Stopping Breastfeeding
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@Stephanie just curious why you stopped, and how old your baby is? Mine is 6 weeks old and it's a struggle
@Kat He's now 8 months. At the end I was exclusively pumping. A few reasons why I stopped: 1) he started drinking a lot more than I was producing. I wanted him to be EBF and that was no longer possible. 2) he was starting solids, which would help balance out the feeds. 3) my goal was EBF for the first 6 months, which I reached. 4) we are traveling internationally next month and that would make pumping an absolute nightmare. 5) it started impacting my mental health again. 6w is a really hard period, it does get easier as the months go by if you're adamant about it. Seriously, no shame in stopping breastfeeding though if it's not working for you. I know its really hard.
@Stephanie I second this, I felt better when I stopped. I breastfed heavily and for a long time so had become very depleted and mentally it was draining too. I still believe it was the most beautiful thing I have ever done x
Your boobs may be different than before regardless of when you stop (not to scare you, but just being real! And like some others have said this is very individual) we combo fed for 7 months until my son got teeth and started biting. After that, I pumped for a while but quitting breastfeeding and pumping was the best decision I could have made for myself at that time.
I breastfed til 16 months I didn’t get depressed. I did felt sad that our journey ended because I wanted to go longer but I got sick with a high fever and that’s how we weaned. My husband had to step up and take over nighttime routine My boobs aren’t sagging. I’m a 40DDD. My body hasn’t changed. It took awhile for them to dry up completely though.
My mental health did take a hit whilst my hormones settled after stopping, but after a few weeks I felt like myself again. I did gain a lot of weight very quickly, but I also lost a huge amount whilst BFing. My boobs are saggy and empty but I wouldn’t say that’s awful, just different to pre-baby x
Because my daughter self weaned I didn’t feel any side effects at all as it was a slow process. I cant say my boobs or body feel any different than when I was nursing.
Stopped about 3 weeks ago and never felt better. My mental health has greatly improved and physically I feel and look the same as before. This probably greatly varies person by person.