Am I being unreasonable to give my baby a bottle?

[parkersnose]

Baby is 8 days old and breastfeeding well. I am in excruciating pain. Both nipples are bleeding in between feeds. Would I be asking for trouble to give him one bottle of formula tonight to give my breasts a break? Has anyone tried this so early on? I plan to speak to midwife tomorrow regarding this but in the meantime I am desperate.

I pumped from my bleeding nipple for 5 days. dd was 2 weeks old, i would feed from ok side then pump from cracked nipple side while she was asleep, and then feed her the bottle when she woke up (never much more than an hour later), and feed from ok side when she had finished it if she needed more.

My word that sounds awful. I had cracked bleeding nipples with my last one. It was awful and my midwife said it wasn’t right. He ended up having a bad tongue tie which was why my nipples were a mess. I did persevere using creams and he got his tie snipped. You do what ever is right for you. Speak to your midwife

YANBU to feed your baby xx

Are you using lansinoh cream? Before and after every feed?

Definitely give a bottle if you need to - combo feeding can work well. I know plenty who combo fed then went back to EBF. If you want to breastfeed I really do not recommend giving up now. As the first few weeks are the hardest then it becomes amazing and so much easier. I very nearly quit but I’m so glad I didn’t and went on to feed DD 14 months.

I just wish someone had told me ‘it will be really shit and sore for a few weeks then gets better’.

Good luck and congratulations on your new baby.