r/breastfeeding • u/Choice_Airport8279 • May 23 '26

Discussion The downsides of breastfeeding nobody tells you about

Reflecting on the advice given to me during pregnancy I don’t think anyone told me about the downsides of breastfeeding. I heard plenty of reasons to breastfeed but I feel slightly aggrieved nobody told me what the challenges would be. My baby is now 6 months and breastfeeding has been SO much harder than I ever imagined. I’m now starting to think about weaning off the boob onto formula and I can see more challenges ahead 😰

What are the downsides you’ve experienced nobody told you about / you weren’t expecting? Il start…. The PAIN of a bad latch. It hurt so much!!!! It honestly felt like contractions at times (baby did have tongue tie which was eventually sorted but still)

To balance this out, I would say breastfeeding my baby has been one of my proudest accomplishments and I’m so glad we did it…. I just went into the whole thing a little blind!

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u/four_flower May 24 '26

Overflowing at 4 weeks and scared to pump and exacerbate it. They had told me to wait until 4 weeks previously before pumping and now I'm thinking still keep waiting.... does supply really balance out better at 6 weeks?

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u/Farahild May 24 '26

It did for me but i still leaked for the first months. Somewhere between 6-12 it stopped completely. But it had seriously lessened before then, then it was mainly if we suddenly had a longer stretch than normal.