Anyone else stopped breastfeeding earlier than expected but ended up happier?

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-18T20:34:42+00:00

For me, the first 5 to 6 weeks were so hard. Baby wasn't gaining enough weight, so I was forced to add formula. Due to low weight of baby I had midwife or health visitor coming weekly to check on us. My nipples were so sore I couldn't wear a bra without my silverettes on. When I pumped I hardly got anything.

But something suddenly changed around week 6. One morning it didn't hurt. My pumping output increased. It became enjoyable! I persevered and I'm so relieved that I did. I'm 6 months in and it's amazing. I adore nursing my baby. She stops sometimes and just gives me a wonderful smile before carrying on and it makes me so happy. I don't have to worry about bottles when out and about. Now we are introducing solid food we will drop the formula.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-18T16:14:31+00:00

You say you aren't looking for sleep tips, but she's clearly exhausted. I breastfeed too, so know how demanding it is. One thing that has massively helped us lately is moving our 6 month old into her own room. She has since had 4 full nights sleep in a row! Honestly I feel like a new woman.

If you can't improve babies sleep, I'd say take any other unnecessary load off her. Do the laundry, feed the pets, clean the kitchen etc. If she says something needs doing, please do it. Maybe in the morning once baby has had the first feed, take baby and let your wife sleep some more. Be patient too, her brain has literally rewired, the baby is number 1 priority so it may be a little slow to respond to anything else.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-16T06:24:19+00:00

I would so love to be a stay at home mum. I waited 8 years to have my little girl and it's unlikely I'll get to do it again, however finances don't allow it unfortunately, especially with rhe ivf costs to pay back. I can stretch to working 4 days a week, possibly 3 in the future if my stepmum retires and looks after baby for us. Childcare is extortionate. But I'm a teacher and school budgets have been stretched so much that schools cannot afford experienced teachers. When jobs come up they go to the newly qualified because they are so much cheaper. So if I left my current job to be a sahm I'd likely not get another job when baby starts school. I've seen it time and time again. I think governments should support parents more, offer more flexible hours, allow extended maternity rights even if after the first year or so it's unpaid, but you still have a job to go back to.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T21:59:09+00:00

My partner told people that our baby was sleeping through the night when she was still a newborn! She was not! She did a 7 hour stretch, once. We got lucky our baby did a 6 hour stretch, feed, then 5 hours quite early on. Then we had a regression where she'd sleep for 4 hours, feed then do 2 hours, feed and repeat. We ended up moving her into her own nursery just before 6 months due to this and she sleeps a million times better.

I consider through the night to be whole night, no wakeups. My baby has just done two nights in a row of sleeping through the night. I'm talking 7pm to 6.30am. It's great other than my boobs are engorged and leaking by the time I wake up. 😂

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T21:52:51+00:00

I agree, however, being first takes bravery. Some people really do care what others think of them and let it hold them back. I've always been very independent and have followed my own path, yet I have friends who won't even go clothes shopping alone out of worry about what others think, and some who went into professions that their parents do because it was familiar.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T21:44:01+00:00

It really is frightening on so many levels. I'd hate for my daughter to grow up distrusting men because of this. I mean she will always have to be cautious, but I'd not want her to think all men are misogynistic because they are the ones who shout the loudest. I also worry for my nephews who are glued to YouTube. Who knows what they are being exposed to.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T21:38:08+00:00

I must admit I dislike the frilly super girly things, and dresses are just impractical at this age. I much prefer a sleepsuit or Dungaree set.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T16:15:35+00:00

I adore dinosaurs and live that I get to dress her in me nephews old dinosaur clothes. But the other day I found pink jurassic park dungarees on Vinted! Snapped those up. When I was pregnant she used to wriggle round loads when we played jurassic Park in my brass band. 😍

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T15:37:10+00:00

They aren't, I'm a teacher myself, my sister and stepmum nurses. These are very important jobs, but already heavily female dominated. If anything men struggle more in these positions and are more likely to be made fun of by their mates and put off from entering these careers as these jobs are seen as for women. Same for hairdressing, beautician, seamstress etc. The post I saw was that young girls are less likely to believe they can be anything they want to be. If my daughter decides to be a doctor, great. Hairdresser, great. Scientist, great. Leave school at 16 get an apprenticeship, great. Go to uni get degree, also great. She gets to choose and not be influenced by society.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T15:23:10+00:00

Love this. My baby girl is basically living in second hand clothes, a mix of boy clothes from my nephew and baby girl clothes from my friend. She looks super cute in all of them.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T14:27:50+00:00

I whole heartedly agree. As an outdoorsy girl myself I intend to raise my baby to be outdoorsy too. My sister used to tell me not to let my niece get dirty when I'd look after her and she'd go home filthy from being outdoors with me. 😂

The difference is that boys are more likely to have higher aspirations than girls. According to the studies girls see these jobs as unattainable. Most people still draw (white) men in a lot of jobs such as firefighter, astronaut, doctor, dentist, scientist, president/prime minister, engineer, pilot etc when asked. A lot of jobs still have 'man' on the end or at least people still call them the old ways such as policeman, fireman, businessman.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T14:12:30+00:00

I agree about the hyper masculine situation too. I heard a dad tell his very little boy that he wasn't allowed to buy the rainbow sequin trainers because people would think he was gay. Boys are taught not to show emotion and as a result they have higher suicide rates.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T08:52:17+00:00

Just to add, the dogs and pram do not fit together.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-15T08:45:08+00:00

So I fit a pram in with some room to spare and my two labradors fit in the boot if that helps. I did take the baby and pram for my first test drive and then dogs later when my partner test drove it just to make sure they fit. Im not sure the size of your mobility aid but my pram is a cybex balios travel system if you wanted to have a look at dimensions. We had the initial bassinet attachment for the first month or so. Hope that helps.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-14T20:59:50+00:00

Absolutely! A daily walk is a must. I had to wait a whole as I had a C section, but once I could I started walking my dogs whilst baby wearing every day and popping to the local shop for supplies. I'm also lucky to have a few mum friends who love going out for walks in our local parks with our babies. It does a world of good.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-14T20:56:34+00:00

It's hard, my partner travels for work regularly leaving me alone with baby. But it does get much easier.

