How do I change from ebf to ff

[Cupcakemummy85]

After doing 12 weeks of struggling with breast feeding I'm ready to throw in the towel. Dd is 12 weeks and has really been an up hill struggle the whole time. Tongue tie, cmpi, I've had to give up all food practically, reflux, colic, oversupply, the list goes on. I never had this with dd1 and fed her until 8 months and could've carried on much longer. I feel very sad but I feel I've tried everything, phoned all the helplines, gone to bf groups etc and now I feel I'm trapped and it's making me very depressed. Dd never seems satisfied and I can't even eat my evening meal with my family.
So anyway, how do I do this? Do I refuse the breast and hope that she takes the bottle? I can't remember what I did with dd1 feels like ages ago and she's only 21 months now lol

Well done with 12 weeks with all the challenges you've had. You've done good lady!

I'd advise cutting down gradually for your sake, especially if you're prone to oversupply - going cold turkey will make you very uncomfortable and likely to get blocked ducts & mastitis. I think the generally recommendation is to swap one feed for a ff per day. If you start feeling uncomfortably full even with this though then you can express off enough to make you comfortable but not so much that you stimulate your supply.

I've no experience with bottle refusers so fingers crossed your dd is ok with the bottle - other people will be on I'm sure who have experience with dealing with this.

I know nothing at all about this so do ignore me, but if you've got oversupply would it be easyish to express some bm to get her used to that in a bottle first, then gradually cut down on the expressing and switch the ebm to ff?

Have you discussed this with a HV/Dr. If your baby has CMPI changing to a formula may be very tricky. Also, a lot of the problems you've had may not be solved by bottle feeding/formula feeding. Sorry to hear it's all been so hard.

It sounds as though whichever course you take you are going to need more real life support than you are getting at the moment. Bear in mind some of this will be to do with the utter exhaustion you must be feeling, and with some real life practical support, you may be able to get a bit more rest before you make any major decisions or embark on a new path.

Good luck.

Thank you. I spoke to the doctor before we left for our holiday and she gave us special formula and said she will take it if she's hungry. In the middle of the night dd feeds fine however, she won't go in her crib and has to sleep with me. I'm just so fed up with the wrestling matches I have to have with her in public when I try to feed her, the screaming, the feeding her medicine with teaspoons and her getting distressed. My diet is getting more and more restricted and I'm generally so fed up. I'm really hoping formula will just settle her that little bit more and make her the happy baby I know she wants to b. she doesn't seem happy with my milk. I had been doing block feeding for a whole and then just the other day it all came squirting out again because she had t

..... Told my body to produce more again. Breastfeeding is a mine field and it's one of the most stressful things about having children. Sad really.