Breastfeeding pointless?

Question

My 18 week old desires WAY more milk than I can produce, and she’s greatly preferring the bottle and doesn’t seem interested in nursing any longer. I can pump maybe 8 ounces a day? Is there any point in continuing to breastfeed if my milk is a minority of what she’s getting, and if she doesn’t want to nurse anyways? Anyone in a similar situation? Anyone pump a couple times per day just to keep their minimal supply so they have the option of breastfeeding sometimes? Like maybe she’ll want to comfort nurse at some point and I’ll be glad I didn’t stop? I dunno

Answer

I’m in the same position. I feel like giving up soon because he’s becoming more distracted while nursing and rejecting the breast when it’s only like 25% of his daily intake.
I pump about 5 ounces before bed then nurse a few times a day. It’s never enough because I’m still having to give another 25 ounces in formula, too. I know he’s hungry and not overfed because he screams his head off for it.

Answer

Imo breastfeeding is never a waste. I love comfort nursing. My first I breastfed until 20 m but the first 6 was about half formula half breast milk. If you hate it, that’s one a thing but if you love the bonding, closeness and slow down that breastfeeding provides then just that is plenty of reason to continue.

Answer

I'm in a similar boat. We exclusively pumped and bottle fed it, and the most I've ever pumped in one day is about 40 ounces, but for some reason I've only been producing about 20 ounces the last few weeks so now we supplement 50/50 with formula. My 4.5 month old eats about 36 ounces per day (sometimes more, never less) and we aren't giving food yet.

Answer

I supplement with formula but my daughter went on a little nursing strike for a while. We fought through it and I’m glad we did. Any breast milk you can give is better than none. I pump after feeds and sometimes give her the bottle when she’s that hungry and needs to take the edge off before nursing or when I need a break and dad can feed her. It’s a lot to breastfeed but I wouldn’t say what you are doing is pointless!

Answer

I think it depends on whether you want to continue. No judgment either way! My daughter never latched well so I’ve been mostly pumping for a long time. I’ve also tried all the tricks/supplements to increase my supply. I make about how much she needs but her demand will only increase (20 weeks old tomorrow). I’m happy to feed it to her as long as I can, but it takes commitment. I’m sure you could continue to pump as she bottle feeds if you really wanted to! I pump at least 120+ mins per day to keep up my supply.

Breastfeeding pointless?

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