breast to bottle?

[cherelle]

so after almost 3 weeks i am giving up on breast feeding, its agony, im exhausted, my supply has gone down and its just depressing and stressfull for me and baby now glad ive battled through until now but enough is enough ..... what do i need to know about bottle feeding??? How long can you store made up bottles in fridge? It says on the tin not to but i know some people do? If i go out i guess ill buy the cartons? x

 

[ZMD]

well done for doing 3 weeks you've givin him the best start, i make my bottles at night cool them put them in the back of the fridge for 24 hours, Tegans On a special formula so can't get cartons so i put the correct amount of cooled boiled water in the bottles and put the powder in little pots x

 

[cherelle]

thanks ZMD - have been given this advice from the girls on facebook too. I never would have thought - youve saved me a lot of time and stress! x

 

[Squeakz]

We do what zmd does. Fill water in the bottles and then we put the sppropriate amount of powder in little tubs!!!!!! Works wonders especially overnight!! Its room temperature and just need mixing - no measuring or scooping!!!!!!! That's how we do every bottle!!!! At night we made up a clipper tub think (not sure what they're called but the plastic tubs where the lid clips over each side) of boiling water and fastened the lid and we used that water for 24 hours as weell!! We changed methods as we needed to!! Congratulations for doing so well!! I did the same!! Xx

 

[ippa]

I use the pot for the formula aswell! I put the water in all bottles for the day at once! I stopped after 3 weeks aswell, so know how you feel!
Good luck and I hope it all goes well!
XxX

 

[cherelle]

thanks girls, now ive taken the pressure off myself ive actually been breastfeeding most of the time!! Its much better without the pressure of feeling i should be doing it all the time

 

[Pudds86]

We do all the bottle full of water in the morning and add the formula when we need it! I stopped then as well. Was tough to give up but he has thrived on formula xx

 

[Amy_J]

well done for doing three weeks, its definately not easy! my lo is only on 2 bottles a day now so i make them up as i go along, but before weaning i used to make them all up at once in the morning and store in the fridge for max 24hours. i know it says not to do that but we never had any problems and it was so much easier! but if we were going out id just take the correct amount of water & then the amount of forumla in one of them little tub things! xx

 

[catty1]

Cherelle - well done for carrying on. I know what you mean about the pressure. I had a mini meltdown when Owen was about a week old over breastfeeding. He was hungry and I just couldn't bear to feed him as it hurt so much so I sent my OH to Sainsburys to buy formula and bottles. While he was gone I managed to bf and once the formula was in the house it was so much easier because I knew I had options.

If it helps at all, I struggled with pain and other difficulties until about 4 1/2 weeks when literally overnight it completely stopped hurting and Owen started feeding much more efficiently so each feed is now 10-15 mins rather than the 40+ it was before. It wasn't gradualat all but literally one feed everything clicked.

What ever you decide to do I'm sure will be the best for you both but I just thought I would let you know my experiences for if you decide to carry on with bf. Sounds like your doing great though.

x

 

[cherelle]

Cherelle - well done for carrying on. I know what you mean about the pressure. I had a mini meltdown when Owen was about a week old over breastfeeding. He was hungry and I just couldn't bear to feed him as it hurt so much so I sent my OH to Sainsburys to buy formula and bottles. While he was gone I managed to bf and once the formula was in the house it was so much easier because I knew I had options.

If it helps at all, I struggled with pain and other difficulties until about 4 1/2 weeks when literally overnight it completely stopped hurting and Owen started feeding much more efficiently so each feed is now 10-15 mins rather than the 40+ it was before. It wasn't gradualat all but literally one feed everything clicked.

What ever you decide to do I'm sure will be the best for you both but I just thought I would let you know my experiences for if you decide to carry on with bf. Sounds like your doing great though.

x

thanks catty!

Your situation sounds similar to mine. I think at the moment ill just keep using formula now and again when my boobs need a rest or im getting stressed and in pain.

I didnt really want to give up anyway - its just bloody midwives telling me not to combine breast and formula - what rubbish!!! xxx

 

[Mrs_B1981]

Cherelle, the MW told me the same, not to combine and if I chose to BF then I should stick at it! I felt so pressured and like you ended up in agony with no sleep and on the verge of breaking down. Then a friend of mine suggested I give a bottle of Formula. I told her what the MW's had said and she basically said it was a load of old b*****ks and to try it. I was so desperate, and Sam was so hungry that I did. Our lives changed from then! Sam now only has formula in emergencies, because like u once I knew I had back up there I BF most of the time! Weird! I now express once a day so I can occasionally have a boob break and like Catty our feeds are 10-15 mins max and Sam is piling on the weight!

I recommend Apatamil Hungry Baby Milk, which I buy in cartons. He settles like a dream on them if needed!

 

[jodied]

I think it just shows that you absolutely should do what works for you! I think ts fab that now the pressures off both of you enjoy bf more