Hello!

I had to give up breastfeeding due to a serious illness. I am curious what the reasons are that other mums have given up breastfeeding. Do you feel the guilt like I sometimes do?


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  • I did for a while, but I’ve got over it. I also had to stop early with my third due to a serious illness – I felt bad for ages, but it’s in the past now.


  • My daughter was 10 wks premature weighing 880 grams at birth and not being able to drink. Because I was using some medications and she was so small the pediatricians advised to give her donor milk (which she had for some weeks) but when she didn’t grow enough on breastmilk she was prescribed a special formula.
    With my son I stopped when he was 5yrs old and self weaned


  • They were able to have cows milk


  • I didn’t have any need to give up. Both babies self weaned at around 8-9 months


  • I stopped after 2 days because I had a horrible tear which was so painful I couldn’t sit and my nipples were bleeding like nobody’s business and I hadn’t slept in months and to keep going just seemed too hard. And I don’t regret it for a second. It allowed my husband to share to work for a few days while I recovered a bit and now we have an amazing 3 year old who has such an incredible relationship with both of us. Breastfeeding is something only you can decide when to stop. And whenever its right for you is the right time.


  • My first self weened due to a hospital stay, and yes I feel guilty about that because it wasn’t my choice


  • First was because I got pregnant again and my milk turned sour he weaned at 11 months! Second one he weaned at 6 months because I was losing too much weight from trying to keep up with the feeds and had a stomach bug ended up in hospital.. He happily weaned onto a bottle and was more content


  • i was tired of being bitten on the breasts by 9 month old


  • For my first born I had to give up due to low milk supply due to stress. My 2nd baby I gave up because again I was stressed, and I didn’t nourish myself enough so didn’t make the milk. My 3rd I stopped because I listened to my mother telling me my milk wasn’t good enough even though it was the 6 week fussy period that was the problem, not my milk. And for my 4th baby, my milk just never really came in at all…

    I feel guilty a lot because I couldn’t breastfeed my babies as long as I wanted to (2 years was my goal), but then I think they are all happy, they are all healthy and they all got the most important part – the colostrum =)


  • I had my bub 3 months premature so when it came time for her to learn to feed we had a bit of a struggle. She has an extremely high palate which caused problems for latching onto the breast correctly. I ended up having to express and bottle feed EBM. I lasted 6 months before swapping her to formula. I felt so guilty for a long time and really inadequate as a mum. My husband and family were very supportive though. My bub is now 12 months old and is doing really well. I think we, as mums, sometimes put too much pressure on ourselves.


  • i went back to work


  • With my first, I gave up breastfeeding simply because she really was interested anymore. It was more of a occassional comfort thing.

    The second I gave up breastfeeding as I had to have an ear operation and would require bed rest with no heavy lifting – I’ve often felt a bit sad about this.


  • My first wasn’t breastfed. I breastfed my second as long as I could but after 4 back-to-back bouts of mastitis it was the doctor that told me I should think about switching to bottle.

    I think feelings of guilt are completely natural, but in the end you know you did all you could and focus on what’s in front of you now :-)


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