Stopping breastfeeding, why do I feel so sad??

[Courtney10891]

Hi everybody, I've decided to stop breastfeeding. My son is 8 months old and was exclusively breastfed until 6 months and then was having breast milk, food plus one bottle of formula before bed.
I've been considering it for a couple weeks now. I just want my body back. Like I want to feel attractive and like me again. However I feel so so sad like I'm doing something wrong. I feel guilty and don't know why. Is this normal? Anybody have any advice?

Your relationship with your baby is evolving and it's quite reasonable to feel both sad and happy about those changes. If you're ready to stop go ahead. It is normal to have doubts but you're not doing anything wrong. You've done a great job looking after your baby and will continue to do so.

As an aside when you do stop be prepared for a hormonal bonk. Breastfeeding stimulates oxytocin and it can be a bit teary when those levels of hormone drop. Maybe you've been tapering your feeds and are already getting a little taste of this.

Thanks for your reply. It's just so hard. I just put him down for a nap and he kept screaming for the boob but eventually fell asleep. I don't even know what I'm doing to be honest. Im planning on stopping breastfeeding during the day and carry on at night and then hopefully stop during the night also. I just want to feel
Good about myself and get some of my self confidence back. X

Be kind to yourself. Don't put to much pressure to do it all at once. Practically sudden weaning makes you more likely to get mastitis.

Your idea sounds good. How about just stretching out the time between feeds for a while and/or dropping feeds that are easiest like a mid-morning feed and offering a snack or formula instead?

I'm going through the same thing. I was slowly tapering off the number of feeds from 9 months old, and intending on keeping her morning feed. But then a few days ago she just stopped! Not upset - just not interested.

Even though I wanted to stop, and I had a plan, it doesn't stop me feeling a little rejected... But I think looking back on it, I'll feel pleased that we did it.

Celebrate your achievements so far! It's lovely to see them enjoying solids foods, too, isn't it? Mine is loving strawberries, so we've been enjoying those together over the weekend too.

Instead of completely stopping why not initially aim to get down to 2 feeds (morning and before bed tend to be easiest)? It can help you avoid the hormonal problems and the mastitis. Then when you feel ready to stop completely you can just replace those feeds with either expressed or formula milk