justify why you want to stop OP. I think the current advice is to drop one feed or expressing session every 2 weeks to avoid Mastitis. So I’d look at which feed is the least convenient and drop that one first. For me it would be the expressing session, but that might not be the case for you.

I’m not trained though so it might be worth talking through your plans on how to stop with a fully trained BFC on one of the Bfing Helplines.

Hope things improve at home soon too

[aeyzsm]

Hi OP I could have written your post. It’s so hard isn’t it. All of our issues (reluctance to feed, severe mastititis, weight loss etc) meant eventually I stopped forcing her to feed and switched to expressing. Like you this just became too much and I felt the time I spent expressing I could have been spending with her. I’m obviously not a HCP but I was down to one session a day of 25 mins with a double pump and my gp just said to stop, so I did and had no issues. Another friend cut it down by 5 mins a day. If you’re only expressing once and feeding two short sessions hopefully it won’t take long. Wishing you all the best! I am so happy to be free from the constraints of the pump now and able to fully dedicate my time to her. xxx