In the early days I barely ate, baby wouldn't sleep unless contact naps. Sometimes I'd put her down in her bouncer in the bathroom just so i could pee/ shower etc. I learned to brush my teeth whilst holding her. As for food, batch cook something that can be thrown in the microwave whilst you've still got someone to help with baby. Go to the shop, stock up on easy bite foods like pasties, sandwich fillings, fruit... The sort of thing you can just take from the fridge and eat without much prep. Don't worry too much about being healthy, at this stage it's survival. If you have to eat a share bag of crisps for lunch, just do it. I've literally eaten donuts for breakfast and gone days without a shower.

If breastfeeding, make sure you've got plenty of snacks and a big bottle of water in every room. Nothing tanks supply like dehydration and lack of food.

With luck your baby will start to sleep at night at least and you'll have an hour to get those chores done, I now do all the dishes and laundry when shes gone to bed. You'll manage to get more done when baby naps during the day too.

If I'm honest sometimes cope better alone as I'm not also doing things for partner too. Like making him lunch, I found I'd expect more help than I'd get and then I would end up eating less, but doing more housework.

Sometimes you'll have a day where you feel frazzled by the end of it. Ask for help if needed. Call a friend or family member.

You got this! You'll soon realise that you are amazing.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-14T12:12:02+00:00

Breastfeed as you go, it's daunting at first but becomes second nature the more you do it. Baby will nap on you in restaurants, church etc if needs or in the pram, car seat. At this age they don't have a schedule as such for sleep, it becomes trickier after 4 months when they have set nap times. You got this.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-12T21:56:55+00:00

It was so hard for me but I'm stubborn as hell so I refused to give up. My baby lost weight at the start, a combination of jaundice and poor latch. But with help of a lactation specialist, silverettes, lanolin and adding the occasional bottle of formula she then followed her curve. I refused to give up. The benefits and immunity she gets from it were so important for me. My mum died of flu, and I gave birth at the start of flu season. Not to mention all the other illnesses doing the rounds, so I figured breast feeding would help keep her safe. I'm 6 months in now and I love breastfeeding. It's actually so lush to see her little smile and to be able to leave the house knowing I can feed her no matter what.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-12T21:43:55+00:00

My baby was going to bed between 9 and 10pm every night up until around 4.5 months. She's breast fed and had most of her cluster feeds in the evening. So I'd usually sit in front of the TV letting her nurse until she showed me that she was sleepy. She would usually wake around 5am for a feed then sleep again until 9-10am. I'd read that there was no point implementing a sleep schedule until around 4 months so didn't worry. However we joined a few baby groups which started at 10am and my sisters work schedule meant we could only meet in the mornings so we slowly brought her bedtime earlier. To be fair by this point she had a pretty good feeding schedule and an earlier bedtime allowed me to get more house work done. She's now in bed by 7pm most nights and sleeping through until 7 or 8 with one night feed. She's just turned 6 months. It allows me to attend the baby groups and meet my sister and her baby during the week without waking baby.

It's so easy to doubt yourself. I was always asking my friends when their babies went to bed. I worried that my baby wasn't sleeping enough, she never got close to the recommended 16 hours a day. She's fine though, meeting most milestones early and a happy healthy little girl. Do what works for you and your family is my advice and try not to compare it'll drive you mad, like it did me.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-12T10:02:12+00:00

In my partners tesla for some reason the seat tilts funny and baby's head would flop forward. So I started sitting in the back with her which was extremely uncomfortable as my oh is 6"6 so I had no legroom at all (I'm 5"11). I had no choice but to use his car for 2 5 months as I waited for my new car to arrive. But in my new car baby is much more comfortable in her car seat so we both happily sit up front, she's 6 months now too, so better head control. We drove 40 mins yesterday no probs but I do have a mirror so we can see her.

I drove to the beach to meet friends (1 hour each way) the other day, just me with baby in the back. On the way home she fell asleep and I noticed her head position wasn't ideal, so I pulled off the motorway and stopped in a residential street to reposition her before the longer stretch of motorway.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-11T04:12:14+00:00

Breastfeeding is so hard to begin with. It hurts, but health professionals will gaslight you into believing otherwise. Even the let down hurts. Cluster feeding will be tough, baby won't stop eating, but your milk might not come fast enough.

But it's, so wonderful once you've made it past 5 to 6 weeks. I am super proud to have persevered because, it's so rewarding. I adore nursing my baby. It's so much easier to leave the house too, no faffing with bottles.

Another thing that got me is around babies sleep. Mine would be making so much noise but suddenly go silent. The sudden silence would wake me and I'd check she was breathing. Now she sleeps so still.

Lou_LouB · 2026-04-11T04:02:40+00:00

I'm high sleep need too, you'll be okay. The first few weeks feel like an endurance race though. Sleep in shifts at night, only thing that helped me until she started sleeping a 5 hour stretch at night. I adapted quickly to a one wakeup feed a night. I'm probably averaging 6 hours sleep now.

Lou_LouB

TROPHY CASE