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Giving up bfing :(

Well I have finally decided on my give up date monday 6th September, ds2 will be a few days over 6 months, as much as I've ranted about not being able to give him a bottle the though of htis actually makes me feel sickimage I wonder will it also be the last time I ever see his wee eyes roll with pleasure, will he feel I have abandonned (sp?) him in some way will we ever get that we close time back image I have already cried I don;t know how many times so God knows what I'll be like when it comes to it.

As it stands he still won't take a bottle or anything more than 1 or 2 sips from a cup which is worrying me, I was thinking that for his night time feed I coul dgive him a wee bowl of readybrek, has any one else given a supper from this early ageimage I feel so cheated in a way that my bfing experience, as lovely as it was, was so hard image (not that any one elses wasn't) but unable to express and then result of refusal of bottle has just made me feel trapped and many times I have actually hated it image I wish it had worked out better so that I could have had a wee break now and again as I very much think I would have happily continued but on the other hand I know that it is a 'good' time to stop as he is eating well and still young enough to hopefully adapt well.

god im gutted image xx
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Replies

  • Hun you have done amazing! Ao many ladies would have given up ages ago and you kept at it! I'm so proud of you!

    I can't help in anyway but I hope it all goes ok! I'm scared of giving up too (when I go back to work at 9 months) I hope to still do morning and night feed but it upsets me that I won't be there for him during the day and he'll have to have a bottle!

    Sending you lots of hood luck sweetie!! Xxx
  • I still bf and my lo who is now 8 1/2 months old will not take a bottle or anything apart from milk. He isnt on solids yet and I work 4 days a week. On those days he has nothing between his feed at 6am and his feed at 6pm. The paed says that it is not a worry and he will given in eventually. I now only feed him 6am, 6pm, 10:30pm and restrict him to once a night and gave up expressing at work as it was being wasted at home.
    I was told that his refusal means he doesnt really want it.
    I eventually hope to stop at around 10months but have been advised to keep gonig at mo as he doesnt eat anything else.

    Have you been cutting down on your feeds gradually or are you going cold turkey?

    Good luck with whatever you decide to do and remember you have already given so much goodness through persisting and a lot of hard work.
  • ah, I really do feel for you, HEaring about how much of a struggle it is to get lo drinking from anything.

    I really do hope it all goes ok, and that you feel ok within yourself. It was hard when I gave up bf, but mainly because I felt guilty for stopping.

    You really have given him the best start in life, and should be sooo proud of yourself!

    Can't offer any advice, but you know us girlies in bimc, are always here for you xxx
  • hey hun

    I am in the same position as you, I will be giving Alex his last BF this weekend, and am so sad about it.

    I have found it a bit easier as he has started refusing boob, so its been his decision to stop and we have been weaning him off his boob feeds gradually over the last 2 weeks, he is 6 months next week and I feel so proud of myself to have got this far, adn you should be really proud too.

    I will miss feeding him so much and the first night OH gave him a bottle at bedtime I cried but its just part of them growing up I guess, dont know who im trying to convince you or me lol

    Not got any advice about the bottles but hopefully he will realise he has to get his food from somewhere.

    Good luck stopping lovely, and I am here if you need to chat x

    Kelly x
  • aw sweetheart well done for getting so far image you should be proud of yourself!!

    my dd wouldnt take a bottle or anything either.. have you tried the MAM ultivent bottles?? they are the only one my breastfed dd would drink from and i even combination fed for a while.

    you will still get the rolling eyes dont you worry! image

    why dont you just give him solids/bottle in the day and still have your breastfeed at bedtime, this is what i did for a month and it helped my boobs not get so engorged!

