please someone tell me its ok to switch to formula...

[MrsDavies]

I know its OK in the sense that my DS will be perfectly healthy and well fed (I was ff as a baby so have no issues). its just that during my pregnancy I always wanted to breastfeed. my labour and pregnancy werent exactly smooth sailing and I thought at least if I could breastfeed I could do something right.

my DS is 3 and half months old and I now have mastitis. I have been so Ill the past 2 days I haven't been able to be a proper mummy and feel guilty about that, and I went to give him his feed before bed and no milk would even come out he was just screaming bless him so I had to give him a bottle of formula.

I'm just thinking is it worth carrying on? is this mastitis going to be reoccurring? if I can't even feed him then how can I continue? but on the other hand I love the closeness and the bond, and the feeling when I feed him. I am feeling guilty about just thinking about switching to formula

Three months is fab.

If you think you are going to make yourself feel bad through guilt (which I cannot recommend) then maybe find a way to carry on using the good ideas on here. But if you can get over the guilt (which I strongly advise in all aspects of parenting) then just stop and get on with the rest of your mothering life. I stopped at 3 months, incidentally, and have not given it a moment's thought since because it does become, through rearview mirrors, a relatively unimportant aspect of a lifelong relationship, but if it will cut you up to do it, then it might be more difficult for you to stop without causing yourself pain.

BTW there is no "right" about pregnancy and birth and breastfeeding. It's all a huge crapshoot and a huge physical trauma whether it goes "well" in a textbook fashion or not. So don't start thinking that you and your body are at fault somehow - bloody nature makes it bloody difficult, that's all.

Thank you everyone. I'm going to the GP today to have a check up on my mastitis so will see what he says about that. I think if I can find a way of preventing mastitis I would like to carry on. I was very emotional last night so I really appreciate all of your kind words and support.

There are many ways to nurture a baby, feeding is just one of them.

You get cuddles and closeness with ff too, so do dads.

Welcome to the guilt of motherhood, OP...

You don't need permission from anyone other than yourself to make this decision. Although BF is normally brilliantly beneficial for both of you, if it is making you ill that is not good.

I only had mastitis once OP and I breastfed two babies for a long time (won't bore you with the details!) Having mastitis once definitely doesn't sentence you to getting it repeatedly. GPs are not necessarily the best at giving good advice for dealing with mastitis - mine told me to stop feeding on that side, which is the worst possible thing that can be done! Bfn helpline above will help if you want to talk things through. Good luck, and I really hope you feel better soon. Parenting is hard enough work when you're feeling well!

Please don't make any hasty decisions! Mastitis is awful, and you just can't think straight when you feel so ill and baby is screaming for milk and it's just not there. I know this as I have just gone through it. I had mastitis over the weekend, but didn't realise what it was till monday and I got to the GP straight away to get antibiotics. Felt like death for 3 days. Couldn't eat a thing, could hardly drink. Not good at all for milk supply.

I started to feel less fluey 24 hours after starting the antibiotics and within 36 hours most of the breast pain and inflammation had gone. When the antibiotics startcworking, they start working quickly. I'm on day 4 of the antibiotics, and apart from the latch being painful (DD chewed my nipple raw trying to get milk, poor thing!) I'm feeling 100% again. My milk supply is still a bit low, so I'm concentrating eating/drinking well, resting and feeding as often as possible (or expressing) to get my body making the milk again.

A few tips are

1. Feed, feed, feed. Keep the affected breast drained of milk. This will be painful at furst until the antibiotics kick in, but it's really important.

1. Rest. Do nothing, get support from whoever you can. The housework can wait

1. Take a good probiotic (tablets and yogurt) - antibiotics increase the risk of developing nipple thrush, and that's the last thing you want after mastitis

1. To help with your milk supply, when you start to feel better eat oats and take fenugreek supplements. Both are known to help increase milk supply. Drink, drink, drink and eat as healthily as you can.

1. Continue to nurse frequently even after the pain has gone as this will also help get your supply back.

If you need to top up with formula, of course that is ok (thankfully I had some frozen expressed milk, which I had to use to top up as I didn't have enough milk)

If you decide to switch fully to formula, of course that is ok too - but I wouldn't recommend doing it now as you must drain your breasts regularly at the moment to get rid of thecmastitis.

It might seem so hard and upsetting at the moment, but you will get better and your milk will come back. Good luck!

Hi MrsD. I hope you're feeling better today.

Had a bit of a rough day to be honest. My GP told me if the antibiotics haven't worked by monday she will have to refer me to the hospital for IV antibiotics, and hopefully prevent an absess.

I have been feeding DS as much as I can on the affected side but the hard bit is still there its just not shifting :(

Poor you, mama

Have you tried a variety of acrobatic nursing positions to clear the blockage? I've heard electric toothbrushes can help too.

It may be necessary for a 2 week course of ABs as 1 week may not be enough to control it.

Happy mummy = happy baby xx

Yes you need the baby's chin to be pointing in the direction of the blockage which can mean lying them face up on a bed and dangling a boob over them to reach which can be a pain.

The other thing I found good was standing in a warm shower and combing it with a very wide toothed comb, lots of soap (so not scratchy) and blunt teeth on the comb if you can - I used one of those crocodile teeth type hair grips/clips.

Also hand expressing (pump doesn't put pressure in the right place) and sort of massaging it as you do so.

Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory and is safe to take while BFing. May help with the pain as well.

MrsD, I'm so sorry you're feeling bad still. Run yourself a nice bath and try some hand expressing with your breast underwater and some massage on the affected areas.

