hi ladies,
it probably seems a bit early but i want to know exactly what i want to do , ive just starting to think properley about how i want to feed baby and cant decide what to do, do any of you girls have any ideas or advice on what you will be doing, im thinking of bf in hospital and moving to formula once home as ive been told that you cant make enough milk to bf and express into a bottle and i really want my oh to be able to feed our baby too ! its so confusing as my midwive seems to be pushing breastfeeding but im not sure i want to solely breastfeed and when i asked her about swapping over she told me its not good for the baby!

im a first time mum and to be honest all my friends who have babies have just formula fed so they cant really help me, i really do like the idea of swapping between formula and breastfeeding, but not sure if anybody else has done this!


help xxx

PB

G/C but it needs to be what you feel works best for you & your baby. I personally have chosen to solely BF my daughters as I feel it helps strengthen the bond between us but it doesn't work for everybody. It is possible to express breastmilk (generally the best trick is to feed baby yourself on one breast and use the other for expressing to balance out the supply). It is also possible to combination feed breastmilk and formula with most brands offering a starter milk formula for this. The only reason MW preeches 'breast is best' is because baby is supposedly getting more immunity & proteins from you through your milk but as they will get nurishment from formula and will be immunised from 8wks against some of the more severe diseases it's not the big deal they make it out to be. In short, look at all avenues & do what your instinct tells you.

I'm planning on breastfeeding this one as I fed my dd for 13.5 months. I'm not planning on doing it that long this time though!! (to be fair, I only intended to do it for 6 months but never stopped). This time I am going to introduce a bottle once bf is established but I'm yet to decide whether that will be expressed milk or formula milk. I have several reasons for that - My dd would never take a bottle so I could never be apart from her for more than a couple of hours, I would like my husband to be more involved in the feeding process this time, we are going to a wedding when baby will be about 6 months and they are not inviting children so my mum will have to deal with milk feeds (although baby will be having some solids by then) and this time I will probably have to return to work at 9 months and I doubt that baby will be proficient enough with a cup to take full milk feeds from one by then.

I'd say if you want to breastfeed, research it some more. A helpful book I had was called "Breast is Best" and it dealt with everything in an open, honest and non-preachy way. It had good chapters on feeding problems (which we had), feeding a "small for dates" baby (which we had), feeding a prem baby and the health benefits of breastfeeding.

Most areas will do an ante-natal class on feeding, but it can be a bit preachy and led me to believe that breastfeeding was going to be a breeze. It isn't, it takes work and commitment. And the first 6 weeks are quite possibly the hardest - I felt so alone when I was struggling in the middle of the night and was sleep deprived. So if you go to anything like that, take it with a pinch of salt. Most areas will also have breastfeeding groups - usually run by Sure Start centres or the NHS (our local groups are part of the "Be a Star" campaign). A lot of them will allow you to go whilst you're still pregnant so you can chat to the other mothers there about their experiences.

I'm pro-choice when it comes to feeding and think that you do have to do what works best for you and your family, but research both options now before you make a decision, and whatever you decide keep open minded.

Hello

I BF my son until I found out I was pg with this baby. He was 15 months, although I hadnt intended to BF for that long originally. I am planning on BFing again with this baby.

My advice to you would just to be open minded about feeding. I was determined that I would be expressing & OH would be sharing the nightfeeds, but when it came to it, I found it easier to do it myself - sterilising, expressing etc are all such a hassle & I couldn't be faffed. Also I'm a bit of a control freak so if OH had done nightfeeds I would just have layn awake next to him checking up!!

The problem with expressing straight away is that it will mess up your milk supply - in the first few weeks your milk supply is getting established so you make the right amount for your LO. Expressing can mess this up. Also if you give baby a bottle in the early days it can cause problems with them latching on.

