Guilt...Guilt...more Guilt!

karissa5555 · July 2012

Guilty about transitioning to formula....GAH!

I have been ep'ing for 4 months now and am so ready to be done but the guilt of transitioning to formula is beyond overwhelming and i have not been able to do it yet.

anyone have any personal experience with this? also, my daughter takes 4 ounces of breast milk 7-8x a day, how much formula should she be getting??

thank you

kel716 · July 2012

You have to what's best for you and your family. If EPing is not for you, then switch to formula. She got a lot of BM already, be proud of that.

I would start with 4 oz bottles of formula and follow her lead. If she needs more, you'll know. She'll probably need more formula than BM, so don't be surprised if it's more like 35-40 ozs/day.

When I EP'd for DS, I gave him as much BM as I could. If you want her to have some BM, you could pump a few times a day and use formula the rest of the time. But that's a decision you have to make.

kmhunt11 · July 2012

When your baby is 4 no one will be talking about or thinking about what baby ate. Things always seem so huge in the moment but in the long run, a happy healthy family is all that matters. Your baby will gain a huge amount of quality time with you now that you're done pumping. Formula provides great nutrition and your baby will be just fine.

tricky31212 · July 2012

Start by replacing one bottle with formula. I had to transition my LO around 6-8 weeks because we couldn't afford a consultant and we went a whole month with no latch....plus the NICU always had a pacifier in his mouth and would bottle feed him and then ask me to BF....so stupid. But anyway, LO transitioned fine, he just had a hard time with regular formula. We had to swap to soy. My LO eats around 4 oz every 2-3 hours during the day, and will STTN. Occasionally he will eat 6 oz.

BellaOso · July 2012

I have been going through this too. I am so tired of missing out on everything because I have been pumping. I have a freezer stash that will carry her through at about 40% bm and 60% f until she is 5 months old. I was beating myself up about changing over after working so hard to get a supply, eliminating dairy, etc.

I got food poisoning and my supply never totally came back and it seemed like a good time to just stop.

I am still drying up but I have to say... I feel pretty darn good about the decision. Now that the pressure is kind of off, I find myself enjoying just being a mom more. I have more time to roll around on the ground and play, I don't feel all the pressure to return home from outings before I leak on all of mankind. I don't have to wash double the bottles and tops that go along with EPing.

I'm really proud of what I did and you should definitely be proud of what you did! Pumping takes some serious heart! It's okay to put the pump down. Don't let anyone make you feel bad.

Wipz · July 2012

We've been supplementing with formula for quite a while, mostly after I returned to work. My supply has always been up and down and his well being comes first, but I won't lie it was so hard giving him his first formula. He is doing great and still gets at least 50-50 Boob juice/formula some days he gets more boob some days more formula. I also pump so hubby gets to share the feedings and since we don't use day care it's probably helped hubby and DH bond real quick.

Some days I just feel like daisy the dairy cow and hubby is primary ... but we still have our cuddle times when I breast feed and I plan to keep up breast feeding as long as possible. I just finished breast feeding the little butt head and he laid in my arms smiling and the boob and laughing at it, usually he talks to it and it makes me laugh.

We're having lots of first this week, so stop worrying about the formula and enjoy the little moments .. you wil remember those long after he finishes bottles and moves on to solids.

Baby Lynn · July 2012

I had a lot of guilt also when I stopped. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stop or not but my supply wasn't giving me anything anymore. So I slowly went into it. I started giving him 1-2 formula bottles a day and then slowly gave him some more slowly. If I didn't pump enough I would supplement with formula. I had a hard time stopping but I knew I couldn't give him enough with just BM. So I weened myself and him off. It was much easier that way for me. I also gave him 4oz of formula to start and he would eat what he wanted. This helped me learn how much he ate of the formula. Which just so happened to be 4oz also.

karissa5555 · July 2012

thank you so much for the support and information. i have freezer stash that will allow my daughter to have 50 percent bm until 5 months. i would have had until 7 months but i donated a bunch to a good friend who recently had triplets.

im not sure what the health care is like where you all live but here in ontario all they ever enforce is 'breast is best' and almost look down on formula feeding and it makes you feel like a total jerk for wanting to stop. support is nice to hear

i bought nutrimagen formula, is it any good? i like that it is dairy free, any other suggestions? ( my daughter is a spitter and gassy, i cut out dairy in my diet)

Baby Lynn · July 2012

karissa5555:
thank you so much for the support and information. i have freezer stash that will allow my daughter to have 50 percent bm until 5 months. i would have had until 7 months but i donated a bunch to a good friend who recently had triplets.
im not sure what the health care is like where you all live but here in ontario all they ever enforce is 'breast is best' and almost look down on formula feeding and it makes you feel like a total jerk for wanting to stop. support is nice to hear
i bought nutrimagen formula, is it any good? i like that it is dairy free, any other suggestions? ( my daughter is a spitter and gassy, i cut out dairy in my diet)

You won't always get support but at the end of the day all that matters is you do what is best for you and your baby. No one else knows whats best. And as long as your baby is healthy & getting fed like she should then you shouldn't listen to anyone. Hang in there. Like I said you know whats best for your baby not everyone else. You always have March Mommas to support you for it! Smile

shineineaiken · July 2012

Don't worry it gets better! It's ok to feel bad. That just means you're a great mommy! I still did skin-to-skin for a while after I stopped, because I think that is what my little man needed most, especially at night...

I would start off with just 4oz until LO is consistantly drinking it all then move up. Also, you should mix BM and Formula for awhile to transition well.

Good Luck, and remember that others have been there too. (and all our LO's are awesome!)

interzone · July 2012

I totally could have written this post a couple weeks ago! I was so sure that my twins would be EBF, but two weeks in the NICU plus being told that they needed to be offered bottles after every BFing really put the kibosh on that. I EPed 8x/day for nearly 3 months and was really running myself ragged. I knew it was time to make the transition to formula feedings when my mom (a long time La Leche League leader!!!) said she thought all three of us would be happier if I spent the time I was devoting to the pump to the babies instead. It was such a relief to hear that and I'm really looking forward to never hooking myself up to that thing again. I'm in the process of dropping pumps and moving to more formula feedings, and I really don't feel any guilt about it anymore.

I used to feel so guilty and cry about wanting to quit pumping, but after the pep talk from my mom and a lot of thought I realized that my LO's want time with me, and that I would never regret giving them the time I used to devote to pumping.

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