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Home › Articles › Issues for Mom › I Hate Breastfeeding – Now What?

I Hate Breastfeeding – Now What?

Considerations Before You Quit

By Shel Franco

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To Baby: While you're bound to hear stories like Melissa's where Baby never "skips a beat," changing from breast milk to formula can cause problems in some babies.

"Your baby will have to adjust to a different food that is deficient in many nutrients and much harder to digest," says Calandro. "Formula-fed babies smell like formula, have more difficulty with rashes, allergies and constipation. Many mothers tell me that within two weeks of stopping breastfeeding that their babies began a cycle of ear infections, cold and viral illnesses. They no longer have protection from the antibodies in the breast milk."

If it sounds like Calandro is trying to keep you breastfeeding, that's because she is – and she makes no excuses for it. While you might not like breastfeeding, the real question is can you live with it – temporarily?

"Personally, I would have felt guilty if I stopped because I didn't like it, knowing that her health depended on my milk," says Calandro. "Stopping due to true milk insufficiency is a whole different story. You may not enjoy being pregnant either. However, you don't go in and have the baby taken out early for that reason. It just isn't healthy for the baby. Some mothers convince their doctors to do so, and they have babies that have a lot harder time for the first few weeks. The healthiest babies spend nine months in the womb and 12 months or more on the breast."

That being said, only you know the circumstances surrounding your decision to quit. Neither Melissa N. nor Albert, who stopped while still in the hospital, regretted their choices. "I felt better about myself, and I was really able to bond with Aurey, because she wasn't constantly crying," says Albert.


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Re: It IS ok to quit by anonymous on 08/21/2009 10:31PM

Sorry but I dont buy it. You do a disservice to women by the guilt based article you are pushing on breast feeding. I did both -- one breast fed and the other bottle. And both were in happy and healthy and smart. But as a FAMILY it was much better with the bottle and with Dad full time helping and bonding. No ear infections here and very little sickness with either baby. And my breastfed niece is now getting tubes for almost constant ear infections. Your article is very one sided. Women should know that they can choose and ARE NOT hurting their babies and are still good mothers. Shame on you for continuing to demote women in this world!

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