milk/express and formular bottle feed??

[specialbump]

i have checked with my mw and we have to supply our own milk unless we breast feed they say its to persued people to breast feed because its less of a faf on i think this is pants as some midwifes put too much pressure on people to Bf and i find that unfair.i didnt bf with my first but this time thaught of expressing and formula every other feed in a bottle so the baby can still get the goodness but i wouldnt want to put him to the breast as i plan on going back to work soon as i feel well enough i am a child minder and i can take him back with me but my works demanding so breast wouldnt be for me in this situation.
would this work if i got a good supply going and froze it ?and would it take ages to form a good suply of milk.also going back to work with massive hooters and little nippers running about i think i may have a leekage problem not been in this job with a baby before and dont know how it all works tbh .do u think my plan would work? any advice aprechiated we all have difrent views on such things im sure i will find it intresting.i have also heard that bf'ing can be a gr8 weight loss too is this a myth

 

[Nicnax]

I am back at work as a dance teacher (went back slowly from 5wks), and am exclusively breastfeeding. I express for hubby to give a bottle when I am at work. It's working fine for us, but I make sure I feed myself as much as I can, and express to make up the missed feeds, if you k'm ow what I mean? Change a good freezer supply, and express first thing, always, as my supply is good then. It means being very organized, but it certainly can be done. Molly happily switches between breast and bottle, and I am determined not to give formula whilst I can keep this up, so I am happy to make the effort.

 

[giz]

How soon would you ideally be going to work? I never bottle fed, but to me, expressing and bottle feeding seems like more work than breastfeeding. When you become good at breastfeeding you can walk about and have one hand free.

I dunno. If you're more interested in the benefits of breastfeeding then any amount of breastfeeding is a bonus...even if it's just a few days.

I have no idea about childminding...and how it would work with that.

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baby giz born 6th Feb 2011
next one due 12th Aug 2013

 

[giz]

Leakage isn't a problem...but you will need to express during the day sometimes. Or you'd end up painfully engorged. Again it depends on how soon you intend to go back really, to how often you'd need to express.

The weight loss was a myth for me!!! But I suppose eating loads of chocolate probably counteracts that anyway

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baby giz born 6th Feb 2011
next one due 12th Aug 2013

 

[tweetyfoo]

I exclusively express because my LO is unable to latch - I wouldn't recommend it if you have a way around it. BFing would definitely be easier.

In the beginning its very difficult as you have to pump a minimum of 8 times in 24 hours, and one of those has to be between 12am and 4am - you would have to do that for 6 weeks to establish supply.

Its very difficult to find the time and set your alarm for all hours of the morning (especially if your baby is sleeping through)

Then you have to get up, feed & change baby, and express - I was up for a minimum of 1.5 hours and had to get up every 3 hours, and by the time I got back to sleep - it felt like I was awake all night long.

I really wish that LO would latch because it would take a lot of fuss out of it.

Not to mention the extra work of washing and sterlising bottles, and the cost of breast mik bags.

 

[sallybee]

I exclusively express because my LO is unable to latch - I wouldn't recommend it if you have a way around it. BFing would definitely be easier.

In the beginning its very difficult as you have to pump a minimum of 8 times in 24 hours, and one of those has to be between 12am and 4am - you would have to do that for 6 weeks to establish supply.

Its very difficult to find the time and set your alarm for all hours of the morning (especially if your baby is sleeping through)

Then you have to get up, feed & change baby, and express - I was up for a minimum of 1.5 hours and had to get up every 3 hours, and by the time I got back to sleep - it felt like I was awake all night long.

I really wish that LO would latch because it would take a lot of fuss out of it.

Not to mention the extra work of washing and sterlising bottles, and the cost of breast mik bags.

I second everything tweety said, And would like to add to this by saying that it took me 3 months to build up a 600oz freezer stock, and it's only going to last 2 months combi feeding (or 1 month exclusive breast milk). It's incredibly punishing exclusively expressing and I wish every day I'd been able to get LO to latch properly xx

 

[babyem]

Same, I agree with Tweety.
Expressing is bloody hard work!! Tweety is the only person I know to have stuck.it out, as it.really is such a test! X

tapatalking x

 

[specialbump]

How soon would you ideally be going to work? I never bottle fed, but to me, expressing and bottle feeding seems like more work than breastfeeding. When you become good at breastfeeding you can walk about and have one hand free.

I dunno. If you're more interested in the benefits of breastfeeding then any amount of breastfeeding is a bonus...even if it's just a few days.

I have no idea about childminding...and how it would work with that.


baby giz born 6th Feb 2011
next one due 12th Aug 2013

i cant feed and work at the same time its impossible i mind babys from 4 months and its all hands on it was just a thaught so he can have the goodness of the breast if i could express.Bf wasnt a option with my first but i want to go back to work within 6 weeks hopefully if i can. i just wanted to see if i could do it and how people if they do it manage it.i know the bebefits are fantastic from dong so but i have a thriving 8 year old already who was fed on nothing but formular and he is 100% fine so im not overly fussed if i cant manage it i wont feel like i have let the baby down its just a extremely demanding thing and i cant 100% bf and work hands free if u get me .i think im going to formula feed with the sound of every ones advice its hard work .i dunno maybe if i did bf for just a few days then went to fomula surly there would be a little bit of benefit ?

