(remember: if you read this article via Facebook, remember it’s an automatic post, I don’t read the comments on Facebook, only on woistdasmeer.com)

One year ago, as Z was 14 days old, I stopped to breastfeed. Now, she holds her bottle all alone in the morning and even with one hand (it’s recent).

To stop with breastfeed was simple. Z was still loosing wait after her birth though breastfeeding during all days an nights. She was shouting the whole nights and I was about to make a brake down because of the lack of sleep and the lack of solutions against her weight and shouting. The nurse told me at her 11th day to breastfeed 10 min and then give formula milk. At her 14th day, my breasts were totally empty and she stopped shouting. She even gained weight at the next visit to the doctor.

Breastfeeding – or not making it- is loaded with a lots of principles and feelings. My intention, before Z was born, was to breastfeed if possible. I tried the best I could and I put her well-being in the first place. She has grown well since then (she’s not a heavy weight on Swedish scales, but she’s all fine on French scale). She’s active, sleeps well at night and seems to become a nice little girl. So her well-being is all fine even without breastfeed.

What about my well-being? To breastfeed hurt as hell. This was my experience. I was crying almost every time because it hurt to much. Bleeding too. Good for the uterus right after the delivery (it helps it to get back to normal),  I could feel it as well, but this uterus part was needed and stopped after some days if I remember well. Z was so big when she was born that except the pain for me, it felt alright to breastfeed. After 5-6 days, when we realized that something was wrong and didn’t know what, plus the fact that I was breastfeeding 45 min every two hours (also 1:15 rest in between). my anxiety against pain growing before the next breastfeeding time was so big, that even if I had to use this time between breastfeed to rest, it was impossible for me to sleep because I already felt my nipples getting hurt. Plus the fact that I was feelinh like an horrible mother.

When we began to give her formula, it changed. Notice the “we”! Suddenly, M could feed her as well and it was wonderful for their bounding. Often, you hear that breastfeeding helps the bonding between child and mother. Bottle feeding helps the bouding between the both parents. What to prefer? The fact that we were two able to feed was also that the sleep became twice as long for both of us. Don’t underrate sleep value! I’m not talking going from 7 to 14 hours sleep here. I’m talking the firsts weeks going from 1 to 2 hours sleep in a row. Gold worth!

The inconvénients are mostly the things you have to buy, clean, prepare, tale with you.

I’m not making the apology of non breastfeeding. I’m just telling how it went for us this time. Every mother and baby are unique, make it your way!