What do you wishd youd known before you had stopped bfeeding?

[filtered]

have bf my lo for 7 months but had a bad couple of weeks cold, coughs sickness and finding it tough thinking of giving up as have been giving fromula this week , but then I know this tiredness etc will soon pass.

DD and I stopped when she was 7 months cos I knew bottles would help me get more sleep more quickly.

I wish I had realised that that would come in time, but bottles wouldnt always mean more sleep.

Even with bottles I still had major sleep issues.

If i get the chance for another I will try really hard to bf for longer
I hope that might encourage you

I gave up at 6 weeks with DD because she wouldn't latch on properly. I kept expressing for a while but got about an ounce a day so gave up entirely at 8 wks

I wish I'd known how much help there is available. NCT, La Leche - if I'd had the courage to speak to my HV, she could have referred me to a breastfeeding clinic. I also wish I'd known about MN back then because there are some great threads supporting people having problems.

I wish I'd known tht with better support I could have carried on.

there is lots of anecdotal stories that bf is hard around 7 8 9 months, I have 6 children and always stopped around this time, one I managed to feed for 10 months but she was ready to stop sooner. however... my 6th a late addition I have only just stopped feeding at 16ths. It is hard, and you have done so well my ds still asks for milk and I have let him latch on mostly through feeling so sad that i've stopped but also cos i think there is so little milk there he won't want to keep doing it and then I won't feel so bad at denying him. do whatever is right for you. I have 5 well adjusted (most of the time) children who are not traumatised by stopping bf. its how you feel that counts

I wish I'd had more warning that it was coming to an end

I thought ds was going to carry on for a lot longer, and I was taking it for granted

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hesta - if you think you have so little milk, why dont you just feed more often and your supply will increase

on reply to OP, I wish I had known that my baby was self weaning, he stopped quite quickly when I was 6 months pregnant

I wish I'd known that ds2 was failing to thrive because he was suffering from a respiratory infection contracted on a filthy NHS hospital ward. I wish I'd known that the doctor/HV who accused me of starving him on purpose, forced me (with threats) to stop breastfeeding THAT DAY and put him on 'hungry baby' formula, then soya formula and forced me to take him to see a paediatrician to have my treatment of him assessed were ignorant and wrong. I wish I had known that I wasn't just neurotic to keep banging on about his persistent coughing, wheezing and projectlie vomiting in the face of total ignorance and non-cooperation from every health professional who saw him. I wish I had known that the the right response to the GP who told me I was "not good milking stock" and that my baby was "getting nothing out of my milk" would have been a swift kick in the nuts, rather than terrified obedience. I wish I had known about MN!!

does anyone know how long it takes for your milk to dry uP? ie can you have a couple of days off then start again?

Nothing. I feel comfortable about my choices.

at greensleeves' experience

Greeny

I wish I'd known that dd would grow - so brilliantly - to be the great strapping enormous girl she is now.
I wish I'd known that my HV was talking out her arse when she casually mentioned malabsorption syndrome.
I wish I'd known that weight charts don't really mean much.

I have loads of hard-luck stories franca, and they're all true!!

No use crying over spilt milk though I suppose (pardon the pun)

Filtered - I'm no expert obviously but I think it takes more than a couple of days to dry up. Do you have a breast pump? Or you could hand express for a while.

Maybe start a new thread with that question in this section and some of the unofficial MN experts will come along with some great advice for you...

loved the pun greensleeves.
Sorry you and your baby had to go through this. Can't believe they didn't spot a respiratory infection (I'm getting addicted to the shocked emoticon, by the way)

Kristina
am in two minds, ds not that bothered most of the time and has big teeth! but....decided to stop when I was feeling like I couldn't face one more morning when only I and my ravaged bosooms would do (think I had a hangover!)and just wanted someone else to be able to soothe him. now its really hard, he still wants too and would feed several times a day, but I am wondering whether or not i feel sad cos its just that passing feeling that so many other ms have expressed here, do we always feel wistful when we stop no matter when that is?

I love the shocked emoticon, and the one, I would LOVE to be able to pull that face in real life. It would be appropriate for about 75% of my everyday life, I think

ps also you definatly can start again after a couple of days, i did this for a good while before milk reduced considerably

I agree Greeny. I just want plastic surgery so I can look like this permanently. It will be so restfu;

LOL.
I'm actually always a bit like , I have a squint

That making up bottles and using fomula is such a faff.

greensleeves - i am so and to read your story
hesta - my toddler has big teeth too but thankfully doesnt bite or he gets dumped on teh floor sharpish. dont knwo about feeling wistful as i havent stopped yet...am scared to as thsi is my last baby

I wish someone had just told me babies were hard work no matter how you feed, instead as making me feel ff was the answer to all the problems.

I wish I hadn't bowed down to feeling like he 'should be weaned' and left it more up to him...he ended weaning suddenly when I started the system of don't offer, don't refuse and I was totally unprepared for it, really wish I had continued to offer frequently whenever I felt he needed a boost emotionally or nutritionally...miss it terribly (weaned at 16months)

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