Feeding

I had this with my second. I started to develope a really negative association with feeding her and started to dread feeds because of the pain. It felt like I was going straight for a post natal depression spiral and with encouragement from my husband and the midwife I started to express and bottle feed and felt much happier. She is now 3 and a happy smart beautiful little girl. Not being breastfed hasn't had any negative implications. You need to do what is best for you

I had similar feelings though a different situation - my baby really struggled to latch so I was pumping, topping up with formula and when I got home from hospital trying to breastfeed still - so doing all 3 ways! She did get better at latching with shields but my nipples were so sore and painful I’d actually dread pumping/feeding her. Eventually I stopped at around 4 weeks pp. Pumping was great, but it can be quite tedious with the washing pump parts and sterilising and doing it at nighttime too - I carried on for a bit but then went solely to formula and me and my baby have never been happier! I’m not stressed about feeding, she’s being nourished and fed and is thriving. You can still bond and have that special time with your baby when you’re bottle feeding them, no matter what is in the bottle! You’ve done an amazing job and whatever you decide to do is what is going to be best for you and your baby xx

First of all, well done powering through the pain. You are doing great. Know that it will get easier over the next few weeks. My baby is 5 weeks old and I had a similar experience for the first 4 weeks. What kept me going was the breastfeeding support group in my borough. The breastfeeding specialist there is wonderful and gave me support to get through the tough times. Now we managed to switch to 100% breastfeeding as the latching improved over time. The turning point was when I stopped using a pump and hand expressed for a couple of days. That’s when my nipples healed and I dared latching the baby again.