I don't want to breastfeed anymore - help!

[X19gbs]

I have a lovely baby boy nearly 7 months old who has been exclusively breastfed and I am over the moon that it was success and feel very grateful that we have got this far.

But I am exhausted, he isn't the best sleeper and my partner can't help at all as he doesn't take a bottle.

I need a night off, even just the one and a full nights sleep!! I am ill for the 3rd time in 8 weeks due to lack of sleep and just generally being run down.

I have had enough of breastfeeding and I don't want to do it anymore, I really am not enjoying it anymore.

But...he won't take any bottles. I have tried every bottle, sippy cup, straw cup, everything you name it, it won't happen.

Has anyone been in this situation? What did you do? Any out there ideas that I haven't thought of??? (That doesn't include other bottle brands, I don't think that is going to happen now)

Thank you

The only think that really worked for me was going out and leaving them withDH or getting him to take them out.

Battle of wills! Mum gives in first.

How often is he feeding overnight? Could you start by night weaning?
DS1 could drink from an open (doidy) cup from about 8 months.
Other than that assuming he will eat and drink other stuff just go out one night and leave Dad to it.

At 7 months, up the solids. 3 meals a day (spoon feed if possible) and add a snack in too.

As they eat more food they will drink less milk and you might be able to drop a couple of day time feeds.

Keep offering sippy cups of water with meals as well. They will get used to it as well.

Oh I feel your pain. DS2 is 5 months and isn't close to sitting up on his own or guiding things to his mouth consistently yet so we can't even wean him just yet.

Weaning will definitely make things easier. How is he with food? Try to introduce mealtime routines so that perhaps DH could take him for an hour or so over lunch while you nap. You could feed him just before or after.

DS1 took to weaning like a dream and accepted a bottle so I have direct comparison how hard it can be when this is not the case. Hugs and solidarity .

@BigFatLiar

Battle of wills! Mum gives in first.

Do you have experience of this?

I did cold turkey with my 8 nearly 9mo.

I'd already night weaned onto water only.

I offered expressed milk, formula, cow's milk. I offered then fridge cold, room temp and Luke warm.

But I didn't offer the breast. Eventually, in an exhausted state, he took a Luke warm bottle of goats milk.

He had never taken a bottle, despite my best efforts. He eventually took a boots cheapo bottle with a big test and handles. He also cane round to the nuk latex teats.

What I learned was: it was pretty horrible and I wouldn't recommend it, but I was desperate. I also learned that it was a different position to feed him and it took us both some time to get used to it!

It's literally about your resolve.

I had Savoy cabbage in my bra. I took I uorofen and paracetamol and hand expressed the worst of the over fullness in a hot shower but was careful not to empty the breasts so the production cycle didn't just continue. I produced milk for weeks and weeks afterwards. You have to be super mindful of mastitis.

Good luck.

Hey OP, with bottle feeding it's best if your not in the room whilst dad offers. You both need to be patient and keep offering, I know someone that offered the bottle every day for 7 days and then baby started taking it. I know my daughter didn't understand what to do with at bottle first. Will cups, I've personally found one of the tommee tippee free flow cups (basic old school) to be the easiest fit my daughter to get to grips with. I suppose the biggest difficulty is breastfeeding isn't just food is it? It's a comfort.

I wouldn't recommend just stopping suddenly this could be very unpleasant for you (once mastitis takes hold it progresses quicker than you think, if you do start to get signs please get antibiotics from the doctor ASAP and a hot shower and massaging can help, apparently cabbage leaves are good too, I haven't tried this though) and for you baby it can be very distressing (which also would be unpleasant for you).

Have you tried co sleeping? I started with my daughter at 5 months following safe sleep 7 from the lullaby trust and we are all much happier now. At first it took a bit of getting used to, it was never something I wanted to do, but I'm glad we did as I wasn't coping well at all. I wish we had just done it from the beginning tbh, it would have saved a lot of heartache and struggling.

It's worth remembering that stopping breastfeeding won't necessarily stop the waking, but it is the easiest way I've found to get my daughter back to sleep with minimal effort.

I hope you're ok OP, I know how hard it is, I really do and I just hope that things get easier for you soon. You've done so well to breastfeeding exclusively for so long.

One of mine was like this, absolutely wouldn’t take a bottle teat or dummy, I was stuck BFing until he was 12 months.
This is why, with my others, they had one bottle every day from the get go.

You go out
Someone else gives the bottle or cup

I did this to wean off middle of night feeds, plus upped the solids and it was suddenly so much easier. I actually ended up bfing until 2+ because I could enjoy it again with far fewer feeds.

Another thing to try is an open cup of milk in the bath. Mine found the novelty a bit exciting abs would drink some. Once they'd got used to drinking from an open cup in the bath we started offering cups of milk in the day.