Reply to Electing not to breastfeed

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here-I can't overstate how much I appreciate all these responses. It's difficult to find frank discussions about breastfeeding without having to wade through the many obsessive articles and testimonials about the magic of it all. I do think I will likely try it in the very beginning to provide colostrum for the baby, but I am concerned about the mental health impact of being tied to this physical act (especially for the first few months). I want to have the freedom to do something as simple as leave my baby with my husband for a couple hours and go to on a walk or to run errands, without worrying he is going to be hungry and inconsolable. I'm prone to pervasive anxiety and I'm concerned that the dynamic could be difficult for me to navigate, which impacts everyone in the household.

My mother did not EBF and did both with myself and my two siblings, and said that worked well for her. A friend of mine is trying to nurse and use formula, but her baby is totally refusing the bottle. She works from home, though, and I don't, so she's been able to make it work. I have about 8 weeks off and want to make sure the baby is fed whether I'm home or not. I also want to maintain my sanity at a time that I know will be emotionally charged.[/quote]

OP, you sound exactly like I did. I didn’t think I would breastfeed at all but decided to give it a go and got really lucky that my milk came in quickly, I had a lot of it and my DS was a quick eater with a good latch. We started giving him one bottle of formula a day to get him used to the taste for when I decided to stop and only gave him bottles at night so that I wouldn’t be the only one with the burden of feeding him. I pumped twice a day and that was it and was able to take walks etc. away from my son (and honestly, I wasn’t recovered enough to do much of that before he was a week old!). I still decided to stop after 3 months but I was glad I tried. And I wouldn’t have felt guilty about quitting right away either![/quote]

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