Personally, BFing was perfect for me. FF seems like a lot of hard work & expensive. Also it helped me lose my baby weight very quickly. It is convenient, i found it such hard work getting out of the house with a LO & all the stuff you have to take that if I had to take bottles too then I probably would never have left the house. Plus, as we are all told by the lovely NHS, breast is best health-wise for you and your baby. Also I had one period in the 15 months between having no1 & getting pg with no2, woohoo! And not to mention how much I loved it, it was such a wonderful opportunity to have cuddles with my beautiful boy! One of the things that people do complain about is growth spurts where you might be feeding for large portions of the day but honestly, looking back I don't know why I didn't just sit back, put my feet up & enjoy the time being forced to do nothing! This is the thing that I am most worried about this time as it will be hard with having my son also. I was very lucky with BFing, my son latched on & fed well from day 1. This isn't always the case & may not be for you, but it could be - don't be told how hard BFing is because it isn't for everyone.

So, I'd really say the most important thing is to be open minded & if you need help, ask for help - that is what midwives are for.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

i'm glad someone has started this thread, i am also a little confused and unsure what option to go for, i do intend to breastfeed but my mum had great difficulty with me and said although it may sound like it it's no walk in the park, however i am not keen on having to solely breastfeed for 6 weeks before expressing and using a bottle which is what they advise you to do, i want to get my husband as involved as possible and although he has to get up and go to work he would still be willing to help out with the night feeds i would hate to feel like i was doing all the hard work by myself, i also don't know if i could handle being a feeding machine evry 2 hours for 24 hours a day/7 days a week, i think we all need some sort of break? I also thought you couldn't combine breast and formula so am suprised to see KazzieM has recommended this, i think i may have to invest in 'Breast is best' book and do a bit more research. thanks for your responses so far though Ladies, very helpful indeed

G/C from DIA - I bf ds until pg with this one; I moved over to formula from 6 months but still bf when I could - I found bf really, really hard but I was determined to persevere till at least 6 months. I always had a really rubbish supply but I did express and bf and so ds had a bottle of ebm from very early on (DO NOT listen to anyone who says baby will suffer from nipple confusion - it's more likely they will not take a bottle if you do not introduce it early on).

I started to take fenugreek tablets to increase my supply and I remember in the beginning being in floods of tears because I could barely express anything. I mean like, literally a few drops. I was convinced ds wasn't getting enough but he was putting on weight so he must have been. I fed from one side and expressed the other. I loved bf and it definitely helped lose the baby weight. I hate, hate, hate washing and sterilising the bottles and breast pump but I couldn't imaging having to do ff in the middle of the night/warming up etc etc. bf for me was sooooo much easier. In reality, you are going to wake anyway if lo cries - regardless if oh is doing the night feed, so especially in the early days I'd bf as long as possible.

Expect it to be hard. Expect it to make you cry because it's difficult. Expect it to be a slog. Expect sore nipples. Expect it to be so cute watching your little one cuddled up close.

Obviously if you combination feed, you are unlikely to have a great supply especially if you want to express too, just bear that in mind. Formula is expensive and it's heartbreaking the amount you end up throwing away!

If you decide not to bf, think about donating your milk to your local hospital's milk bank. I found out too late and so wish that I was able to have done it. Even though I struggled to express, even 1oz helps.

However, I'm not preaching. I know how hard it is. I totally understand why people give up or find it weird. It's a totally personal choice. Good luck!! x

I breast fed my DS for just over 6 months, but introduced 1 bottle of formula a day from around 4 months and just increased this gradually so the transition was pretty seamless and easy for both me and baby. I expressed from 2 weeks occasionally so he was used to taking a bottle as well (he had no nipple confusion and I have my doubts about this being negative propaganda by the NHS to stop people combination feeding!). I didn't find the actual act of breast feeding hard (as had no supply or latching issues), but did struggle with the 'claustrophobia'of it, which sounds crazy but when nothing will stop a baby crying apart from your boobs for hours on end it can be really hard! I remember one day when my DS was 4 weeks BF from midday until 10:30 at night pretty much non stop and I was close to tears! This time around I will breast feed again but will not be scared to introduce formula earlier and combination feed from day 1. It's such a personal thing and absolutely your choice what you decide to do. Don't let anyone pressurise you to do what you are uncomfortable with. As the other girls have said, keep an open mind and go with the flow (excuse the pun!). What is perfect for one person may not work for another, just don't put too much pressure on yourself. x

I'm planning on bf but really struggled with my daughter and only managed 4 days. I do plan on expressing early on though so my OH can do some feeds. I go to college on a saturday and I'm hoping to carry on going when ive had the baby (not sure how realistic that is!) and he would need to do the feeds then x

Hi!
I bf my dd until she was almost 12 months, despite only originally intending on doing it until our holiday when she would have been 5 months.

