Exclusively pumping to formula
Hi everyone. I have a 20-week-old daughter and I've been exclusively pumping since she was 4 weeks old. We had a really difficult time breastfeeding, made worse by the fact that she spent a few days in the NICU, but it was important to me that she got my milk, so even when I felt done with breastfeeding, I decided to keep pumping.
Now I've been back to work for almost two months, and pumping 6x a day is getting really hard to keep up. We started supplementing her with a little formula so I could drop at least one pump, and that helped, but I have also started to resent all the time I spend pumping. Since going back to work, it feels like every moment I have with my baby is precious, and I hate feeling like I have to put her down to go pump or ignore her cries because I'm in the middle of pumping. I broke down into tears last night because of this, and decided it's probably best for both of us if I start transitions her full-time to formula.
I KNOW formula is just as good nutritionally, and I know that she'll be fed and happy. But I still have so much guilt about this decision... I feel like I haven't tried hard enough, or that I'm taking the easy way out. I also know that so many moms struggle with supply and I feel like its almost wasteful to stop pumping when I have been blessed with a very good supply.
I'm sure some of you have been through the same thing, so I'm really just looking to get some support since this is a hard thing for me to accept.
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