Wanting to move from breastfeeding to formula - Help and advice needed please

[Sazhinks91]

Hello all :)
My little one is almost 3 weeks old and I've been BFing him since birth. However he was born quite small and he had a bad latch I believe, although all my MW's said we were both doing great. So on day 3 after coming home, my nipples were in agony. This has continued, regardless of the amount of cream, airing, shields and massages etc I have done. Within this last week, we've introduced 2 formula feeds and he's taken well to them. So after persevering, I have decided to stop breastfeeding completely and move to formula. I'm not enjoying BFing anymore and I believe that as I have gave it my best for two weeks, that my LO has had a good start but now my unhappiness, pain and stress has maxed out and I just want to go back to enjoying feeding my LO.

My question is, how do I move from BFing to formula fairly quickly without causing any upset to my LO? And any tips of how to dry my milk supply up quickly to avoid continued pain (I'm happy to express as and when to relieve the pain)

(sorry, I don't know how to do short explanations 😂)

Any help would be greatly appreciated x

Hi maybe slowly phase your baby off breastfeeding and slowly onto formula - i.e. Phase out a breastfeed every other day and replace it with formula - maybe that would be a paced change your baby would be comfortable with? You might need to pump in place of the breastfed but pump just enough to relieve pressure & prevents blocked ducts not so much you increase supply

You’ve def given your baby the best bit of your milk and if you feel switching to formula is best for you and baby then go for it - absolutely no judgement here I am a firm believer ‘fed is best’!
Only thing I wanted to say was that my nipples took a good (or bad) 5 weeks to properly settle, but then maybe I wasn’t having as bad an experience as you are.
Whatever you decide good luck and hope your nipples are ok soon