Do you have a breastfeeding support group near you that you can go to tomorrow? They can help you find the most effective feeding position to drain the blockage too.

Keep eating and drinking well and take paracetamol and ibuprofen.

Feel better soon x

yes there is a bfing group near me but it is on a Monday. its quite painful to feed him which i think is affecting my let down. I'm worried I'm not feeding him enough

I have tried massaging and warm showers/flannels and I will keep trying. I just haven't got the energy. all I want to do is sleep at the moment.

I'm also really confused about stopping bfing or not. the problem i have is that I am making too much milk for my DS too drink so I am likely to get mastitis again as my breast won't be getting drained properly, unless I pump after every feed which would restrict me to not going out for longer than 2 hours at a time. but I love the closeness of bfing and the bond you feel with your baby. I know In a couple of years this will seem like such a small part of his life but at the moment its everything.

I guess I'm feel selfish for feeling like I dont want to risk getting mastitis again and so am considering switching to formula

You absolutely need real life support. You don't have to wait until
Monday - NCT & BFN have trained specialists who can come to your home. You don't need to be a member of any organisation - just phone the helpline and pour your heart out. They will help you.

I had mastitis. Twice. I also had chronic oversupply. I can't guarantee that it won't come back, but I can give you pointers to minimise the risk.

Take care of yourself. It's hard with a demanding baby, but you must stay hydrated and well fed and rested. Don't do what I did and skip meals in order to keep on top of the housework!

Wear a well fitting nursing bra. Both times I had mastitis I wore a "pretty" lacy nursing bra. I suspect it may have had something to do with it. The Bravado seamless silk bras changed my life! They are stretchy so don't constrict you even if you have a swollen day.

If baby misses a feed, express. Don't let yourself get engorged.

The first 3 or 4 months are tricky. Your baby grows enormously both physically and mentally and your body nerds to adjust to their feeding patterns and demands. There will come a time soon when you and baby will sync up and your supply will match demand. You'll even be able to ditch the breast pads!

I heard on a documentary that donated breast milk is fed to babies in hospital . Would that be an option for excess milk ?

the thing with my DS is that his feeds are all over the place, so I don't really know if he "misses" a feed IYSWIM. I think I will just see how it goes over the weekend and see what the doctor says Mondays and go from there. its making me so emotional Im finding it hard to think about it without getting upset.

You sound so lovely. However things pan out with your feeding adventure, you have done brilliantly and benefitted your boy.

Be kind to yourself. You are a lovely mum.

thank you nancerama, you are lovely too! my DH says I need to stop thinking about the time I won't have feeding him if I switch to ff, and focus on the fact that I have managed to ebf my DS for 16 weeks. which I am proud of. and as I hear him fluffing in his sleep lying next to my bed in his Moses basket he makes me smile

Loads of sympathy from me. I had recurring mastitis with ds2, and the first bout was so bad, I thought I was dying. Afterwards, I felt washed out for weeks.

In my case, it was due to an overactive thyroid. I fed through it each time, but at 4 months, decided to mix feed.

I fed a formula feed every other feed, but kept the morning, lunchtime, evening and night feeds as breastfeeds. We did this until 7 months, my supply gradually reduced.

I was fairly flexible, though. I'd formula fed ds1 from 10 days, and had been through the whole guilt thing, only to realise that he was strong, thriving, healthy and we had a close bond.

yes I think the bond thing bothers me because I love being the only one who can feed him! I know!its selfish but I do. and its a great excuse to get out of letting people babysit to give me a "break". I don't need a break thanks, I quite enjoy looking after my DS.

Well done on bf for so long. After battling mastitis and bf thrush I eventually gave up at 6 weeks due to babys reflux.
Felt v guilty, but saw after a few days how much happier we both were. Happy mum=happy baby. For us it was absolutely the right decision for so many reasons. Only you can decide, but if its right for you don't waste time on feeling guilty. Advice is just advice, not a hard set if rules that everyone must follow. Your baby has the important milk from you now so do whatever works for you both. Good luck. X

.mrs Davies, do you have a LLL group near you? It sounds like you could do with some RL bf support to help you through this. It sounds like you don't want to stop, so you need support to keep going.

How are you feeling this morning?

Definitely get some support. Mastitis is bloody awful. BFing helpline no. 0300 100 0212.

FWIW I have fed DS for 17 months and only got it once. I did live in fear of it though for a while. I also have over supply and loads of milk. As I was totally clueless, I expressed which just made it worse They do settle down eventually and your supply regulates more to your babies needs.

Which antibiotics are you on? A 7-10 day course of Flucloxacillin is recommended for mastitis. I was given co-amoxiclav initially which did nothing before switching.

I also recommend hand expressing in a hot bath as much as possible to get rid of the blockage. Feed or express from that side as much as you can (within reason obv). Popping a cold compress on after a feed also helps. Take ibuprofen if you can to help with the inflammation & reduce the swelling so the blockage can pass though. It took about a week for me to clear it and it came out like cheese strings!

"I guess I'm feel selfish for feeling like I dont want to risk getting mastitis again and so am considering switching to formula."

Now come on. It is NOT selfish in anyway to want to avoid getting sick.

:)

There's no right answer here.

But your baby is 3 months old and you need to be able to leave the house for more than a couple of hours at a time (providing you want to do that, of course).

Do you think that switching to formula will feel like a blessed relief once it's done and the sad feelings about missing it are over?

Why won't your supply diminish naturally?

Expressing the "extra" after each feed is only going to make the oversupply issue worse, surely?

I wonder what happened in the end? I hope you got the support you needed. Has the mastitis cleared up now? >>hugs