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[cosmicgirl]

Expressing is harder and more time consuming than bf so it would be easier to just bf rather than express.
If you have time to give your baby a bottle while you are childminding you would have time to bf surely? If anything bf would be more convenient as you don't have to faff making up bottles (which I assume would also be hard when looking after the other children).
This is all based on assumptions obv as I have no idea what your job entails but all I know is that my lo was fed and fast asleep by the time my friend had just started feeding after mixing formula and warming bottles etc.

Btw I lost loads of weight BF, always do! x

 

[sallybee]

Any breast feeding you do will be massively beneficial to baby so even if you did it for the 6 weeks before you went back to work then that would give your baby a good start. You never know, you may find it easier than you think to bf while you're working.

Babyem yep tweety is the longest-lasting I've heard of, but I've also heard of Andrea who did it for 6 months, myself for 5 (with enough in the freezer to see me through til 7 months) and Kate1985 and KarateKid who both did 7 weeks before successfully latching their LOs. There are a lot of people who found it much too hard with a newborn though and gave up after a short time (understandably!) xx

 

[tweetyfoo]

I would imagine if you don't have time to BF at work you certainly wouldn't have time to express? As I understand it, it takes between 5 and 20 minutes to bf - for the last 5 months I'm hooked up to my breast pump for 30 minutes at a time.

If bfing isn't an Option for you when you return to work, that's perfectly fine, maybe just do it for 6 weeks if you are keen for baby to have breast milk?

I don't understand how you won't have time to bf but will have time to FF though?


Please excuse any typos from my fat fingers!
Tapatalk madness!

 

[Vickyxx]

You could bteadtfeed for the first 6 weeks then switch over? That way baby gets the goodness of your milk even if its just for a few weeks. My bubba is 7 weeks and is exclusively breastfed, yesterday i expressed for the first time in to a bottle and tried him with it, he guzzled it down in minutes and didn't fuss at all which i was so happy about ... He then slept for 4 hours after lol. If your baby is a good sucker then you should be able to do both which may be better.

Ohhh and i lost all my baby weight within 3 weeks

 

[specialbump]

hey guys thanks for all the difrent advice and opinions i think i may just have a go with bf while im off work then i can say i tried atleast as i said b4 i havtn a ckue anything about it nor how long it takes ect but bottle feeds at work are better for me with me working with 12 kiddies a day from 4 months up over depending were my little one will be come feed time some 1 else may be feeding him ratehr than me and it just wont be possible to bf when going back to work.
thanks for all of ur words its givem ne more to think about. Xx

 

[tweetyfoo]

I think its commendable that you are trying to figure out the best way to breast feed.

I think your best plan going forward is to plan to BF for the first 4 weeks or so (which will still be benificial to baby), then see how you feel afterwards about trying to BF at work

Good luck x

 

[giz]

Yes, absolutely any breastfeeding is of some benefit. I've got to admit the number one reason I wanted to do it is for ease. What can I say, I'm lazy

If I were you I'd give it a go for a few weeks and see how you get on. You may find you can express easily enough, that it wouldn't take much time out to express during the day, and then you can continue to breastfeed at home. The best time to express is the early hours anyway and you wouldn't be at work then. you might even be able to work it so you can bf at home and ff at work. The way the body produces milk is quite an amazing thing. Do you have any breastfeeding groups you could go to. It might be useful to speak to an expert.

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baby giz born 6th Feb 2011
next one due 12th Aug 2013

 

[Karate Kid]

I exclusively express because my LO is unable to latch - I wouldn't recommend it if you have a way around it. BFing would definitely be easier.

In the beginning its very difficult as you have to pump a minimum of 8 times in 24 hours, and one of those has to be between 12am and 4am - you would have to do that for 6 weeks to establish supply.

Its very difficult to find the time and set your alarm for all hours of the morning (especially if your baby is sleeping through)

Then you have to get up, feed & change baby, and express - I was up for a minimum of 1.5 hours and had to get up every 3 hours, and by the time I got back to sleep - it felt like I was awake all night long.

I really wish that LO would latch because it would take a lot of fuss out of it.

Not to mention the extra work of washing and sterlising bottles, and the cost of breast mik bags.

Wss! I exclusively expressed for eight weeks due to latching issues and the we managed to get C to latch after establishing that he had Tounge tie.....

I can hand on heart say that I have and aversion to my pump now- I still express because I do head out without C from time to time. It's such a faff!! I also have an aversion to bottle feeding C expressed milk because its just easier to unclip and feed!! Xx

 

[specialbump]

Yes, absolutely any breastfeeding is of some benefit. I've got to admit the number one reason I wanted to do it is for ease. What can I say, I'm lazy

If I were you I'd give it a go for a few weeks and see how you get on. You may find you can express easily enough, that it wouldn't take much time out to express during the day, and then you can continue to breastfeed at home. The best time to express is the early hours anyway and you wouldn't be at work then. you might even be able to work it so you can bf at home and ff at work. The way the body produces milk is quite an amazing thing. Do you have any breastfeeding groups you could go to. It might be useful to speak to an expert.

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baby giz born 6th Feb 2011
next one due 12th Aug 2013

hoping i can give him the best starts possible so will give it a try.for how ever long/possible i can.it might not be for me when i try every 1 is difrent but i do want to try thsi time round not spoke about feeding with mw yet so 2moras apointment i have a long list of Q's for her lol many thanks to every 1 for the support and advice and for shareing your personal experiances with me, xx