Is this ok?

[laurat]

Hey ladies, well I had my beautiful wee bundle of Joy Rory on Wed. I am keen to breast feed and managed fine till yesterday which is day 4 really. Iended up with a wee hungry bou that no matter how long I fed him he still wanted more. Also sore and cracked nipples. During the night I gave him a bottle.

He took the bottle ok, perhaps a little fast and a bit windy. He then slept for 3 hours before he needed another feed through the night. This morning my boobs were really full so I fed him on the boob again and have all day till again tonight Im going to go to a bottle again.

My questions about this is if I feed him myself during the day and bottle/formula at night is this combi feeding? Will it be sustainable does anyone know? Also I expresed some of my milk with my electric pump today and got maybe 80ml. Is this normal for day 4?

So many questions but Im just so unsure of myself!

 

[BabyFazza]

Hi hun, think we're In the same boat. I have birth to Beau on Wednesday (June Mummy) and he's been being beefed. Everything had been going fine until yesterday. It's like he just conga flu wants feeding?!
I am considering combination feeding, maybe give him formula during the night so that hubby could help out? I did express 2oz yesterday but found it difficult becuase he was attached to my boob most of the day!!
How was last night for you??
x

 

[laurat]

Hey BabyFazza, look at us in here!!! thank you for the reply and its reassuring that you are finding the same. Last night I used my expressed milk first then formula through the night. He fed every 2 hours last night. He eats both fine and I do feel less stressed as its becoming too much all day and night.

This morning he seemed to struggle a bit with the boob as hes used to the ease of the bottle but ive persevered and hes still feeding now on the boob now. However I do feel its kind of constant again.

How u going?

 

[BabyFazza]

Beau seems to be a bit less demanding today. I had the midwife round earlier to weigh him and he's gone from 7lb4 to 6lb13 which was fine she said. I explained to her I expressed and she was a bit against it. Becuase she said using boob and bottle can confuse them and make it hard for them to latch on if they get too used to a bottle. But she did say if he is feeding off both not to worry too much too?! She congratulated me on 2oz and said that was quite a bit lol! I didn't say about the combination feeding as I just felt she would have been against that too but from my research it's absolutely fine to do so. I'm gonna stick to boob and expressing but I if he goes back to how he was yesterday I will maybe try the combination feed then.
If its working for you, then keep it up.
Every babies different and you as mommy knows best!!
Oh and just noticed my spelling above lol ?!? Conga flu was meant to say constantly! It's the sleepless nights lol.
xx

 

[laurat]

I made the mistake of saying to my midwife today and its set me all in a downward spiral if Im honest. She corrected me on my feeding technique and confused me again. Im struggling now with attachment feel tired, hormonal etc. Told me that its too early to combi feed. Basically she left and I was a mess! I have ended up making the decision to be classed as formula fed and Im going to express what I can. What I express he will get. All changes in hours. Its all a bit daunting! I feel I am farther back than ever.

 

[Hope81]

Laurat please go to the bf section or post to the baby and toddler as its more traffic there.
There are girls that bf and they can help you with great advice and also tweety is the expressing Quinn and she will have valuable information for you.

The first days/weeks are very dark days lol.
If you want to bf you can do It.
My baby never latched I expressed as much as I could for 8 weeks and then my milk completely dried up.
I cried my eyes out for like 10 weeks for failing her.
I really sob want someone else to feel the same as me.
I don't live in uk so I can't give you muh information from where to get help but you have bf cafes and helplines and people friendly people that they can come and help you out etc.
Hang on in there.
As a bottom line bf or ff or combination feeding(totally possible from the beginning) your baby will be perfectly fine. It's ou that will have to deal with all the psychological aspect of the things as I am sure you as all women after labour a paic of hormones and its really painful and draining.

 

[l_maclean]

I didn't do combi feeding, just breast, but one thing I would point out, is that night time is when your supply is at its best, and when your body takes most cues of how much your LO needs to feed. Cutting out night time feeds/replacing them with bottles can cause supply issues.

Also the constant feeding is normal at this stage. It's called cluster feeding and is basically your LO telling your body how much he needs. It doesn't go on forever, and will settle down. Thing is if you introduce formula (not trying to be down on formula by any means), but it means you LO has eaten more than your boobs think he has so they don't make extra iykwim.



On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[l_maclean]

Your MW should not have made you feel like that, it's not helpful. What she possibly meant by being too early to combi feed is that your supply is still settling, learning what your LO needs.

Do you have a bf support group/ or La leche league near you??

In all honesty, the first few weeks are hard, but once your supply has settled etc Bf is so much easier - milk on tap with no boiling, cooling, sterilising etc. xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[stargirl]

It's really hard in the beginning - i nearly gave up but once I was home from hospital I resigned my self to not having any sleep, parked my bum on the couch and stayed there for the first four weeks. I felt like a cow, feeding constantly. I didn't know what to do for the best and had lots of crying fits. Do I give a dummy? Don't I? Well I did, it caused latching issues but I stuck with it and we over came that. Now 7 1/2 weeks in I've introduced bottles of expressed milk. He has at least 1 a day.

We still have at least 1 day a week where feeding goes terrible, he won't latch, doesn't seem satisfied, he's really fussy! And I end up feeling guilty about giving he the dummy or bottle - but he's gaining good amounts of weight so I keep going. I don't know what's going to happen in the next few weeks, if I'm still bf or not. I hope I am but I just take each day as it comes.

What you decide to do and how you feed baby is your choice - nobody else's, it's hard enough making decisions about the care of a newborn without others making you feel bad. Happy baby = happy mummy, you do what is best for you but do seek out all the support you can. Bf is not easy but don't give up because your mw has made you feel bad.


.

 

[Sunbeam638]

Hope it's getting easier Laurat. I won't bore you with my story but I combi fed from day three pretty much with one bottle a day and by 3-4 months ish I switched to bottle completely due to reflux.

If your combi feeding I'd try Aptamil. We use HIPP now we are solely ff.

I was gutted when I gave up and felt terrible but looking back I over thought and worried about everything. Hopefully if we have another I will be far more relaxed.

Xxx

 

[BevG]

i combi fed for 6 months then bf and proper food til just over 1

main points for sucessful combi feeding is always bf first and as often as possible or you rsupply dips, only offer top ups from bottles not entire feeds til a few months old or it could affect your supply