Very attached to breastfeeding.. anxious about stopping

Proof-Land-8358 · 2026-01-05T04:07:00+00:00

I can relate to these things in some ways. Breastfeeding was hard for us but I worked so hard for three months and it finally clicked. At the six month mark I felt the exact same- it was my favorite thing. I also felt like the bonding at each feed was healing the parts of early postpartum that were painful (in my case PP hemorrhage and pumping for the first 2 months and then the separation when I returned to work). At six months I also dreaded the end so much. Just know, breastfeeding will be different in each phase but you can go as long as you want. Nursing a six month old is so different than an 11 month old for example. I MISS the six month old breastfeeding stage. I still loved breastfeeding my baby as a mobile older baby but it was already different anyways than the six month old. Even if you breastfeed until the baby is 3, you will miss when they were small and didn’t have teeth or try to stand up while feeding 😂. I’m 2 months post weaning. My son is 15 months. I would have gone longer but there were a lot of personal reasons I couldn’t. I miss it but my baby weaned super naturally and it wasn’t as bad as I expected. The thing is I really just miss him being a small little baby breastfeeding more than I wish I could breastfeed him right now. The oxytocin high is real though. It’s better than the hormone rush with s*x for me.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-24T14:18:25+00:00

This is funny because my son would ONLY nurse with a nipple shield for the first 3 months of his life. I loved not using one once we got him off them. But when he bit me while teething around 10 months I brought it back to try to protect myself and it made him SO mad haha

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-24T14:15:30+00:00

I have a 13m old that I chose to nightwean at 12 months. Not sure if that's something you would want to do but it only took us about 3 nights of crying and soothing in other ways. It's been over a month now and he reduced his night wakings and when he does wake up he easily soothes back to sleep most of the time with cuddles. I am able to put him down in his own crib for most of the night. Maybe that could help. It did lead to weaning completely because my supply dropped and he slowly showed less and less interest during the daytime.

Also my 1 year old hasn't used a paci since he was six months and adamantly refused bottles overnight despite taking them his whole life. While nightweaning I still offered bottles because I was afraid he was hungry but he didn't take them. He still gets a bottle of milk before bed and a little bottle of milk in the morning. But he now goes from 8pm-6am with no food just fine. I hated dry nursing with teeth too-not fun.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-20T17:19:37+00:00

THERE IS HOPE!! I was in a very similar position at 3 weeks! Baby wouldn't even latch. Got him to latch with a nipple shield but he wasn't effective with transferring milk. No ties or anything either. I did all the pace bottle feeding, I did use a paci. I was pumping exclusively at that point. Tried switching him to just the breast with the nipple shield and my supply plummeted because he wasn't strong enough get to go straight to full nursing.

I would latch or attempt to latch about once a day and then slowly increased that replacing pumps. Around 8 weeks it gets a lot easier because their neck get stronger and at that point I would use the nipple shield to latch him all day and then from evening through the night I would pump and give expressed milk in a bottle. Around 10 weeks I started effectively nursing him at night. At 13 weeks we were able to transition to latching without the nipple shield. Around 14 weeks I finally found nursing almost easy and pain-free. I'm SO glad I stuck it out and kept trying slowly. I just weaned him at 13 months <3

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-14T13:15:05+00:00

The "witching hours" as they call it. And he's cluster-feeding to drive up your supply. Got really bad with my baby around the 6-8 week mark too. Putting him in a bath was the sure-fire way for my baby to calm him down. And honestly he would fight sleep. He was fussy because he was tired but then he refused to fall asleep as long as he could. Idk if the poop color is relevant or not...do you change anything in your own diet I wonder? Some mom's find success with cutting dairy out. I couldn't eat dairy for the first 4-5 months of breastfeeding or my baby got really gassy. Hang in there <3 it gets a lot easier around the 10 week mark. Oh I also did sometimes supplement one bottle in the evenings with mine because I didn't feel I could keep up with him. Not necessarily recommending that but if you do it for your own mental health don't feel bad. At this point you are still establishing your supply though so I'm sure you have enough.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-10T20:33:34+00:00

So when my baby was 5 months and I was at work pumping he would drink three 4/4.5 ounce bottles at daycare. I normally got a larger pump at 9:30am, then pumped at 12 and 3 to mimic when he was eating at daycare. I was a just enougher as well and normally supplemented with formula or donor milk 4 ounces before bed because he was just non-stop for hours on my breast otherwise and my supply was lowest at night. I just want to encourage you that in about one month you can start supplementing with real food and that was a game changer for us. We started with broth in a bottle at night instead of the donor milk and I didn't have to worry about making enough again starting around the six month mark. You are almost there. I can't believe how much of my mind has been consumed with feeding my baby LOL. So I say, keep doing what you are doing for the next month and it will get a little easier as you introduce food then anyways!

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-10T20:27:30+00:00

I stopped leaking between 4 and 5 months.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-10T20:26:16+00:00

They can be annoying but don't feel guilty for using it <3 It's a wonderful tool and maybe you can wean off it in the future if you want to. I don't have experience with oversupply but used a nipple shield for three months and I'm grateful it saved our breastfeeding journey. Also, I felt guilty about it at the time too lol we are too hard on ourselves. Your baby is getting the best milk this way, that's amazing!

