Babies first feed

[heybabya]

I will be bottle feeding baby as I just personally don't feel comfortable at the thought of myself breastfeeding.

At my recent MW appointment the MW was talking to me about skin to skin and then she said that they will also encourage baby to feed from me for his first feed because it's good for his immune system. She said whether I am bottle feeding or breast feeding that's what is encouraged.

I totally get that it is good for his immune system and its in his instinct but...I'm really not comfortable with the thought of it.

Anyone with experience give me insight into this as I'm a first time mum.

 

[MrsS143]

Would you feel comfortable expressing to get the first milk out?
It's got wonderful antibodies etc for baby x

 

[Sprout]

I would urge you to keep an open mind about it While you may feel uncomfortable about breastfeeding now, you might change your mind if you give it a go?

Colostrum, the milk baby gets from the first few breastfeeds, is incredibly beneficial - particularly in protecting against infection. You can read about its importance here http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvdecjan05p123.html

Even if you do decide you'd rather not carry on BFing, just a couple of days of feeding will be so good for your baby.

 

[heybabya]

Yeah that's what my hubby said - that I might get over my fears and take to it naturally. I would deffo consider expressing. I'll just go with the flow then!

 

[MrsS143]

Just dont discount it yet xx

 

[Mrs M]

I refused to bf my son (2nd child) and although our hospital do not supply formula to babies, they gave us the first bottle in the recovery, but then we had to supply our own. There was no pressure on me, and they never judged or even asked me why!

 

[Baby2sky]

It doesn't matter what they encourage. If you dont want to do something you dont have to. I told the midwives how I would be feeding my daughter and that was that. I wouldn't be pushed into doing something that wasn't our choice. I still had skin to skin.

 

[MrsG81]

Keep an open mind that you may feel different, but if you don't it's entirely up to you. The skin to skin is beneficial for you both. If you decide you do want to feed the colostrum but not breast feed then the hospital should be able to provide you with a steile cup / pot and syringe so that you can express some which can be fed to your little one with a syringe (colostrum is usually only a few mls at a time for most mums so using a pump / bottle to feed it may end up with wasting a lot of it as so little is produced, but babies have such tiny stomachs the little amount produced is sufficient).

Depending on your reasons for not breastfeeding, if you would still feel uncomfortable expressing at the hospital or worried about having to break off from cuddling time in that first hour or so to express, if you start leaking before giving birth you may even be able to collect colostrum beforehand and freeze it to use in the hospital and early days.

You can start as early as 32 weeks although it's recommended you only store it from 37 weeks (I'm guessing the earlier stuff isn't as nutrient dense). Just like at the hospital you can express in to a sterile pot and suck it up in to a syringe which can then be stored the same as breastmilk (frozen or refridgerated) and this could be taken in a cool bag to the hospital and stored in the milk fridge.

This is what I plan on doing. I'm a surrogate for my sister and although breastmilk has many benefits, colostrum is really the "super juice" lol. I'm hoping to express and freeze a little at home before the baby is born which my sister can keep at home and then express at the hospital so she can feed the baby with a syringe at the hospital.

 

[Hoping for no2]

I struggled with feeding both of mine but was adamant they both got the colostrum at the very least as it is very important for their immune system/fighting infection. If you are not comfortable feeding you could hand express the colostrum and feed with a syringe. That's what I did when having latching issues in hospital. I also expressed milk for my 2nd for 4 weeks before moving to formula when I struggled to keep up with demand. I agree you should do what you are comfortable with, I get very cross when they pressurise women to breastfeed. But keep an open mind as you may feel differently when bubs is born and it's still possible to give them the best start without having to feed if that's what you decide Xx

 

[littlemonkey]

To be honest, I'm formula feeding my second and will do from the first feed this time around.

With my first, I'd had a difficult induction followed by emergency c-sec. My milk didn't come in until almost a week after LO was born. I tried putting him on the breast on the first day and after everything he'd been through to come out he was having none of it! I ended up with the midwife hand expressing me which after everything I'd gone through was just too bloody much.

Knowing I'm having a section this time again I anticipate a repeat of last time, so am just going to give LO a bottle from the get go.

Do what you feel comfortable with. Don't feel bullied into something you're not comfortable with.

 

[MrsG81]

To be honest, I'm formula feeding my second and will do from the first feed this time around.

With my first, I'd had a difficult induction followed by emergency c-sec. My milk didn't come in until almost a week after LO was born. I tried putting him on the breast on the first day and after everything he'd been through to come out he was having none of it! I ended up with the midwife hand expressing me which after everything I'd gone through was just too bloody much.

Knowing I'm having a section this time again I anticipate a repeat of last time, so am just going to give LO a bottle from the get go.

Do what you feel comfortable with. Don't feel bullied into something you're not comfortable with.

Northing to do with breastfeeding, I just wanted to say that I had an emergency section with my first which was awful. I wanted a natural birth with my second but when he hadn't arrived on his own by 42 weeks I didn't want to do induced and opted for an elective c-section. It was sooooooo much better than my emergency one. Very calm and relaxed and I actually enjoyed it apart from almost being sick with the spinal block. Hopefully yours will be the same xxx

 

[ChrissieCool]

I tried to breast feed my first but I just couldn't do it so I gave him the bottle and have done so with all my babies, I'm a mummy to 5 healthy boys and it hasn't affected them in any way that I bottle fed them, if it doesn't feel right for u then don't do it because if it makes u unhappy then it will only cause u stress, I still had skin to skin with all my boys. Who knows, u might change your mind when the time comes but don't let anyone force you into anything xxx

 

[Kiagirl]

I didnt want to bf at all. Just wasnt appealing to me. We went to parentcraft and they did a session on bf and they explained that colostrum was important so i decided to do that feed. I did and it was relatively painless and easy. I then switched to bottles after this. I was in hospital for 3 dsys after as i had gd abd baby had to be monitored every 3 hours due to this. I was advised by one midwife tjat it was better for me to ff with gd as at least the formula would be balanced whereas my milk could be up and down while my gd was settling! I will say that i was on a ward with 4 other beds andcthe rest were bf, their babies screamed all night presumably cos they were hungry but Lucie slept through and was a very content baby. I never got any milk but dont know if this was because i wasnt feeding or if i had a prob but i never had any leaking or anything. Just do whats right for you. I was questioned so many times but just stuck to my guns. My OH and our mums loved it as they loved feeding and snuggling her. I could leave the house without worrying and stressing like all my bf friends did. The best bit was the sleep tho, i would go to bed at 9pm, oh would do last feed about 12 then she would sleep till about 4 so i was getting a good 7 hours a night

 

[Loula]

I used ff from birth.
10 mins after being out the midwife gave me one of those glass bottle sma and she had the lot.
I had to provide my own after that.
I never bf x