Is it normal to feel sad when u decided to stop breastfeeding?

[woofy55]

Time flies... my louis is now 5mths plus..

He's getting active everyday and easily distracted when latching him on. Sometimes he only latches for few mins.. and when i tried to put him back on, he doesn't want anymore. He looks satisified thou.. and normally last nearly 3hrs before the next feed, so I guess he is super efficient now. But sometimes i feel my breast stll quite full... so i also duno how much he's been drinking..

These few days, i feel that my breasts are not as full as before. And he rejected me when i tried to latch him on. I suspect my let down wasn't as fast now and he's impatient. I feel sad whenever he rejected me and cried loudly and arching his back and when tried to put him back on my breast. Haiz.. And whenever times like this, i'll be thinking if I should stop breastfeeding any time soon - since he's coming to 6mths. But something in me still can't let go. I miss latching him. I wanted to create a "last latch", but i scare i'll cry miserably... but if i don't have a "last latch".. I worry I don't have the chance to see him latch one me "last time"..

Is this normal? How do you mummies wean off breastfeeding/latching? Do you feel sad? How do u all survive it?

:wong19:

 

[diymummy]

*Hugs*

Yes it's normal to feel sad because breastfeeding from the start helps us bond with our child.

My son at 5 mths would also get distracted during breastfeeding so I try my best to breastfeed him in a quiet place. When we're out shopping, I do bottled EBM so that he can drink faster.

Hopefully it will be possible for you to continue to latch him. Try to talk to him, sing to him, soothe him.

For me, when finally I stopped, I was sad. I guess it's a passing phase which we learn to get by with. There'll be more things to look forward to for bonding with your son. As my son grows older, there're new joys that he brings to us. Don't worry. You'll get by.

 

[wenz]

i will say 'yes'.. even thou i only BF for 2 weeks and i decided to stop due to some reasons, i cant help but to feel sad and guilty for almost 1month....
i think this is quite natural ba....

 

[Verona's]

I almost stop at 2 months because i felt damn tired to pump as she doesn't latch on , afterwards i keep delay pumping time because i think of stopping . for around 2 days i then decided to give her the best so i latch on & surprising very successful then felt very upset my supply drop badly .. Now she going 4 months already but cannot really boost back my supply hopefully i can bf her till 6 month as my target .. during the 1 month i keep wanting to stop because i am really tired but now i hope i can give her till 6 months The feeling was like , its time but can't let go .. ?

 

[adelynn]

this is also my biggest dilemma. there are days she's so distracted she wld rather watch TV than latch and drink but there are days whereby she would come 'searching' for my breasts. i still have that question in my head - shld i or shld i not?

 

[cmeilim]

hi ladies, it is very normal for babies after 2 months to get distracted when nursing as they have grown and developed a greater awareness of their environment. It's actually a positive sign. There was a period of time my boy would unlatch almost every 30s during nursing when he sensed his father entering the bedroom, or just wanted to look at the revolving ceiling fan, or his favourite alphabet poster on the wall etc. It was frustrating for me to nurse him like that too.

But I felt instinctively that he was not yet ready to self-wean at that time, and as an advocate of baby-led weaning, I wasn't abt to end our breastfeeding journey prematurely. So I hung out, patiently rode out that passing phase with him. Every time he unlatched, I would try to put him back onto the breast. When he really protested by arching his back repeatedly, I would then let him be, and trust that he had drunk enough and was already full and would signal to me again when he was hungry again.

i think the difference may lie in that my goal in breastfeeding is to do so for as long as possible without any specific timeframe, not just 6 months or just 1 year, but as long as my baby wants and I have milk supply for him. hence i have never (or at least not yet) faced the dilemma of having to decide whether i should stop or not, and when to stop. i personally feel that if i try to wean my boy off earlier than he is ready to, i will have to deal with his frustration in addition to my own emotional adjustments, and that might just make me feel even more guilty, at loss and sad. If I stop when he is ready to, at least I just have to deal with and manage my own emotions.

 

[cn211279]

It is very normal to feel sad when you decide to stop breastfeeding. I bf my son till he is 11 mths. Then I stopped because it is getting too tiring to bf him in the middle of the night and still work the next day. But even though it is a conscious decision, I was sad and even depressed for a period of time.
When he was younger, there was a period of time when he is distracted and I have difficulty latching him on, especially when we are outside. I tried to find a quiet room with no distraction. I even banned my husband from entering the room if I'm bf. The stage will pass. The thing abt bf is that because they have it on dd, they probably don't drink much each time but drink frequently so just bear with it.

 

[cmeilim]

just to share that when i am breastfeeding my boy, i will do all sorts of things to grab his attention and fix it on me as a means of preventing him from being distracted other things. so i speak in exaggerated, animated voices with him, sing songs to him, tease him, teach him simple things, make funny faces etc etc. all these have been able to help me control the degree he gets distracted. perhaps u can try some of these too. =>

and ya, i have also 'banned' my hubby from entering the bedroom while i am nursing my boy at home. =>

 

[woofy55]

Ladies, tks for sharing.. Guess I need to handle my own emotion.

And CN, yes u r rite. Mine also want to nurse frequently at times if he only latch for a while. The thing is I am ok to nurse him again. But I dun like the remarks I get when he need to nurse again. I always got qns like how I Noe he drank enuff. I hv learn to filter off remarks that I dun like hearing. But recently when Louis does wat he did, I also began to doubt myself sometimes..

 

[Verona's]

Yes ! I feel that way too , Mil always ask she drink enough not ? Sure not ? why still crying ? Make me felt very disencourage like not supporting me like this , sometimes would like to stop bf but know can't .. Then now baby keep don't want to latch on , she will be saying she can't suck huh ? give formula ? Then i want to bf her & because the milk we bought out was spill with a lil bit of water .. then she just say give her that later , hubby say she want to bf her she just say later also can what .

 

[Humpty]

If anyone makes comments about my boy not getting enough breastmilk, I just ask them to change his diapers especially when he poops :wesmile:And my boy has also "co-operated". Everytime his diapers comes off his backside during a change, he will spray a fountain of pee on whoever is changing it. So who says he is not drinking enough? ;-)

 

[cmeilim]

If anyone makes comments about my boy not getting enough breastmilk, I just ask them to change his diapers especially when he poops :wesmile:And my boy has also "co-operated". Everytime his diapers comes off his backside during a change, he will spray a fountain of pee on whoever is changing it. So who says he is not drinking enough? ;-)

ahahaha, this is so funny! very creative way of 'retaliation'/retort! ;p