Am I a bad mother??!!!

[banthambabe]

I know what I am about to say might be outrageous but... ds 4 months has always breastfed very well put on loads of weight and though it was a MAJOR battle now will drink from the bottle. Am I the only mum who gets bored of breastfeeding, and am wanting to change to a bottle I feel like I have done my bit and want to go on to bottles so that other people can have a go. Not rushing into this but am thinking of weaning onto bottle. I never really got the joy of breastfeeding thing even though I had no complications just liked the convenience of it. Is that terrible!

Could you maybe do a bit of both ? I've just stopped b/f dd who is 9 months this weekend. She's always been distractable & frankly a pain to feed plus I've been working FT for last 3 months so she was exclusively b/f to 6 motnhs but for a while after she was on b/f evening & night but bottle of expressed or ocassional formula in the day time.
COuld that work for you? - he would still have benefit of some breast milk but you wouldn't be tied to him all day.

banthanmbabe, you have got thru the hardest bit of breastfeeding, and at 4/5 mths u can have it down to 3 feeds a day - i did on no.2 and i felt so much better for it. i was able to have a bit of freedom back during the day and in the evening.
i must admit i enjoyed it once igot over the demand thing.
you can do bohth but you have to enjoy and if youre not then wean. babys got a great start as they say and well done oyu.

banthamababe - do what feels right for you and what suits you best

i b/f for 7 months until ds decided he'd had enough - thankfully - for i had had enough too - for me, there was no "joy of breastfeeding" even though i kept waiting for that to arrive! i did it purely for the wellbeing of my son, and i am glad that i did, but i was also glad when he had had enough of it and wanted a bottle

No - you are not a bad mother.

My friend was just like you, she had no problems doing it, did just not enjoy it much and felt tied down by it. she got so worked up over whether or not to stop and felt so guilty I was worried she was getting depressed. I bf for a long time and loved it and I think she thought I would tell her not to stop. Yes breast milk has been proven to be better than formula but it will not have a major impact on you childs health. Most of us including me are 70's babies and all bottle fed and we are alive and kicking.

If you want to stop then do, dont let anyone make you feel like you have to continue. 4 months is a great start, you should be proud for doing it that long. Start by replacing one feed every few days, usually best to drop the late morning one first.

Good luck

ps. You are a great mummy for worrying about it!

The real joy of breastfeeding for me didn't arrive until around 9 months. Now I LOVE it, its so much fun having a toddler giggling in delight everytime you lift them up to feed.
Before that I loved that I was doing the best I could, and I loved the convenience of not using bottles but I didn't have the joy in feeding that I have now.

Do what makes you happy.Despite being a huge b/feeding fan it was not easy for me to 'go with the flow' (very hyper person,always wanting to be doing something!)

I did b/feed for 30 mths and 11 mths respectively though. Glad to start and glad to stop.

(Must say however that after 16 weeks was much lessdemanding and incredibly convenient.)

If you're a bad mum then I am too. I really don't enjoy bf and feel really tied down by it (as well as bored!). It is quite convenient, but since my DS (7 weeks) takes Colief drops I also have to express every day and sterilise and heat bottles. So not completely convenient!

Perhaps you could try expressing and giving baby some breastmilk even if it's not exclusive.

Will you not also feel tied down by having to make up bottles? Then find somewhere convenient to warm milk, figure out how muany bottles to take with you and how to keep them sterile and cool till its time to feed? And by having to make your brying baby wait while you get feeds ready? I worked as a nanny for ten years, so have done bottlefeeding lots, and the thought if all that hassle was always enough to keep me breastfeeding.. plus all the extra illnesses they can get and how much harder it is to comfort them when you can't just pop them to the breast?

No, it is not terrible. You have obviously thought about it a lot and four months is a good amount of breast feeding so just make the switch and don't feel bad about it. if you are happy then baby will be happy.