Stopping breastfeeding after 1 week

[Annabelr98]

I have been exclusively breastfeeding my baby girl for one week, and I could not cope.
my nipples we’re so sore and cracked, we couldn’t get a good latch and she just wanted to be on my boob 24/7. I wasn’t sleeping more than 2 hours in the day and I was just struggling so much.

we have now decided to formula feed, and she’s taken to that really well, the only thing is when she wakes up from her sleep she is so unhappy and crying loudly, id usually pick her up and stick her straight on my boob for comfort, but I’ve obviously taken that away from her

any advice on what I can try to help her cope with this? I’m hoping that because she only breastfed for 6ish days that it won’t be too long before she adjusts to this transition

also pumping a couple of times a day to just release the engorgement of my breasts, any tips to help this too?

thank you <3

My ff baby used to wake up crying for a bottle and settled afterwards. Is she maybe just hungry?

Edit: Forgot to mention. If you're pumping, that will increase your milk supply. If you want it to stop you need go just wear a tight sports bra I was told.

I used ‘7pm to 7am Sleeping Baby Routine: The No-cry Plan to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night’ which was a really great book.

It has options for breastfed and formula fed and is really good for creating a good rhythm of feeding, play, sleep in 3/4 hour chunks so you get a decent break and baby gets in a good routine.

Basically it worked well to feed baby, keep baby up as long as possible, then sleep. So you do always feed when they wake up (prepare the bottle while she’s sleeping).

I use a Bella Baby pump and find it brilliant. Takes under 10 minutes to get all my milk off and it’s hands free. I only feed directly from the boob first thing and then just pump and bottle feed for the rest of the day, topping up with formula when it runs out so that’s always an option for you. My boobs are on a schedule of pumping every four hours so even if baby gets off schedule there’s usually some milk in the fridge.

It’s still such early days for you, it gets easier! Just takes a little while to work out what’s best for you. Congrats on your little one.

I stopped at 4/5 weeks with DS, only I was exclusively pumping DS never latched, and it is better to reduce it gradually by pumping for short periods and then lengthen that time out. Eg instead of every 3hrs I stretched it to every 4hrs, 5hrs. Instead of 20 min duration go down to 15/10mins then 5mins. I made a mistake by suddenly just dropping a pump from 8x to 7x initially and got engorged and lots of pain from it. Equally what the person above said that if you pump a lot then you will keep the supply at that. Stopping suddenly will cause a lot of pain and engorgement. I found the gradual reduction over 2 weeks to reduce it until I pumped once a day, then I did a final very short pump after two days and by then I only got 20ml and then just stopped.

Also DS would go from 0-100 in terms of waking and crying for milk. He either just cried while I made the bottle in the 2 minutes, or if someone was around one of us would hold him while the other made the bottle. He grew out of the waking and crying by the time he was 4.5/5months old and then would wake up happy and peaceful.

1. did you want to stop breastfeeding? Sounds to me like you needed some decent feeding support and a tounge tie assessment. If you didn't and want to continue then seek out support. Breastfeeding is basically rubbish for the first few weeks for everyone. Though shouldn't be painful. It gets better though if the cause of the pain is resolved.

2. If you're happy to have stopped. Breasts are amazing comfort but alternatives alot of people use are the standard cuddles, bouncing, singing or a dummy. Problem with dummies is it can cause sleep issues later on and you need to be rid of it after 1. So just prepare for that down the line.

You could still breastfeed her a bit, for comfort? A good chunk of hours off will help your nipples recover. Google combi feeding and find your own rhythm with it - it will likely change over the next few weeks. But it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

I wasn't able to exclusively breastfeed past 10 days due to DC having very severe weight loss, but I carried on feeding morning and evening for comfort (and sometimes in the day if he was very upset) for a couple of months. I don't think he got much, he had full bottles regularly, but it was great for comforting him.

Do you rub a spot of milk into your nipples after a feed? Then let them dry for a minute. This will stop the cracking.
It's what I was told when I was feeding mine over 30 years ago. I've no idea if women these days aren't taught it, or are but just don't mention it.
There's a lot to learn, isn't there, and it's a big lifestyle change. It was a big shock to me that I seemed to spend all evening feeding.
I would encourage you to keep going with the bf along with ff if you can. It does get easier for you both as you get used to it. Congratulations on your baby!