stopped breast feeding help!?

mtpgroove

ok baby is 4 weeks old i have been only breast feeding till now i feel so bad i gave him formula but i just am done breast feeding, i started with enfimil newborn and im going to pump a few times a day and bf him at night i never formula fed before what should i expect diffrent from breast feeding? anyother moms going threw this???

lancyjo

I'm just lurking here. (love checking the "due now" boards for birth stories! )

I quit bfing at 4 weeks. Aria is thriving just as much now as she was when I was bfing. For us, the transition was easy. She took to the bottle/formula right away, and actually refused breastmilk after the first formula feeding. (which meant a week or so of terribly sore, full bewbs. Then, one morning, I woke up and they were just fine. No more leaking, back to normal size.)

For me, she's not as gassy as she was on breastmilk. She also spits up a lot less. (we use regular similac and Playtex Ventaire bottles. Started with Tommee Tippee and Enfamil, which did not work for us.) Her poo diapers have a thicker consistency (but not solid)... like peanut butter. They're a different color, and have a different smell. She will go anywhere from 1 time a day to 3 times a day. We have skipped a day once. (although I've heard it's normal to skip a couple/three days at a time)

I had a big chat with our doc before we switched... just so I'd know what to expect, what is normal, etc. I'd suggest talking to yours to go over any questions you have.

unaveragejane

I was never able to nurse and had to stop BF last week b/c my LO has been sooooo fussy. He's been on formula as a supplement since a few days after he was born (my supply was too low), and he never seemed to have a problem switching from breastmilk to formula even when he was getting a little bit of both. The biggest problems we have had are finding bottles that don't make him too gassy. (So far Playtex Nursers have worked, but I want to try the Ventaire's b/c I have heard such good things.) The poopy diapers changed a lot when we went totally formula. They come very infrequently, and when they do come they are very stinky. Usually they're bright yellow or army green. Sometimes they are runny and other times they're sticky.

laurenhankey

I pump and give her what I can and FF the rest of the time.  Since you're going to just pump now you're going to notice the amount you pump to go down unless you pump regularly...like every 3-4 hrs.  I also take Fenugreek and Mothers Milk Tea to try and keep my supply up.  My LO was tongue tied and my nipples aren't very long so it made for a bad combo when trying to breast feed.  I gave up about a week and a half into it when she wasn't gaining weight and lost 13oz in the hospital.  She is eating 3oz at a time and luckily that is usually what I am able to pump.  I just switched to the Playtex Ventaire and was using the Nursers before that but the liners were just getting too expensive.  Good luck!