Have to give up breastfeeding 5mth old abruptly, feeling sad and v sore - advice please?

[TheLittleMermaid]

Hi, have to give up breastfeeding my baby because of medication i'm on. She is (probably!) my last baby and I haven't been able to gradually wean her so I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all. Cried myself to sleep last night and was up twice feeding her formula and 3 times to express to try to sooth my painful boobs. I feel shattered and upset that i've had the decision about feeding her taken away from me and that i can't do the one thing i know will make her feel better when she cries. it's really hard 'cos obviously she can smell my milk and is trying to nuzzle in and it (i was going to say 'breaks my heart' but i realise i need to get some perspective on this...) makes me feel sad inside It's only day 2 and i'm going to try cabbage leaves today for the pain, i just wondered if anyone had any advice....

thanks

Ok, apologies if this is asking the obvious but are you absolutely certain the medication means you have to stop BF? I only ask because often doctors will err on the side of caution, or simply not actually know.

I know what you mean, and they did try to find a treatment where i could still breastfeed but I saw the consultant on monday and she was absolutely clear. Looking at the medication it says 'do not breastfeed' rather than the usual speak to your doctor stuff... I just wish I could have weaned gradually, i guess i didn't realise what an impact it would have on me.

Please, please check the meds for safety yourself and go back to the doc if there is anything in your research that makes you think stopping is the only option.

A good place to start is here:

toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT

Many mumsnet posters have been told they 'must' stop bf because of meds and this turns out to be seriously over-cautious.

Very, very few meds are absolutely out - they include anti-cancer treatments, heavy-duty antipsychotics, and honestly, most of the rest have a safe alternative or the dose that gets through is too small (or even non-existant) to worry about.

Obviously you will discuss with your doctor before you decide.

tiktok thanks for the post - i just checked that site and nothing came up. I have left a message with health visitor to call me so we can talk about it too. Just googled it and it says that there is an alternative med but that also passes to the baby so the baby would need monitoring.....hmm, might speak to the consultant.

Mermaid, if nothing came up on that site it means you need to check your spelling, or find (by Googling) the active 'ingredient', or the UK name for it.

Hope you reach a good solution

If you can't feed because of medication, I assume this will be long term, as in you're not going to "finish the course" and go back. Poor thing...If you express milk fully, your body will think your baby is needing more so trick is to express only to give yourself a relief from fullness and massage well with some oil/ cream to open up any blockages. Try to express by hand rather then machine as they are designed to extract as much as possible in a short time. Most importantly your baby needs you not just your milk. Guilt is inevitable when you can't BF when you want it but not serving either of you well here. There are lots of bottlefed babies without any problems, of course breast is best but if you can't you can't. You are not a failure nor lacking in any way. Your baby needs you to be well, I hope you start feeling better soon.