Breast is Best?

[Sammystar]

Here in Switzerland they strongly recommend that even if you don't breast feed, you should still give the colustrum as it is jam packed full of good stuff.

I have to agree though that it's tough to stop the milk when it's in full flow.
I had to stop feeding Sam at three weeks and it was a nightmare to stop the milk.

 

[BabyLove]

just to warn you Carly, the first few days of feeding are the worst. Because you don't produce much colostrum, so the baby sucks and sucks and nipples get quite sore.

Also, if you let your baby have colostrum and then stop feeding, your milk will still come in after a few days, as your baby's feeding stimulates it. Once your milk comes in, you will be VERY engorged, and it will be uncomfotable and maybe even painful. Once the milk is in, if you're not breastfeeding, there's more of a risk of blocked milk ducts and mastitis, as the baby is not flushing out all the milk. Conversely, once the milk is in if you are breastfeeding, all the soreness and cracked nipples should go away as baby doesn't have to feed all the time and is not sucking as hard.

You'd have to have a good plan of how to gradually diminish your supply safely if your baby is not breastfeeding. ie. get a good breast pump and follow advice on how much to pump each day to let the milk dry out.
I'm still feeding after 2 months and I can honestly say, it's a relief when Ash feeds, as by feed time, you need the baby to empty your breasts to make them more confortable.

Just something to think about.

K.xx

Its Such a Hard Decision. I'll Have To Really Think About It Becasue I REALLY Want To Give My Baby The Best Start & Im Looking Forward To That Closeness... But I Can See How Hard It Could Become Too. I'll Ask My Midwife About It Thursday & Try To Come Up With The Best Plan, Thanks For The Advice Hun xxx

 

[moomoo192]

i'm gonna BF again too and i was also gonna 'ditto' what KJ wrote, don't stop b4/just as your milk comes in cause it'll be too painfull.

Once the milk comes in, around the 3rd day you're gonna wonder what the hell has hit you anyway i'll never forget waking up with rock hard melons on my chest, feeling twice the size of pamela anderson and leaking everywhere, i was desperate to get baby latched on to relieve the pressure. The amount of milk you produce builds due to the amount of sucking from your baby, meaning the more it sucks the more milk you make. If you mess around within the 1st 6 weeks of feeding, ie breast/bottle mix it can really mess up your supply if you want to carry on exclusively BF'ing so i shouldn't see it being a problem diminishing it within the 1st week or so if you really wanted to, my guess though is if your feeding goes well with no problems you'll probably want to carry on. If you don't then that is totally your choice and i'd suggest after the first couple of days of your milk coming in reduce the feeding time at the breast and top up with formula. Don't forget with formula you will also need to give cooled boiled water too whereas with BF you don't as it gets that from the milk too (foremilk and hindmilk).

Whatever you decide i hope it goes well for you.

One major benefit also from BF'ing is that it if you feed for so log, not sure exactly how long but i know its not as much as 6 months or anything, i think its about a month, it protects your baby from stomach upsets for its 1st year and this is what puts a lot of babies in hopsital due to dehydration.

 

[gems]

I did plan on breast feeding and had every intention of doing it for a long while but it hasn't worked out that way. Everytime I have tried I have never managed to get Jess on to my breast and latched on by myself. I have really struggled and while I was in hospital I had to ask for help everytime I wanted to feed. Some of the midwives were great but others I found would get frustrated with us and would just end up leaving us to get on with it. One of the midwives explained to me that the reason we were having trouble was because of the way my nipples are when Jess is trying to suck she is pushing them in and that is why we are having trouble and she said she thought that we would really struggle to keep up with it at home. I then decided to get her forumla. She didn't really like it at first but has got used to it now. I am still managing to do the odd breast feed at home but its difficult my Oh is being very helpfull and is better then some of the midwives at getting Jess to latch on. I wish things could of worked out differently and feel a bit sad about not breast feeding but want my little girl to be fed so bottles have worked out best for us. Sorry for the long post! xxxxxxxxx

 

[**C**]

I did breast and bottle for the first 4 months with Harry and it worked perfectly! I always made his last bottle at night a formula and I'm sure that's why he never woke up in the nights

However, I'm probably completely wrong and this one will be the absolute opposite. I'd like to breast feed with this one, but my boobs are getting so big now and I'm desperate to have a reduction ASAP so I'll need to see how it goes.

 

[moomoo192]

when i had my 1st i had a terrible time trying to get her to latch on to one side of me, i was always getting help from the midwives who were pretty helpfull but i just felt so gutted i couldn't do it myself, they wouldn't let me out till i could get her to feed successfully and i was getting more stressed. In the end i asked to come home as i thought i would be much more relaxed and i was and got her feeding better.

 

[maria1976]

i combine both the 10, 1 and 4 feeds are formula the rest is breast. I found it far too difficult to breast feed in the night and got really grumpy and it wasnt fair on LO. xx Oh ive done this from about 3 weeks old with no bad side affects