I hate breastfeeding - should I give up?

[Minitant]

DD2 is two weeks old. On paper, feeding is going perfectly - she is gaining weight well, has a great latch and is settling in to a rough pattern of three hours between feeds.

I can't stand feeding though. I don't have the patience for the hour long mega sessions. I seem to have fallen into a trap where my DD can only fall asleep on the breast too, so putting her down can be a real challenge (especially with a very active toddler around). Despite numerous bf cushions and pillows, I can never find a comfortable position. I have huge norks, and hate having to get my whole boob out at each feed (I know this will soon improve).

I have introduced a daily bottle, so at least I'll soon be able to get a brief respite (though she still wants to bf immediately after a bottle to fall asleep). I have had no luck with a dummy yet, but will persevere.

I'm seriously tempted to wean DD off the boob over the course of the next week or so, but terrified I won't find another way of settling her.

Shall I give up? Can you remind me of how much easier and quicker it gets? Tell me I should suck up the discomfort/annoyance for my daughter's health and happiness?

It does get easier, she's only 2weeks. It'll take her a while to get really efficient at bf, just like you. I like the mixed feeding approach, it worked for me.

Give both of you a chance to settle, can you not get someone to look after the toddler / stick toddler in front of cbeebies for the meantime? It'll all change in two more weeks, then another two weeks again, and you'll wonder what happened... I hope... :)

I think you're amazing, I'm a FTM and I think if I have another it'll have to be bottle feeding. I hate Bf too for the same reasons, not painful or difficult just takes so much bloody time. There are days literally all I seem to do is sit and nurse her. Things did improve for me once I could express a bottle's wort so dh could take the graveyard shift. At 5 weeks she seems to calming down on the cluster feeding a little... I have friends tell me they deeply regret stopping breastfeeding but I think you need to do whatever is going to keep you sane. Maybe give it a little more time and talk it through with your health visitor?