How to stop breastfeeding my 10 month old - mental health suffering please help!!

[LunaCharles21]

I am at my wit's end :( my nipples are severely damaged from my son's teeth. He has 4 and the top 2 constantly rubbing have caused open wounds on my areolas. Both sides. It's been like this for a few weeks now, I've done absolutely everything to improve latch etc, I'm feeding in different positions too but I'm in agony every time I feed no matter what position etc I try. Honestly I was getting to the point where I was done mentally with breastfeeding anyway, I had started to introduce a sippy cup with pumped milk in to try get him used to it ready for me going back to work..but now this pure agony is making me want to stop ASAP. Even when I'm not feeding my nipples are constantly hurting. My son feeds to sleep so I know this is going to be difficult. After a nap he will take 4oz at the very most out of a sippy cup and this takes a lot of encouragement and distraction to get him to do so. And then he still cries for boob after. Honestly I'm on the edge of a breakdown. I don't know how I can keep feeding with the pain I'm in. And I just don't want to. I know I need to do this slowly and gently for both of us but part of me just wants to book a hotel for the weekend, leave baby with dad and a fridge full of pumped milk and just leave them to it. I feel awful for saying it but honestly I feel on the edge of a breakdown. Some one please tell me how you got your EBF baby off boob fairly quickly :(
Sorry for the essay, and I am booked to see a GP about my nipples tomorrow as the wounds are quite open and oozing. Help!!!!

Would nipple shields help in the short term? You can buy them from pharmacies, boots etc.

Otherwise I honestly don't see the problem with the going away suggestion! It's OK to stop whenever you want to.

I actually do think it will be easier for your DH to do this as ds wont associate him with bfeeding.

Go cold turkey, op. You might have a rough couple of days, but then it will all be done and forgotten.

Your best option is what you've said....go away, get some bottles and either pumped milk or formula and let DH deal with it. It will be easiest for everyone that way.

Please do exactly what you said OP. The longer the better - so e.g. if possible one extra day with your mum etc if DH is working.

Just stop. As others have said, go away for the night and leave DH to it with formula, bottles and sippy cups. There will be tears but a baby won't starve itself and your well-being is important too. I stopped fairly abruptly but our baby had had expressed milk in bottles since she was 2 weeks so swapping to formula was straight forwards for us. I had just had enough and wanted my body back! Don't feel guilty for meeting your own needs - you've done great feeding your son this long.

Be really careful about signs of mastitis if you go cold turkey! I'd drop feeds over the course of a few weeks personally. At that age he definitely still needs a good amount of milk so will need to make sure he'll have enough from the sippy cup. You have my sympathy because it can be really rough when they have teeth and it doesn't feel right! How many feeds a day is he having? I always felt a bit better when I dropped a feed and it made me feel ok to carry on a bit longer. I was lucky though because DD didn't seem bothered about dropping feeds and was fine when we stopped altogether at 21 months (still won't drink milk from a cup though so have to get lots of it into her food alongside cheese/yoghurt etc!)

Another advising to step away from any form of feeding for a few days, especially night time. Get DH, granny, next door neighbour from 3 doors down - anyone but you.

Yes to nipple shields to help your nipples heal and drop the pumping too. You've given your son 10 months breast feeding - that's a great achievement. Give yourself a well deserved pat on the back.

Please put yourself first and do what you really deep down feel you need to do. It's totally ok to stop! And it's also totally ok for you to take a step back and have some time to yourself xxx

I went cold turkey at 11 months mostly because I went away for work for 4 days to the US.
Baby was with dad and absolutely fine with a cuddle instead of feeding to sleep. You may want to pump a couple of times a day for the first few days otherwise you may be uncomfortable and then reduce the frequency . All the best x

But please remember the hormone dip when you stop breastfeeding can be very intense. I felt absolutely miserable (like suicidal miserable) for 2 weeks after stopping. It passes!

I think if you're dealing with open wounds then cold turkey is the only way to go, really, or you risk getting further nipple trauma and infections/sepsis. You might want to hand express a bit for the first few days to stop getting too engorged and risking mastitis. Oral decongestant can help to dry milk up.

Yep cold turkey and get your partner to do the feeds instead. Pump in place of the feed and gradually reduce how long you pump for and the spacing between the feeds.

Also could you be pregnant again ? When I got pregnant with my second I got a massive aversion to breastfeeding my first and felt exactly how you do.