To contemplate stopping breastfeeding at 6 weeks

[HelenF35]

I'm exhausted, I feel the evening cluster feeds are never ending and my nipples are aching. I don't know if I can carry on!

Also with mixed feeding if you only use 1 or 2 bottles a day then it's easy to afford the premixed stuff which is way easier than powder and all the faff that comes with it.

Do whatever feels right for you OP. As long as your baby is fed and loved, that's all that matters.

If you do choose to FF, it's really not too much of a faff. You get into the routine of sterilising and making up bottles quite quickly, and of course your DP can help too.

YANBU, however it does get easier from here on in. I'm 7 months in and it's a completely different ball game compared with the early days. I'd urge you to keep at it if you can, if it's still awful in a few weeks their will always be formula on the shelves.

Do whatever you need to do. If that's formula then do it! It's a perfectly reasonable option. It didn't get easier for me and switching to formula was the right choice for ds and I. You need to do what's right for you.

Absolutely nothing wrong with giving up, it's extremely hard work. However, if you think you might not want to then get help. Phone Le Leche League for a chat, join a group and get to a meeting if you can. If you've got the money it's worth shelling out for a private lactation consultant appointment. My second had a tongue tie that three NHS professionals insisted wasn't there, she was feeding constantly because she was hardly getting anything out and we were both exhausted and my supply nearly went because of it. Had it snipped at 8 weeks and we never looked back, made it to a year. The beginning is the hardest part.

There's no shame in stopping, don't let anyone make you feel otherwise, you've already done an amazing job. But if you think you might regret it later then get some proper support. I gave up at 8 weeks with my first after multiple problems and I was always cross that I wasn't given more help. There's a group called "Breastfeeding Yummy Mummies" on FB that I couldn't have survived without, someone on there put me on to the tongue tie idea and lactation consultant.

Six weeks or thereabouts was so tough! I remember crying to DH and saying I'd have to give up but just took it one feed at a time and by 10 weeks or so things were so much better and we're still going strong at 12 months. I kept saying just one more feed, but it really did get easier. Now I actually miss the days of long feeds on the sofa, I watched so much tv and read, and there's no chance for that now! I found it helped to go along to a breastfeeding support group and chatting to mums who had been in the same situation.

I remember feeling exactly the same way at 6 weeks!! It's absolutely exhausting and all consuming! (Literally!!)
But as others have said, there is usually a bit of a turning point any time from 6 weeks, so.....
But you have to do what is best for you and your baby. So if it feels right for you then go for it! But having done both BF and FF, it's a lot less faff BF if it works for you.
But just don't let anyone make you feel bad about either decision - too many people like to put their opinions across when actually it is down to no one but you! And you've also done 6 weeks! Which is amazing!! So good on you!

I expressed exclusively for DD so had the growth spurts, bleeding nipples and regular mastitis and the faff of washing and sterilising bottles and breast pump. I had to set my alarm for every 3 hours to pump whether she wanted to eat or not. DH worked away too.

I took it feed by feed, day by day, week by week and managed 8 months (and another 6 weeks using up the frozen stash). At 6 weeks I could have happily run away.

If I could keep going, I bet you have it in you too.

It as grim until 9 weeks. Iv fed two now and been a bit obsessive about no bottles (did use dummy's from day one as couldn't cope with constant nursing). If I did it again I wouldn't hesitate to give an evening bottle of formula

It's completely front loaded. You've done all the hard work. The benefits are about to come in spades. Hang in there

Of course, stop if you want to stop - no issues there. But there's a real incentive to keep going now. At about 7 weeks it went from hideous to blissful for me. It's just about getting over this final hurdle.

You have done brilliantly and echo all the rest saying it gets easier. However you do what suits you.

But why on gods earth breastfeeding is so bloody hard defeats me. I bf all my 4 and each time is just as difficult to establish and then gets easier. But why so hard! Natures mistake.

The blocked duct!!!

Ffs it was 16 years ago and still remember the pain and then the exquisite joy as dh managed to unblock it with the suction cap from my breast pump.

Happy days.

My advice would be to just learn how to use the sterilizer and how to make up formula if you've not done it before.There's no harm in that,and you can carry on taking one day at a time breastfeeding knowing you can fall back on ff quickly and easily should you want to.

