Brilliant news!!!

[wobblymum]

For anyone who read the "I want to give up" thread, I've got a bit more news but the other thread's already so long I thought I'd start a new one.

DD was last weighed on 24/7 and then she was weighed again today and she'd put on 1lb!!!! I couldn't believe it! Now she's past her birthweight (finally!!), with an extra 10oz added on!! I can't believe it took 6 weeks to get back to her birthweight but at least we've done it now!

I still wish I could have got the breastfeeding sorted but I did that almost exclusively for 4 weeks and she just kept losing weight, so I'm just glad she's feeding well now and putting on weight properly.

Anyone who kept up with the old thread knows how stressed I was getting with it all but now I've switched to formula I'm unbeliveably relaxed and dd's growing like god knows what! And she seems happy and content now, which is nice!

Not trying to do an advert for formula - if I could have achieved this with bf'ing I would have but dd had a bad start and it just wasn't to be. Now I realise that as long as your baby's happy, it doesn't matter what's officially best.

So thanks to everyone who gave me advice and stopped me going loopy through it all. Now I can wait for dd to turn me slowly loopy like every other parent!!

aahh what lovely news wobblymum.
You must be so relieved.

hurrah for you wobblymum. exactly the same happened to me - exclusively bf for 4 weeks, with the result that my dd weighed 6lbs instead of the 7lbs 6 she was born at at 4 weeks old - me a completely nervous, tense, bleeding nippled wreck. Ordered onto formula by paeds ("its that or we take her in and feed her by a tube through her nose" and she flourished immediately. And I turned into a different person. Didn't realise how unbelieveably stressed I was until I wasn't anymore, IYKWIM. Would have been lovely to have managed the bf, but I did my best and wasn't to be. Enjoy her!

well done loopster

so happy for you wobblymum....I think in this country they push breastfeeding a bit too much...but this is another subject.

The important thing is that your baby is thriving and you feel better!!! love

Glad things have worked out for you Wobblymum!

well done wobblymum!
I understand completely where you come from, I went through all of this as well, but only during ds 1st week of life, I then gave in because they forced me at the hospital to give him formula before I left.
When I went home thought I managed to build a good supply of milk and have now cut back a lot on the formula. He only gets a bottle or two a day nowadays (more when it's so hot )

Have you thought about mixed feeding? This way your little one would still get your milk, while you make sure he gets enough food by topping up with the formula.
Just an idea if you like the closeness that bfeeding brings, I did it because I missed that too much...

Thanks everyone!

happyspider - I really tried with mixed feeding when the bf'ing didn't work well, but that made me just as stressed because I kept having to fight with myself not to give her another bottle, just to make it easier. In the end I realised I had to choose between comitting to bf'ing or just bottle feeding. I wish I could have breast fed but we're both much happier with the bottle feeding so that's what it has to be.

princesspeahead - I never realised how many people switch to bottles just because bf'ing causes them so much stress - I always thought it was just because of cracked nipples, mastitis etc. So when I wanted to switch but didn't have any physical problem like that I felt really guilty. But I managed to forget about that to make a decision. I really feel for mums who have the stress AND the physical problems to deal with. But like you say, the most important thing is that I enjoy having her. For the first 4 weeks I almost hated to go near her because I knew it would be time to feed again soon. Now I love just sitting on the sofa playing with her.

I think the whole breastfeeding issue must be really hard to tackle. Breast feeding should be supported as much as possible but then that does make you feel bad if you want to bottle feed. Just another huge complicated issue!