stopping and sad

[Groggymama]

I'm going to stop bf ds2, because he was 10 weeks prem he was in special care for 7 weeks and I expressed, determined to breast feed him until his expected due date. I'm still breast feeding him but am stopping this week. He's 15 weeks old and is on the breast every two hours, really hungry. Feel sad that I can't keep up with him, look after ds1 and do it all.

[hermykne]

groggymama
i know how it feels, with feeding your 2nd and the 1st being very busy! and you have had it slightly harder with him being in s/c. however well done, i managed to keep going with my ds and am still feeding him at 11mths tomorrow, just morn and even ever so quickly, but i do remember at 16wks being exhausted trying to feed him, he guzzled and guzzled but it did settle shortly after, and if i needed to get out so be it, he had to wait!

WELL DONE

[mears]

Well done for breastfeeding this long Groggymama. Are you sure he is definately hungry or does he just love to feed? Have you tried a dummy? If yes to above, and you are sad at the thought of stopping, have you considered mix feeding with formula rather than stopping completely?

[rickman]

Message withdrawn

[Groggymama]

You're right, I'm not sure about giving up cos I love bf and having a bad day, also don't like shouting at ds1 when I'm bf. Mears - would like to know if combination feeding works as I've read so much about it reducing your own milk.
If it gets easier I'll stick to it. Once I stop completely I know I can't go back to it, which is hard. He loves a dummy - just a sucky baby I guess at the moment!

[throckenholt]

how old is ds1 - can you play word games with him while you are feeding.

If you don't want to give up them just try taking a day at a time - just say - I will feed this morning, afternoon, night etc.

Try a dummy, and get some formula etc so you can maybe mixed feed (get some ready made so that you can use it straight away).

He is still very young - albeit he is 15 weeks old - it will get easier as he gets bigger.

Congratulations on getting this far.

[bakedpotato]

I'm mixed-feeding, Groggy (have been since DS was a month and a half ). I'm sure Mears knows the ins and outs but I was under impression that by the 6th week of bfing, it's well established, and you can start to mix-feed without your supply being compromised. I think you're not advised to drop 2 feeds in a row, but to try to space formula feeds out throughout the day. So I do breast (7.30am), bottle (11am), breast (2.30pm), breast (5.30pm), bottle (topup at 6.30), and a bottle dream-feed (10.30pm).
You sound like you've been through the wringer. I wish I'd got to 15 wks, exclusively bfing. You should be proud of yourself.

[Groggymama]

thanks for your messages, bakedpotato that routine sounds good to me!

[mears]

Groggymama - I have never mix fed myself and normally I would advise to continue exclusive breastfeeding if you can. However, your post seemed to suggest you couldn't cope with frequent feeds and that you were thinking of stopping completely. That would seriously affect your supply . Yes mix feeding ultimately reduces your supply in that you will produce less milk because you are doing less feeds. You might find that you have a knock on effect of having to give more formula but as Bakedpotato says your supply is well established at 15 weeks and you could probably continue to do both.
there are experiences here on a thread I started before

There are mums on here who have successfully mix fed so hopefully they will be able to give you pointers on how to do it successfully if you feel you cannot continue. You might even find that if you do introduce formula you may be able to phase it out again once your DS starts solids later

[mears]

Think also of the advantages of B/F with a toddler. I lost count of the number of times my babes got yanked off the boob while I dealt with an older sibling. Means you can resume the breastfeed without worrying about heat of milk etc. Perhaps you also need to dictate the pace a bit more with DS2. With experience I realised that sometimes babies had to wait for feeds while I was caught up with other things. B/F is great when you are nipping out to playgroup and nursery etc. Even a bit of a feed can be enough to settle them to allow you to get to things.
Definately get DS1 organised with activity before feeding 'cause they know exactly when to get up to mischief

[oliveoil]

I found the tv worked a treat with dd1 when I was trying to feed dd2. But I did throw in the towel with b/feeding at about 3 months, found it a lot harder with the second, as like you, you have to distract the other child.

xx