I have decided I have had enough of having my sweet and good-natured baby turn into a screaming mess at my breast. It's time to throw in this towel and have more and better feedings with calm connection and smiles. Thus, with a bit of a heavy heart, I have decided it's time to take my little Hailey off of breastfeeding and keep it to bottles only. Mommy is admittedly sad about this but it's just causing too many challenges and stressing us both out to continue. So with that said, I now am committed to another few months of nighttime pumping, sacrificing uninterrupted sleep so that she can have a mix of breastmilk and formula, since I just really want to try make it to 6 months breastfeeding and/or giving breastmilk to them.
Alex, however, is still a great feeder, so I am able to at least breastfeed her.
But you know what? I just love seeing my little sweetheart looking up at me, drinking heartily, and smiling while sucking her bottle. Surely that is still bonding, and is far better than pleading, manipulating, squirming and crying (by both parties) all in an effort to breastfeed?
I certainly think so.
Of course it is better to see her smiling than crying! Rest assured you made the right decision.
ReplyDeleteWhat Stella said.
ReplyDeleteThanks ladies. Today I have already seen a change in Hailey - she has eaten a lot more and not played around with the nipple on the bottle, which was also a problem. I also managed to exclusively breastfeed Alex until this evening, so there is a silver lining...I may finally eliminate topups for Alex. Bittersweet, but I'll take any and all victories, right???!
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