Have you ever given up breastfeeding?

[israel]

I have been reading the thread on breastfeeding being so painfull and everyones very helpful comments....I only wish you had all been around when I so wanted to get it right.
To this day I still feel as though there could have been more help for me.
With both my children I so wanted to bf...I have very big bossoms and not very big nipples. It was agony...I would cry with pain...my nipples became cracked and sore and baby just opened up the old wounds every time...eventually drinking blood and milk..horrible!...I tried lanosil..nipple sheild, leaving them to the open air but I eventually got mastitis and I couldn't even bare to hold my babies anymore...In al I struggled for 2 weeks with dd1 and 3 weeks with ds who is now 3...Only when I put both babies on formula did I begin to recover but even to this day I still felt a bit of a failure...However if I had seen anyone else go through what I went through I would have told them to give up sooner.
Has anyone else ever gone through the same and if so, at which point did you decide to stop bf?

Ta, mears

Ks . is it possible that when you hear 'you are not a failure if you can't' it isn't hypocrisy or someone being patronising you are hearing, but someone trying to put into words the fact that 'not breastfeeding' is a complex social, emotional and physiological situation, and the mother herself has no reason to shoulder the 'blame' for it? As a phrase, it's not something I ever say, as I don't like 'ordering' people to feel a certain way, though I will suggest a range of feelings they might select from

Is it that you rightly point out the llimitations of outside help - sort of, 'no use telling me not to feel guilty or a failure, because that's what I feel and it's inside me, and it's for me to deal with...you have a cheek telling me not to feel it!'

And if that's what you mean, then I understand how cross 'if you can't, you are not a failure' makes you feel.

This is such an emotional subject. We are all women trying to do the very best for our children and we shouldn't lose sight of that. I didn't breastfeed DS1. I wanted to, I tried and tried for days but when faced with a red-faced, hungry and hysterical little boy I did what I felt (then) was my only option and that was bottle feed him. Every time I went out and fed him I felt people were judging me, thinking what I bad mother I was for not BF him. Everytime I saw a BF mother I felt jealous and a bit sick, imagining what she must be thinking of me. I ended up with PND, really I think stemming from my 'failure' or whatever you want to call it to BF. Of course no one was judging me (or at least in an obvious way!), the only person making me feel guilty was me. Because BF is the best and I wanted to give him that.

I now have a daughter and I BF her for 3 months. I know in MN terms that isn't a long time but that was what felt right for me at the time. I don't really feel the need to justify that to people when they ask me about it.

I know this post isn't really adding anything but I feel a bit better. I really believe that we are own worst enemies. We should be supporting each other whatever.

I know that the support I got in both cases was excellent. I wish I had asked the NCT or whoever for help in the first case and was all set to for DD but didn't need it as I got such good help in hospital. The advice and support here is fantastic. I have never thought that any of the 'professional' BF MNers have rammed their views down my throat or been militantly anti-bottle feeding mums.

BF is the best start but there are so many other things you can do to give your baby a good start as they get older, healthy food etc.

Let's all just try and enjoy our babies, bottle fed, breast fed whatever. And let's support each other in our choices.