When my daughter was born I tried SO hard to breast feed...but a lactition soon decided she was not getting enough milk from me because of a hard mass behind my nipples....so I went to exclusive pumping.  She is one month old now, and in the next few weeks I have to decide weather to go to formula or keep with pumping, I have to rent a hospital grade pump.  I know I should keep with the pumping because it is so much better for her and I stay at home with her anyways..but it is hard to get up and feed her then go pump during the late night feedings, it exausts me.  I don't know what to do, the lactition said when she gets older she may be able to latch on and get enough milk.  Just looking for advice on weather to keep on pumping or switch to formula....

That's a really tough call to make. In my opinion it comes down to how much nursing means to you. I have always heard that some is better than none at all. If you are becoming too tired to keep up the exclusive pumping, give it up. You will feel better if you are better able to keep up with her. Formula has come a long way too, so I doubt your daughter would be missing out on too much since she is already on the bottle. Just some thoughts. Good luck with your decision, not an easy one to make, but if you decide to stop at least you gave it a try and kept up for soo long.

I know how you feel. I tried just as hard to nurse my daighter when he was born, but couldn't get her to latch on gtood enough. She developed jaundice at 2 days old and I had to supplement with formula as well as breast milk. Since it was so difficlt to nurse her I just pumped exclusively. I know what you mean about exhaustion. I couldn't keep up with pumping every time she needed to eat. I now exclusively formula feed DD, and am a much better mommy b/c I'm not as sleepy ad grumpy. The previous responder was right. Formula has come a long way. I know that breast milk is best but I feel that we as moms are looked down upon if we decide not to breast feed our babies for whatever reason.

Good luck!

Thanks for the responses. We went to the doctor yesterday and decided to go to formula. I have the breast pump that I rented for three more weeks so I'm going to keep on pumping but store the milk in the freezer. This way if anyone in the family gets sick or her she can have the breast milk for the extra antibodies.  The doctor suggested it and I think its a wonderful idea.  The main reason I was afraid not to give her breastmilk is its getting to be winter and the cold and flu season and I was too scared shed get sick. This way I can quit breastfeeding with the confidence that in the future if someone or her gets sick I can still give her the breastmilk and antibodies she'll need.