How Did You Decide to EFF?

[u/Time-Milk-5377]

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.

[u/Life-Attitude3138]

I really wanted to EBF, I tried so hard and as others said it’s dedication and work and if we didn’t have the issues we did along the way who knows, maybe I would’ve been able to. Eventually she ended up being combo-fed

My daughter was born with a tongue tie and we had latching issues right from the start so we did a visit with lactation, tried a nipple shield, she also needed supplemental donor milk for her blood sugar numbers so she was getting bottle and syringes. Once we got home, we were working on getting her back to birth weight and she still wasn’t latching we added bottles of pumped milk back in. We kept up seeing lactation and getting her ties released. I started working on my supply, fast forward a few weeks we got some more donor milk to help supplement while I built up a supply. It ended up upsetting her belly really bad and I couldn’t let her be that uncomfortable again.

We started combo feeding with formula, she’s 7 months old now and from July-October she was fed with breast milk and formula both from boob and bottle. In October I started weaning from the boob (for my own medical needs) and she’s been getting breastmilk and formula from the bottle ever since.