Stopping breastfeeding at 6 weeks

[beeboo92]

As the title suggests my baby is currently 6.5 weeks old and has been exclusively breastfed since birth (minus a couple of bottles of expressed milk when I've had to go for my own appointments and my partner has looked after her).
I'd like to preface this by saying I have a very long history of depression anxiety and agoraphobia and have had a year or so when it hasn't vastly affected my life.
I honestly had my heart set on breastfeeding until 6 months but after 6 weeks it's causing me to relapse with my mental health and I simply cannot do it anymore.
Most days I'm unable to even get myself ready due to the demands. I have tried my daughter on a bottle every morning for the last 3 mornings and we're able to have some 'play time' and bonding time after she's fed before she wants to have a sleep and I've been able to get myself ready and us both out. Usually she will feed on boob, go down for 10 minutes then scream for me/milk and the cycle will repeat. It makes feeding her a chore and I don't look forward to it at all. Evening times is even worse (and I now know this is common for breastfed babies but no-one tells you any of this before you start)!

My biggest fear of going on to formula is it hurting her though.
If anyone has transitioned to formula could you please advise on how you did it and how long it took? Also what milk did you go for (UK based).

Please no judgement on wanting to stop because as I said I really cannot take anymore of it.
Also solely expressing isn't really an option for similar reasons.

Make sure you get an appointment for yourself too then on Monday too.
It might be worth a call to your HV too. They are there to support mum too. My HV saw me every other week at 6 weeks pp, arranged for me to have 1-2-1 baby massage course at home to help me with bonding and referred me to a parenting team for therapy. I have since had counselling with a different HV (moved) after my daughters paediatrician contact them saying I needed more support with managing my mental health and my daughters reflux and allergies. They can offer so much more than weighing baby but it's a service where you have to initiate the contact.

Maybe try pumping. I hated breastfeeding directly. My baby was so slow. It felt like he was only sleeping and eating. He was much quicker with the bottle and drank more.

I used pre mixed aptamil as it's sterile and I was scared of getting powder mixes wrong.

Well done you for doing 6 weeks and also for making the right choice for you and your baby now. Xx

You’ve lasted longer than me! I made to about 3.5 weeks. As l hated it. I had twins and my supply wasn’t great so there was lots of screaming off them. Plus the endless pumping to increase my supply didn’t seem to do much anyway. It hurt both breast feeding directly and pumping. Sensory wise l found it a nightmare. Switched to formula and didn’t look back

Please don't keep putting this pressure on yourself. Your baby has already had a great start from that very important first few weeks of colostrum.
Your baby can also thrive on formula.

I had to stop exclusive breastfeeding at 4 weeks. My baby had surgery at 3 weeks, and during the hospital stay- stress, no eating, no sleep, etc., my milk went away.
Changeing to formula was hard at first as it caused constipation and wind - he is 8 weeks now and getting better.

I use Aptamil- I chose this because it's the most accessible formula; you can buy it in any shop, and they have small, already made bottles, which is amazing on the go.

Do not feel bad about swapping to formula! For you to be more relaxed, happy and be able to spend quality time with you baby is far more important and beneficial than breastmilk!