The pre-mixed feeds are wonderful. DIL was exhausted from feeding in the evenings. So gave him to DH who gave him a bottle. She then had a bath, a nap and was ready for him when he woke three hours later. Now if she is ill the pre mix feed is a bonus, or leaves him with family she leave one expressed bottle and formula. He is seven months old now and thriving. Don`t beat yourself up about it. Those growth spurts are exhausting be kind to yourself.

YANBU. Do what you feel like doing. You have done amazingly well to bf for this long

I felt very similar at 6 weeks and was persuaded to continue with the 'it gets easier' and 'bottles=faff' arguments but for me neither were true. Switching to bottles at 7 months was one of the best decisions I've made. I found it so much easier and me and DD were much, much happier.

6 weeks is a tough stage, but as others have said you are very near the cusp where everything changes and the hard work you've already done really pays off, I was 8 weeks. If you do want to continue try to perservere for another couple of weeks and you should have it nailed. Ask you dp to support you more over the next couple of weeks too.

I can't answer your question - only you should be the one to decide what is right for you, your baby and your family. Saying that it really does get easier as your baby gets older, and the cluster feeding will reduce to the point that it just won't even happen anymore! I don't believe your health visitor is giving great advice. Breastmilk changes throughout the day and so will be different at different times. A quick Google lead me to some information that morning milk is fattier, however night milk contains things to aid sleep and morning milk does not anthrodoula.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/how-breast-milk-changes.html?m=1 Here is a different article that discusses the changes www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/6255205/Why-breast-milk-helps-babies-sleep-at-night.html
Just thinking it may be keeping baby awake to give morning milk also unless you express in the evening also, I think it could have an affect on your supply.

Take each feed as it comes and make sure you pop to the loo and have plenty of food and water (and TV remote) on hand before you start, baby can wait the couple of seconds it takes to do this and it will help you feel more comfortable. At least that helped me because I wasn't sitting there waiting to be able to do those things.

Compromise with mixed feeding. Even one bottle a day might take the pressure off.

(It's also good to introduce your baby to a bottle if you're thinking of going back to work in the next few months... they're more adaptable now than later on when habits are more stuck)

@yorkshapudding I just wanted to say that I screen shot your sentence: "You should do whatever you need to do to ensure that you're happy, healthy and relaxed enough to be able to enjoy your baby."

After weeks of seeing my husband, friends and family enjoy time with my baby while I sat exhausted, I am currently standing by my stove top sterilising those bottles that I got from my baby shower- to give mixed feeding a go- and hopefully rid myself of the unhappiness that has come with watching others enjoy my baby in a way I have not been able to so far. I have been pushing through for a while, trying to rid myself of the guilt that came with having a caesarean birth and trying to 'make up for it' by breastfeeding- to provide a 'natural' anchor in my son's life that I perceived I had not given him, but had so desperately wanted, at his birth. With low iron- recovering from surgery and sleepless nights, your quote resonated with me that this issue is beyond my guilt or my stubbornness to hit a special 'week number', or guilt myself at another's judgement, this is all about enjoying life, the life we want to enjoy and celebrate as mothers. And your sentence summed that all up! So thank you :) The only natural thing I feel now as I type this, is love... and that comes in many forms; breast bottle and beyond!

P.S- I also screen shot @Sighing "If you do switch to formula nothing bad will happen. If you persevere, chances are nothing bad will happen." and @Runningupthathill82 "Trust me, when your DC is two and stealing jelly babies out of the cupboards by clambering up chairs, this won't seem anywhere near as important as it does right now."

That last sentence made me smile so much that I thought- I hope I have a giggle about that one day in the future, when my son steals some lollies from our cupboard and I will remember back to this day when I made a decision not based off another's experience, or a special number of weeks or months told to me by someone who was not me, but that was best for myself and my family.
I feel so liberated- so in charge, so motherly!
For the first time since 'becoming a mum'.
Words are special, but the people behind them are more so- so thank you for choosing kind words so that I could read them today and have hope, instead of the blackness of judgement. :)
And I will endeavour to always choose kind words myself, online and off, because it is a choice in the way in which we speak and interact- and often can change someone's life completely- for better, or worse. In this forum's case- words have impact on mother's, and little tiny babies, and children, so I guess they must be chose even more wisely.