Hello,
My son is 14 weeks old and I decided to change from exclusively breastfeeding to formula roughly 2 weeks ago.
Breastfeeding seemed 'easy' to get the hang of at the beginning. Then around 3 weeks a little harder and it just seems to not be getting any easier. He's been getting more and more fussy after a feed and he's feeding minimum 12 times a day. My supply seems ok, but I definitely don't think I had an oversupply. It became an obsession to make sure I was eating the right things to see if I could boost my milk - special teas, different oat dishes daily, tablets, etc. Didn't seem to change much. Just became a chore to keep it up incase if I stopped my milk supply would diminish.
I started to not enjoy it as it felt like I wasn't feeding him properly. Then I started to dislike it because I was so exhausted from the lack of sleep and I started getting snippy at my 3 year old and my little baby. That was when I knew I needed to change. I thought maybe I could express and then husband can help with feeding. But I was only expressing 2 Oz maximum (combined) and it felt like an extra huge thing to do that wasn't making me feel any better. I'm not worried about his weight gain, he dropped a percentile but has been following it steadily and health visitor isn't worried either.
We're almost 2 weeks into changing to formula. He has been getting better taking the bottle and is even taking it with daddy now, which helps give mummy a break. He'll have a good day and it feels like we're on a better path and then the next day he'll refuse half the bottles. Is this normal? He also doesn't really want to take any bottles in the night and is starting to get really clingy and only sleep if he's held, which he only did for the first week after he was born, but has seemed to come back. He's only drinking 2 Oz per feed and feeding like he was breastfeeding - little and often. Will he start taking more? I'm desperate for him to fill up and sleep longer than 1-2 hours.
I think I'm just looking for people's experience changing and how long it took and what it was like around this age.
Also, wondering if I'm just unhappy because I'm so sleep deprived or if I'm developing post natal depression? I've only noticed my 'down funk' in the last week or so. But I was putting it down to lack of sleep. Is it possible to develop it later? Just feeling like I've been doing all the work this time around (first born was very premie and needed to formula feed from the get go so husband and I shared everything). I was so excited to breastfeed this time but as it's gone on it's getting overwhelming always getting up in the night and sorting it out in the day with no break.
I have no guilt or regrets about changing to formula. I know this will help with out family, daddy will build a better bond and help more, I'll be getting my body back and my mental health will improve (not losing any weight breastfeeding - staying the exact same since week 2 and it's pissing me off after working super hard after my first to lose baby weight and then some and have kept it off. I'm feeling a bit selfish to want to get back to my comfortable size soonish.)
Any help or advice would be great. Or this has just been great to have a vent. X