How to get over not breastfeeding

[Dovetale]

My baby is 6 months old, she is bottle fed. I intended to breastfeed but we had a lot of problems which can be summarised as she wouldn't latch and I couldn't express.

I still can't get over it. I give myself a hard time about it every day and it is clouding my enjoyment of these early months. If anyone felt similarly and has moved on can you tell me what helped you.

Thank you all so much. It's good to have a different perspective on what happened and some useful advice for next time.

I think Star is right that a different baby will be a different experience and it may heal this for me. Though I am likely to have another small (and therefore sleepy/low blood sugar) baby according to the consultant so I needed to understand what went wrong this time so I give myself a better chance.

Jaggy I was thinking that every three hours seemed not very much compared to what my friends who are breastfeeding talk about.

WouldBe I think we suffered from a lack of continuity in care and advice first we were told to pump and I had to go to a room in the hospital where the only coaching on how to pump was "press this button, do one side for ten minutes, then do the other side" I sat there crying and no one had any advice when I said nothing was coming out. Then I was told by the baby cafe not to pump but to hand express. I looked up the method you mentioned and I don't think I was doing it properly. Then the community midwife when we came home said I should be doing both. I think I was so exhausted and desperate for it to work that I just did what I was told.

My two were both diddly, less than 6 and a half pound babies, both a few days early, that's about the only similarities there are between them.

I had similar issues with DD and managed to BF for only three very difficult weeks, during which time the stress ofit drove me loopy.

As soon as I stopped I felt calmer and more in control and DD was clearly more content.

But I still beat myself up over it and felt a failure. DD had also been an emergency C-section and I felt like a failure about that as well.

The turning point for me was when I realised that had she been born a hundred years earlier or in a third world country, we would not be here - the C-section would not have been an option and we'd both probably have died. And had I not been able to breast feed DD, she would have perished as there would have been no alternative.

It sounds simplistic but that flipped it for me and I started to feel very lucky rather than guilty!

Dove, I could almost have written your post - my DD was premature, small, jaundiced & sleepy.

Despite expressing night & day, initially by hand & then pump, trying biological nurturing, skin to skin, nipple shields, rooming in before discharge etc etc, DD wasn't able to latch on & my supply wasn't adequate - 20ml from my right breast after a month of expressing round the clock - bloody depressing!

I had great support from scbu, both in hospital & at home. I persevered for a month, putting myself under immense pressure & to the detriment of my 4 year old, who was plonked in front of a tv all day every day as I desperately tried to express after every feed, get her to latch on etc. I didn't leave the house for a month.

Despite all this, it didn't work. I spent most of that month in tears, feeling so miserable as I wasn't BF.

It was hell on earth & a relief to stop, although I still feel sad to this day.

I'm not sure if I will ever get over it, but I have moved on & am just trying to enjoy my DD, as I couldn't do that during the month I was too busy trying to BF.

Please don't feel bad. You tried bloody hard! Be kind to yourself & enjoy your baby xxx

SavoyCabbage put it beautifully. Breast feeding CAN be beautiful but if anyone thinks it's the most important thing you can do for your child then they are seriously unhinged. I breasted for 8 months and weaned to solids in the most hideously smug, home-cooked, 'he'll eat anything' way. Now as a toddler he won't eat anything if it's not beige and covered in breadcrumbs. Go figure!

BUT I will love him fiercely when he screws up and through the hard times and will go to all his major events. THAT matters! Enjoy your baby and wait for the day the wee chubby hands grab you and they say "I luff oo mummy". It's worth it!

Hi there
This thread is like a godsend to me as I am going through something very similar and feeling incredibly down about it.
After 7 weeks of trying and 2 bouts of thrush, mastitis and finally a huge breast abscess which saw me in hospital for 4 days in total (in & out) and it being a stressful and agonising experience feeding each time, I made the agonising decision to stop Breastfeeding and am now finding it very difficult to cope with. I met my NCT friends this week and burst into tears when they started Breastfeeding. I keep second guessing myself but know that I would be going around in circles and spending my days in hospital with baby which can't be good if I continued. Doc has said as I am prone to nipple thrush it makes it more likely I'd get mastitis again if I got a blocked duct which then could mean another abscess. I remember lying in hospital with baby next to me, having my breast drained and sobbing and that was when I decided to stop.
I have now feelings of guilt and real shame when out and about and feeding him; and intense jealousy at my friends who have no or little problems doing it.
Any support or words of wisdom to help me get through this would be greatly appreciated as I feel I am in a lose lose scenario. I only had a week where Breastfeeding went well but on reflection it always hurt and I always woke up incredibly engorged, and baby was on the breast permanently also. It makes me feel awful as supply was not the problem, infection was. I keep looking back to that week and feeling guilty and sad, I was so happy then and felt like such a great Mum, now I feel like a failure and just so sad!
If anyone is in the Wandsworth area of London and is going through something similar I would love to chat.

I'm not in London, I'm not even in England but I wanted to give you a wee VQ and say you are not a failure. You're doing beautifully, and the best you can. Your baby needs you and he needs you home and well. And you've given him the best start you can, now you've got the rest to do, the weaning, the falling over, the kissing it better, the snotty cuddles at 2am and that amazing moment at 6am when you walk to the cot and he smiles at you like you're the only person in the world who matters and you forget you were pissed off that you had to get out of bed at 6am.

Just wanted to say I actually ended up in tears after having read this thread. Dovetale, just wanted to give you a massive hug. I know how you feel, I tried so hard to bf DS, never worked. I ended up expressing for 8 weeks-hard work!!! DS had bad reflux and was screaming ALL the time, I didn't have the time to pump. I still feel guilty about it (DS is nearly 6months) although I would never admit it in RL. But I know for sure that I can still be a good mum, it's not bf itself that makes you a good mum, there's much more to it!!! And you sound like a lovely person, so just enjoy your DD and all the cuddles and love you can give her!

How cathartic to read all of this!! I have also had to make the difficult decision to give up bf after 5 weeks. I had 5 bouts of mastitis in 5 months (twice with 5 week old DS and 3 times with dd 2 years ago!) and during the latest bout (2weeks ago) my left breast stopped producing milk altogether. I just became so anxious about mastitis returning I decided the best decision for me and my whole family was to switch to formula. I am RIDDLED with guilt but my midwife gave me the best advice which was "make peace with your decision and go and enjoy our baby". She's right, life's too short.... My baby is thriving and happy, I'm a healthier, happier, less anxious mummy.
You tried, you did your best some people never bf or can't for health reasons. Your love, devotion and nurturing is far more important than being able to produce milk. Keep smiling.

This has helped me so much as I felt exactly the same ds was mildly ill at the start and not alert enough to feed I expressed which was given via a tube and the cup. I 'gave in' and used a bottle at 1 week so we cud go home although the did offer us to s o establish feeding.
I tried and tried but ds would not latch properly. I expressed every 2-3hrs for the first 2wks and never managed to fully give ds ebm. I felt u had failed as a mother. I reduced and then gave up expressing at 7wks because I was still only getting small amounts and I just didn't have the time, and wante to ge out and about more.
I think I will always feel like I hav failed that part of mother hood but I am more then making up for it in other ways. We are both happy and healthy.
At first I avoided feeding ds in public and panicked when people asked me about feeding. I though everyone would like was rubbish and dint live ds but as I hav met more mothers I hav been suprised at how many dont bf.
I keep telling myself at 6mths it won't matter ( as much)
I always had the impression that lazy, unloving selfish women didn't bf and I hate that I thought that, it's soo not the case!

Why had I only seen the images of happy breast feeding women and never heard about stories like these. Bf is hard! People should no that!