r/FormulaFeeders • u/Time-Milk-5377 • Dec 27 '25

Advice / Question 💡 How Did You Decide to EFF?

FTM, 35 weeks so preparing for all things baby.

I’m wondering how people decided to EFF? Or combo feed? I am not terribly inclined to BF, pregnancy has been really hard on me mentally and I want to have my bodily autonomy back as much as possible. Also the thought of BF gives me the creeps in a way I can’t describe. However, I’m not 100% sure and am open minded so I’m wondering if I should just try in the first days and see how it goes.

I guess I’m looking for perspective on how folks decided to formula feed if you were on the fence going into labor. My hospital really pushes breastfeeding so I feel like I need some idea of what I want to do before going in.

Is it possible to just breastfeed for like a month to establish immunity benefits, then fully switch? Or is it advisable to just go formula straight from the start?

Thanks for any input- this has been giving me a lot of anxiety.

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22

u/zcakt Dec 27 '25

notAmomYet

I'm also in third trimester and whenever I watch breastfeeding/expression education videos and read about pumping I just feel deep in my bones that it's not for me.

19

u/Time-Milk-5377 Dec 27 '25

It gives me the deep creeps in a way I cannot articulate fully and I feel like people don’t talk about that enough!

11

u/elegantdoozy Dec 27 '25

I get this feeling too. It’s not quite disgust, it’s more like… deeply disturbing? Like, I’m a big horror fan, and breastfeeding gives me the same feeling that body gore movies do. It’s on par with like, digging eyeballs out of their socket or something. Personally I attribute this feeling to a past sexual assault experience, but tbh I’m not 100% sure I wouldn’t have had that feeling otherwise!

Anyway, that said — give it a shot if you want, but that creepy feeling was all I needed to be a HARD no on breastfeeding. My EFF-from-birth baby is 14mos now and I’m SO glad that’s the route we went! It was the best possible choice for our family.

10

u/Ripe-Tomat0 Dec 27 '25

Girl yes. The thought of sticking a baby on my boob is beyond disgusting and uneasy to me in a way I can’t explain. I would rather eat a denim jacket 🤢

3

u/elegantdoozy Dec 27 '25

lol eating a denim jacket is so specific but YES

2

u/ProudCatLady EFF from birth!! Dec 28 '25

I've had this feeling too. I wish we could talk more freely about the ick it gives us, but the sentiment is frowned upon even around the EFF spaces. It doesn't bother me whatsoever when others do it (one of my besties regularly nurses her little one in front of me and it genuinely doesn't phase me) but I get the heeby-jeebies thinking about doing it myself!

1

u/zcakt Dec 27 '25

It's ok to feel that way! I'm gonna try out having baby latch at birth and if possible, harvest some colostrum. If those things don't work out, no biggie