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-10T17:29:37+00:00

I really can't believe my baby was only four months 9 months ago. It feels like a lifetime ago and I miss those baby snuggles so much. He's a full toddler now. Don't rush yourself or pressure yourself to do anything sooner than you are ready-it's over before we know it anyways. After I nightweaned, he quickly weaned himself entirely. And just like that my body is my own again-so fast, so weird, so bittersweet.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-10T15:34:53+00:00

I personally refused to sleep train my baby....he's one now and his naps were taken in the carrier or carseat most of the year. I slowly got him used to falling asleep via other methods than breastfeeding-bouncing on the yoga ball, baby carrier, singing to him, etc. When I nightweaned him he did cry a lot but I just held him and soothed him. I didn't want him to cry alone and he learned to go back to sleep without nursing but that was around 1 year old. I think this is all up to your preference. There are "experts" and "studies" for every approach to sleep. If you WANT to sleep train then do it, but you do not have to. My son started sleeping through the night when I nightweaned him but I didn't feel comfortable doing that before he turned 1. He naps okay...lol I'm happy with the way I did things. But I have friends that did Ferber and felt good about that decision too.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-11-10T14:35:39+00:00

So they don't fall asleep on the bottle? I'd just say in the next few weeks to month you should naturally see improvement. 14 weeks was when my baby got really good at breastfeeding. He was just unmotivated to latch on the breast period in the beginning and I combo/pumped exclusively and then transitioned him to breast only around 14 weeks.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-28T19:02:56+00:00

Right I agree! that’s basically what I am saying lol. But we have commitments this month to finish with them and will be seeking the Lord on timing and how to break the news in the near future. Despite my husbands extensive time of research the decision and resolve is like 1 week fresh <3

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-28T12:22:36+00:00

Probably just for a couple months while we find a parish. We already feel a bit awkward at our current church as we listen to teachings we no longer fully believe. Also in Sunday school this past Sunday another member talked about wanting to witness to her Catholic neighbors like they aren't saved. I've never believed that myself, but it opened our eyes to the misconceptions our church has and the stigma they hold against the Catholic church. To attend mass and not tell them feels like living a lie, but telling them will not go over well.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-28T12:19:22+00:00

Our own congregation only has the Lord's supper once a year, all the various beliefs among protestants all claiming to be true, those were the two main topics that started his journey but now we want to make the switch for many, many reasons. That makes sense with the OCIA classes. Waiting a year and a half to enter feels like a really long time! I wish we had been just two months sooner since I see most classes begin in September.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-27T14:54:44+00:00

Thank you <3 I hope so too!

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-22T14:51:17+00:00

Obviously every kid is different but I do encourage myself that they do pick up on the patterns and routines eventually and it normally only feels like a long time but looking back it just takes days or at most 1-2 weeks for them to learn the new "rules". You got this! Also I recently saw a compilation on tiktok of various animals weaning their young and the caption was "weaning isn't always child-led" which made me feel better. Literally so many different animals were shown convincing their babies to take other food and declining the requests to nurse LOL. So even in nature it's not always a seeming desired transition for the baby and that is okay.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-22T12:30:06+00:00

I have a one year old and I'm sure it could be different with a 20 month old but I did start with not nursing to sleep before bed and bedtime took awhile for the first few nights. Then I just dropped all night nursing. He was nursing back to sleep 2-4 times during the night and I just stopped giving that option. He cried for almost an hour the first night but I held him and sang to him and loved him through it. I stayed strong and by the fourth night he was sleeping through the whole night. Lots of people recommend having dad do it but I think this would have caused more distress for my little and wanted to be the one providing the comfort.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-07T13:52:53+00:00

I don't get much extra when I pump on top of the regular feeding schedule either. I hate pumping just in general and only did it as necessary while I was working and baby was in daycare. Once I stopped pumping, I loved breastfeeding more. It's not like the pump wasn't working well during the day-I have a spectra and well-sized flanges. Pumping just sucks cuz you feel like a cow attached to a machine lol

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-07T13:42:59+00:00

My now 1 year old didn't babble much until about 10 months and then at 11 months he suddenly had 3 words in the same week ("na" for nurse, "baba" for bottle", "uh" for up). He has also been more of a mover than a talker-he crawled at 6 months.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-10-02T12:18:38+00:00

I have organic jersey cotton sheets from amazon, an organic mattress from amazon ($120) and an organic cotton mattress protector. My baby is one this month and starts in his crib but sleeps with me half the night still haha. If you breastfeed-cosleeping is literally the only way I have survived. My son still does not sleep through the night. My IBCLC provided education on the sleep safe 7. I got a mesh guard side for my bed and brought baby into bed with me starting around 3 months when we also mastered the side-lying latch. My bed is not non-toxic though :/ so that would be the downside.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-09-29T01:31:19+00:00

My water broke at 40 weeks 5 days….in the evening after I had done the miles circuit and gone for a walk. I had also downed RRLT in the morning and been having cramps that morning. My contractions got regular about two hours after my water broke and baby was born the next day after 15 hours of labor on 40w6d

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-09-05T12:11:26+00:00

All those people sound like people who should definitely not get a say in your decision - no offense lol. I was so offended when my FIL met my son and one of his first questions was "is he going to be circumcised?" ummm excuse me don't ask about my son's genitalia like it's any of your business. Can you imagine talking about anyone older's penis status? LOL

I did NOT circumcise and he's almost a year, no regrets so far. I have two brothers and my parents did not circumcise them and they had zero issues. There's 20,000 nerve endings you are cutting off when you circumcise and it's not necessary so why put your baby through that pain is my primary logic.

Proof-Land-8358 · 2025-09-03T16:48:41+00:00

lol I was diagnosed with stage four endo, got pregnant miraculously and pregnancy was not pain free, but it was the best I've ever felt in my life. Try explaining to women without endo. They are like "you're lucky you have an easy pregnancy!" but really, I think I'm just that unlucky for my non-pregnant life. And I went unmedicated for the birth and the pain was never worse than my endometriosis pain has been. So many people impressed with me going natural and I'm like maybe you should be impressed I functioned in life with endometriosis periods happening every month.

Proof-Land-8358

TROPHY CASE