I was lucky in that dd latched herself on perfectly from the start (she takes after mummy and daddy loving her food LOL!). I did put lasinoh nipple cream on every night as a precaution to getting cracked nipples and think it really helped as I was only in pain once (it was for a few days). I found it to be so much kinder to the ears to 'whip my boob out' than wait for a bottle to be ready (although I'm sure you could get pretty fast at that too!) especially in the small hours.

In the early days hubby and I struck a balance between me doing the feeding and him doing the nappies. When she was 6 weeks I began to express a bottle in the morning as this is when I found my supply to be the best and daddy would feed her that at bedtime. I also expressed at the same time so my body knew I needed milk at that time and froze that milk for a rainy day. I was keen to express so that I could have a rest from feeding her (although I was often still attached to the milking machine!) and let her be looked after by other people. I also wanted her to be used to a bottle so we wouldn't have issues later, although to be honest, so long as food was coming out of it I don't think we would have had any issues!

Bfing helped me to loose my baby weight fairly quickly which was a major bonus as well as the cuddles D I bought lots of bf tops from H & M which gave me the confidence to feed while out in public as I could just pop out the vital bit and dd covered the rest. The bf rooms can often be in the smelly nappy changing rooms and not very pleasant.

Cluster feeding was a bind and always happened when I was trying to make tea, which was terrible as I was sooo hungry!!! You do need to make sure that you keep your fluid and food levels up. I was often woken up with rock hard sore boobs, but this was when she was only waking once in the night for a feed. I'd be torn between waking her up to relieve the pressure and enjoying the peace and quiet! I started to give formula at bedtime from about 7 months and when I stopped bf she had formula in a morning and night before switching to cows milk.

I was very lucky in having a positive experience of bf and know it isn't like that for everyone and that not everyone can or wants to bf. If you do want to try bf I say go for it and if you can try to make it to the first immunisations and then take it from there. I set myself little goals to get to and then found it hard to say stop! It's definitely cheaper, although that was how I justified buying lots of nursing tops :lol:

This is a great thread, I have found it so helpful. I breastfed my son but only for 6 weeks as was finding it quite stressful.

After reading all your comments I am definitely going to give it another shot, if it doesn't work out then that's fine too. I have to say my mums attitude to BF is annoying me, she revoils in disgust everytime I mention breastfeeding arghhh what does she think breasts were made for. Sigh :roll:

I'm not sure, I had such a bad experience last time that it has put me off a fair bit. I tried to bf but ended up ff after a few weeks. Also tried to express but couldn't keep up with demand.

I think i'll try and bf while in hospital at least and see how it goes. I'll need to get baby onto a bottle fairly soon though because of still being at uni, can't really bf in the middle of an exam lol.

Hi

My experience with my first was a miserable one, I threw the towel in after 5 weeks. I want to try again but I refuse to beat myself up like I did last time when it was not working for us

xx

i breastfed for 8 months.

i plan on doing it again for longer this time. BUT i will introduce a bottle of expressed breast milk within 2 weeks... not doing this last time meant my daughter refused any bottles till 7 months which was exhausting as feeding was up to me for a long time and i felt very pressured.

i will also be donating to my maternity units breastmilk bank for neonatal babies as in the first month i literally poured milk down the sink

i havent read all the other posts, i combination fed my daughter (she is almost 11months) until she was seven months, she was born by emergency csection and my milk never came in properly ( i had intended to exclusively breastfeed her) i was not able to build up my supply enough to ebf her however, she did settle well with both breast feeding and bottle feeding with no confusion and although she probably had a preference for the breast she took both just the same! i was worried about my friends all bottle feeding and thinking i was weird or something but they were all supportive and soon got used to me bfing her!

omg thank you ladies , im amazed by your responses, you really have given me food for thought, i hae 20 weeks still to decide what i want to do but i reckon a mixture of the two will be best for me , i am def going to try bf though if fo nothing else than to say i tried ! im just a bit worried about bf in public !


thanks ladies PbX