    good luck with it all darlin, we are all here for you!
  • thanks girls

    babybump lol i'll convince you and you me eh?! xxx

    lucyah yeah have the mam ulivent they have been most effective in that i have on a few occasions managed to get an ounce into him, i was considering bedtime feed but to be honest i think this will just confuse him as in no your not getting boobs all day but yeah ok u can have it now, i think the way he us with thebottle it has to be a cold turkey affair although i have been gradually reducing my feeds as would happen naturally when weaning xx

    pb, aaom and 2lm thanks v much i am really [leased withh myself for keeping it up think too it is a case of accepting he is starting to growimage he'll be in school in no time wwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!
  • i cant express either for some reason. if you feel so bad about it why not see how you feel on that date?
  • Well done firstly for getting this far. Also have same probs re bottles and my lo is now 9 and 1/2 mths! He doesn't take milk from anything except me so still bf twice a day (morning and night). And I do 12 and 1/2 hour shifts so he is now finally taking water. But BAD MUMMY ALERT! Today for the first time he took milk from bottle with hot chocolate in it! So think this will be my new way of getting milk into him. I'm just going to slowly reduce chocolate in milk and see how it goes. Hoping to stop bf by the time he is a year! As like you I feel tied and still haven't let him sleep away overnight. Altho I have done a night shift and just fed him the minute I got home in morning as he was starving. Normally he feeds at 6 am but it was after 8 am that day! Poor thing. Good luck x
  • well evab1 if it makes you feel any better I tried vanilla essence in a bottle lol it didn't work either!!!

    calleigh i didn;t know you couldn't express either my hv says that some women need their baby to stimulate their milk and the pump isn;t enough and right enough when reece goes on the let down takes a good few minutes before it comes. I think if I dont do it I never will image I'm trying to break the sleeping on me to sleep habit and know this will be harder the older he gets too so just gonna bite the bullet (I think I may chicken out or just keep a nighttime and morning feed for a while depending on how i feel lol if its too much for me to stop i might do this and see how he goes at nap time with no bf'ds and may be then eventually drop the bedtime and morning??? oh its so emotionally (sp?) draining image i was feeding him tonight and just looking at his contented we face and the tears were starting, I am so soppy!
  • also evab1 i had considered hot chocolate too but wasn;t sure if there was caffeine in it?? but I agree if its short term and you reduce to eventually none its not going to do a massive amount of harm when others would give biscuits at that age and others dont (grand scheme of things angle if you get what i mean xx )
  • breastfeedin at bedtime can be a good part of the nighttime routine if they know they only get boob just before bed! dont worry about the little milk from the bottle at first, he will get used to it image
  • thanks lucyah i just have to grit my teeth i think and accept it lol if i find it too hard to quit i'll may be try the bedtime and 7 am feed for a while and then it might not be so hard on either of us x
  • yeh, thats what i did for about a month while she got used to having the bottle during the day and then one day i decided to see if she would take a bottle for bedtime and before i knew it i had stopped breastfeeding! go with whatever your happy with image
  • mmm sounds like a wee plan there lucyah and means he's still getting milk at some stage so im not fretting, ok so can i change my op to I'm going to sort of stop bfing soon lol I'll do a wee experiment that week and see if he takes it during the day, thanks for your advice I'm going to make the most of all his feeds for the next week and a day and enjoy them as much as poss, i wanted to have a wee week of it while ds1 is back at school so i can savour them rather than rushing to then get ds1 lunch check him out on the street etc etc lol xx
  • haha yeh sounds good image good luck with it all.

    the best thing is it when moving from boob to bottle if your combination feeding there is alot less chance of baby becoming constipated as your still giving him breastmilk, then once his little tummy is used to it he wont need breastmilk to help his stomach.

    just rememeber that if you give him bottles in the day just to offer a little bit of water every now and then to keep him regular too image
  • thankx again chick x
  • I know how your feeling hun, you should try the morning and night feeding only, that's what I'm doing. I go back to work next week so for the last week been giving him bottles during the day which he seems ok with and then doing the am/pm feeds myself. I also can't express.

    Archie is coming up 22 weeks and for us to be still bfing is amazing, give yourself a huge pat on the back honey xxx
  • lol we should start CEA (cant express annonymus (sp??WTF BABY BRAIN) i never realised there were others!!!
  • i used yo get loads. i once got 9 oz in about 30 mins. but recently nothing. breastfeeding support people said its normal as body produces what it needs, not more, but i said i need to leave the baby sometimes (ie if i want to go to the hairdressers again) so really need milk in the freezer. ive got a new part for my electric one as i originally though it was the fault of the pump and also bought a manual one, with which i got 1 oz.
  • yep, i couldnt express either!!! would be sat for hours with a little dribble!!! grr!!
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