Exclusively pumping 3 weeks pp.

[zoznoz]

I feel like a shell of a person and am really struggling with the guilt of wanting to switch to formula. Does anyone have any support to offer?

My baby isn’t able to latch so I pump exclusively but I hate it so much and I feel like I’m paying more attention to my pump than my baby. This isn’t how I expected breast feeding to go and I’m having such a hard time deciding to stick it out or switch to formula.

 

[marvin1978]

@zoznoz Don’t feel guilty. I struggled a bit at first when my baby’s GI specialist told us to do puramino instead of breast milk, but when I did, man. It was liberating. My baby was drinking bottles anyways, & he didn’t care what was in them as long as he was fed, &that I was around. The only thing I regret now that he’s exclusively fed formula is that I didn’t do it sooner.

 

[zoznoz]

@marvin1978 Thank you

 

[bettering]

@marvin1978 This. I felt guilty stopping pumping. But I was SO MUCH HAPPIER and got to enjoy time with my baby more. Any guilt I had at the beginning went away very quickly

 

[goldielocks]

@zoznoz Even purely considering the baby and not my own mental health at all, I felt like the time suck of pumping meant that I couldn’t be as good a mom to her. (Not saying anything bad about other pumping moms, just talking about my personal experience).

What made me quit was one time when baby woke up from nap while I was pumping and I was alone with her (so couldn’t have husband attend to her) and I felt super annoyed at her. And I’m like, this is backwards.

 

[zoznoz]

@goldielocks This is exactly how I feel