Mood change after stopping breastfeeding, due to hormones?

[yellowflower131]

I've partially breastfed two children, first for over a year then stopped a month before I got pregnant with the second. Second was until eight months. Since I stopped a couple of months ago, (and for the month between stopping with the first and getting pg with the second, I also felt better when pg with second baby), my mood has felt so much better. I'm guessing it's from the shift in hormones? I feel happier and so much more smiley and more like me again. No idea if this is common, has anyone else experienced this?

I wasn't desperate to stop breastfeeding so it isn't that.

I was devastated when I stopped breastfeeding. It was my choice, I was done and weaned deliberately, then cried for a week. Post breastfeeding is as much of a thing as post partum, but by that time you are not being monitored by health visitors. Also, people do it at different times, whereas post partum is after birth.

I was the opposite. Terrible tears and period pains when I stopped the most recent time. Blame the hormones.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Feeling awful during weaning is called post-weaning depression, I read this article about it ages ago and didn't realise it was a thing before that. There's a lot of info about establishing bf, not so much about when you stop.

cupofjo.com/2012/02/motherhood-mondays-the-hardest-two-months-of-my-life/

I did find during breastfeeding that my moods would go up and down when the baby's feeding fluctuated.