I had a very high risk pregnancy and a traumatic birth with heavy blood loss, a cardiac arrest, and two days in a coma. I couldn’t feed DD at first and honestly, no one expected I’d breastfeed at all. But I was determined and with a lot of support, I managed to establish a supply.
DD is 16wks now. She’s been on 100% breast milk since about 2-3 wks and I’m really proud of that. I set myself a goal of 3 months, which I’ve now reached and loosely hoped to get to 9 mths like I did with my first, DD(5).
She’s doing really well, steadily on 50th centile and takes breast and bottle happily. We kept breastfeeding at breast just for night feeds for bonding time and the hormonal boost. But she’s started sleeping through the night once we stopped scheduling and letting her do her one thing naturally. She does a solid 7-8 hours sleep on breast milk alone so we’re not even getting that night-time breastfeed anymore (not complaining though, DD(5) didn’t sleep through for a very very long time, I know we’re lucky right now).
So, I’m mostly pumping. I do have a hands-free pump (which is probably the only reason I’ve made it this far), but I still have to stop and think about it constantly. When to pump, when to eat, what to eat, what to take if I have to be away from the house for more than 3hrs, pumping before I leave, how to fit it all in etc. It’s not painful or awful, it’s just starting to feel, uncomfortable. Like a constant, low-level background noise.
Parenting is full of discomfort, I get that, but I don’t want to make life harder than it needs to be. At the same time, I want to do what’s best for her, and that’s the bit I’m struggling with. I BF/combi fed her sister for 9 mths.
Funnily enough I actually feel more connected to her when I bottle feed her myself, but I only do a few. DP works from home and is very involved, so he does a lot of the feeds while I pump.
It’s not a big emotional crisis, I’m not sobbing about it. It’s just starting to feel like a bit of a drag. We also have a holiday coming up when she’ll be around 6 mths, and the thought of travelling with the pump, sterilising bits, and planning time to express is already stressing me out.
But I don’t know how re-introducing formula will go and do to her belly and nice little sleeping routine.
So AIBU to think about stopping, even though ‘technically’ everything is going well?
YANBU: 3m is enough, it’s ok to stop now
YABU: It’s going well, why would you stop now?
(NC as some details could be outing and don’t want tied to previous posts.)