DH wants me to give up bf

[Yorkiegirl]

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BTW, when I went back to work (before going freelance, hooray!) I did just what Hercules does and it suited me and ds just fine.

Well done you for sticking it out. I gave up with ds at 7 weeks too, I was under a lot of stress and MIL was putting enormous pressure on to stop, and I bitterly regret it, ds was such an unhappy baby. I breastfed dd (3 years later) for eleven months, on demand, and she was the happiest, rolypoliest easy baby in the world (and I was a much happier mother).
Is your dh feeling left out in terms of a relationship with dd2? Did he do lots of feeds with dd1's bottle? If he's worried about you being tired, and she's happy on the breast, I can't see how changing to the bottle is going to help - like everyone else says, far more effort/lack of sleep with bottles. And the possibility of a less happy/healthy baby. I'm just repeating everyone else's views here, but send you lots of luck and support.

Oh, honey. My dp has been a bit weird not about b/fing but expressing, which I've done since going back to work when dd2 was five months old - he's been convinced it's exhausting me, running down my supplies (er??? I should point out I am Missis Moocow, the dame who once posted on MN that she'd got out nearly a pint that day etc - and he's now quietly pushing the idea that I should give up sometime soon (admittedly dd2 is nearly a year old, but it all seems to be going so well) because, he says, he worries that I'll lose calcium. He's a total darling, and a brilliant hands-on dad, but bizarre about breastfeeding.

Oh, and there's loads on MN about expressing (much of it prompted by me in panicky moments!).

I would advise some care if handexpressing. I've been trying it this week and ahem have sprayed many places in the house rather than actually getting the aim right....

Yorkiegirl ... you are doing such a great job!
I too gave up BF my DS far to early (first bottle at 5 weeks ... totally bottlefed by 7 weeks) ...
For that reason (and some others) I was totally determined to keep going for longer with DD ... and now 17 weeks on we are still going strong. My DH knew/knows how much it means to me and although I think he wouldn't mind having my boobs back he would dare to suggest I give up before I am ready. Like MI's DH he does worry that B/Fing is making me tired (I am exhausted at the moment) but again he knows that if he suggested that I gave up he would get an earful.
He also was a bottlefed baby and in a rare emotional moment a few months ago his mother admitted that she wanted to B/F but didn't because HER husband (DH's father) didn't like her to ...
She told DH the other day how fantastic it was that I was still B/Fing so I have had some support from an unexpected quarter there ...
Anyhoo... rambling now ...
Keep going hon, you are doing great!

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Could be talking out of my bum, but I thought breastfeeding helped the old calcium thing because you remineralise your bones better after breastfeeding. Someone, somewhere please come up with a link to the non gibberish version of what I have just said...

Washing bottles and making up feeds is tiring too. Breastfeeders do not have a monopoly on tiredness.

Yorkiegirl,
I just wanted to add my support here. I think your husband is feeling a little bit left out. It is not BF that makes you tired, coping with a toddler and a 9 week old baby is enough to make anyone tired!!
I went back to work when DD was 7 months old. I BF her mornings teatime and evening and she had 6 oz of expressed milk during the day. Don't worry yet about not being able to express enough. I had a similar problem when DD was 9 weeks old, but by the time I went back to work I got into a routine and found my most productive expressing times were roughly 10am and 5pm, so I just took my 'comfort breaks' then. BTW, try an electric pump for most productive expressing. (I think motherinferior has tested all of them - there is a thread somewhere).

Keep going you are doing great!!

Hi Yorkiegirl
Have read this thread with much interest - I think you are doing fantastically well, and so sorry your dh is not more supportive. He seems so opposed to you bf but hasn't really told you why (apart from you being tired). And how excatly is that impacting him? I'm serious, is he feeling left feeling burdened around the house (I'm not saying he shouldn't be doing stuff arond the house, don't get me wrong, just trying to see it from his pov, however distorted it may be!), or does he feel jealous that you are having so much time with the baby and coping so well, and he feels inadequate cos he doesn't have boobs that lactate, or does he feel he hasn't been able to bond with DD2 as she spends so much time feeding with you? Does he think you giving up bf will mean more "action" for him in the bedroom? C'mon there's more to this. It can't be about you returning to work for goodness sake, that's months away. The fact he tells people he has been "up all night" makes me think he wants to be more involved than he is (or at least be seen to be!). What do you think? Does any of this make sense?

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I'm so lucky. My husband fully supported me in feeding both of our children until DD was 16 months and DS (currently 13months) is still going strong. There was never the question of bottles - neither of them have ever had one- and therefore he managed to have sleep every night which was important for the type of job he did. I think that he also appreciated the enormous change in my boobs from 36B to a whopping 42E and now back down to a 36DD!! There are so many health advantages to breast feeding for both mother and baby that it was never an issue that I would do anything else. Hang in there everybody breastfeeding it is worth all the hard work in the early days and when they are older it is still a delight to feed. They are only little for such a short time that if you feel passionately about it then stick with it!!