Feeling guilty about giving up on BF?

[rayofsunshine87]

I have EB my 6 month old daughter. I am going back to work at the end of March and after trying expressing, it's just not going to be practical as I'm going back to work 4 days per week.

So I'm thinking about introducing formula.
I absolutely loved the breastfeeding for the convenience and the bonding.
But it's very tying, and I have to rely on family to look after her while I'm away.
I know in my head what I need to do but I can't help feeling like I'm letting my daughter down.

I have nothing against formula feeding (I hate the smell though) almost everyone I know does it and i completely support anyone's decision to feed their baby how they see for and don't owe anyone an explanation on anything. My friend had this problem of feeling guilty for moving to formula after struggling to BF.

I think I've taken for granted how easy it was for me and how much my daughter relies on me because of it. I'm being stupid, I think part of me is just feeling like I'm giving up a bit of control in the situation, and I should keep trying to express. But it just mist working.

Has anyone else felt like this?

I was only able to breastfeed for about an hour, I still feel guilty and my son is 8 years old! Totally irrational! You did your best so make peace with that and move on

You don't have to stop entirely, how about a morning and evening feed?
With that and food she may not want much milk during the day anyway

Your baby is old enough to get going pretty well with solids and it is also quite a good time to start feeding from a cup so personally I wouldnt bother with formula or a bottle. You can continue to breast feed morning and evening . Start gradually changing your feeding routine now and breast feed after each meal. If you are in the routine you will be doing for work at least 2 weeks before you go back to work all be well. Its a perfectly ok routine whether you work or not. No guilt required

You can also introduce full cream cows milk during the day (you do not need to wait until one year as it will not be her main milk intake)

I couldn’t express for first DC and then couldn’t even BF for third DC and still feel guilty about that and my DC is 9! I think it’s a normal feeling to have - but like PPS have said, you could still do one or two feeds a day.

Whatever you do, you are a great mum and things will work out. Live in the moment and look forward to and the benefits being back at paid work.

By almost 8 months, your baby may well be eating enough to not need a feed during the day and may well refuse formula from any vessel anyway but would be ok with food and water then possibly 'reverse cycle' i.e. BF more when you are together

Thanks for the replies. I never intended to ever formula feed, and if I was off for longer I would have persisted with BF and weaned her. I can't keep up with expressing even now. I love BF but it's tying, and it's purely because I'm back at work soon, I will be working shifts too so I won't have a set routine and she's still to young for cows milk. I'm going to seek some advice from the HV before I start. She takes a bottle now of expressed milk. I know it won't be the same and might have some problems.

When I returned to work when my son was 9 months I expressed regularly at work and all was fine. I worked three days a week and on those days he either had EBM or had formula, and then he was breast fed on the 4 days I was home with him.

Combi-Feeding is completely possible.

Prior to going back to work I could never express anything, but when I went back to work and was away from my baby and unable to feed him, I would be getting about 7-8oz off every 3-4 hours.

When at work your breasts will be producing milk in your baby’s absence and it will be there for you pump it off.

Please don’t think that because you aren’t getting much milk when you express now it means you won’t be able to provide her with expressed milk. It will be a completely different story when you go back to work and your breasts make the milk and there’s no baby to drink it

Returning to work does not have to mean the end of breast feeding at all.

With my both my sons I returned to work when they were 9-12 months old and I still continued to breast them until they were 2.5 years old.