Q's for Breastfeeders

[Piglet's Mama]

Hi everyone

I'm just wondering what BF routines you have with your little ones - I have been cramming my brain with as much info as possible about BF-ing but thought you ladies are the experts!

How many feeds do you do on the breast vs the bottle?
Did you exclusively feed from the breast only for a period of time, i.e. 4-6 weeks?
When did you start expressing? Do you find it easy?
Have you had any trouble with nipple confusion when moving LO onto the bottle?
Do you offer any formula feeds as part of your routine?

Any tips, advice etc greatly appreciated x

 

[Esoames]

I feed on demand, exclusively until she was 4 months old then I introduced a bit of food until now at 9 months she only has morning and evening boob with three meals and snacks.

I've always struggled with bottles, I tried at 6 weeks to offer expressed milk and she wouldn't touch it. I tried for months and only in the last few weeks has she taken anything.

I never got her to take a dummy either. I don't think anything I've gone through is the norm for a bf baby.

Emma x

 

[amyjayne77]

I have ff and bf and this is what I found personally:


How many feeds do you do on the breast vs the bottle? about the same tbh, except when bf they go through periods of cluser feeding which ups the odds a little

Did you exclusively feed from the breast only for a period of time, i.e. 4-6 weeks? 12 months obv introducing solids at 6m ish

When did you start expressing? Do you find it easy? I found it really hard and he wouldn't take a bottle any way so a waste of time

Have you had any trouble with nipple confusion when moving LO onto the bottle? he wouldn't take a bottle full stop but I think I left it to late tbh

Do you offer any formula feeds as part of your routine? offered them from about 8m but was a waste of money as they were wasted. Im obviously a soft touch lol

 

[isobel84]

I bf for 5 month before I intruduced one bottle formula a day, no problem atall but at 6 months he started to prefer bottle n at 7 month he stoped bf

 

[mikid]

How many feeds do you do on the breast vs the bottle?
Not sure, as frequency changes as they grow, bf at first was every 2 hrs for us then every 3 with 1/2 feeds during the night

Did you exclusively feed from the breast only for a period of time, i.e. 4-6 weeks?
Exclusively bf for 3 months, then introduced 1 formula feed per day then stopped bf at 5 months

When did you start expressing? Do you find it easy?
About 2 weeks after lo was born. Easy ish but a pain in the ass, took ages to get not a lot.

Have you had any trouble with nipple confusion when moving LO onto the bottle?
Introduced bottle at about 2 weeks with expressed breastmilk, had no confusion whatsoever, happily fed from whatever! However, around 3 months boon was not enough hence the 1 bottle top up, which then led to impatience with bf on her part, bottle milk came out quicker.

Do you offer any formula feeds as part of your routine?
As above!

 

[Cantstop]

Lily is only 12 weeks old so still learning and a long way to go yet, but so far...

How many feeds do you do on the breast vs the bottle?
Nearly always boob, she only gets a bottle if a) we're out somewhere, as I can't bf discretely, b) someone visits us at home that I don't want to bf in front of, or c) she's with someone other than me

Did you exclusively feed from the breast only for a period of time, i.e. 4-6 weeks?
We had trouble getting going in the first week, so she had some milk from a cup/syringe as well as boob, then pretty much only boob till about 3 weeks had gone by (my stitches got infected so I was pretty much laid up in bed feeling sorry for myself and couldn't be assed to express), then after that boob and the odd bottle

When did you start expressing? Do you find it easy?I was encouraged to express the first week to help my supply come in - this was by hand and it took a while to get the hang of and was really slow, then at about 3 weeks started expressing with manual pump which was hard work and slow, then got my electric pump and it's been easy peasy since then, get a bottle in about 10 mins

Have you had any trouble with nipple confusion when moving LO onto the bottle?
No, but we use nipple shields due to flat nipples, so she's only ever been used to silicon nipple shaped teats so been easier for her than if bare boob

Do you offer any formula feeds as part of your routine?
No, never needed to - she had 10ml of formula on our first night at home when bf was failing, but after we got that cracked properly there's been enough milk to mean we haven't had to consider formula top ups

My only advice would be to make sure you get as much support as you need at first - I had the bf support people at my house at least 4 times and they were invaluable as when I first got home I really felt that I wouldn't be able to do it but they sorted me out. And to enjoy it! It flies by!

 

[inky]

I have always breast fed on demand. FOr the first few months I was feediing approx every 2-3 hours for anything from 20 minutes up to an hour each time. He never really cluster fed, just took long feeds each time he was hungry. He did feed less in the night, I was feeding twice a night until around 3 months, then just once, then he started sleeping through at around 4 months old. That all went to pot when he started teething though so we're back to 1 feed in the night, although it's more to settle him back to sleep than anything else (bad habit, I know!)

These days he has 4 feeds a day - first thing, mid morning, mid afternoon then just before bed.

I can't really help with your other questions as he has always fed from the breast. There are plenty of women who successfully combine breast / expressed bottle and even breast /formula tho so I'm sure you will get all the answers you need

I will also say this - the first few weeks of breastfeeding are tough - really tough. I went into it with Rose tinted glasses because no-one told ne how hard it was. You really do feel like your sole purpose in life to produce milk, your nipples get super sore, it's stressful if the baby doesn't latch, and people always seem to have an opinion on how it should be done. Just bear in mind that every baby is different, and remember that you and your baby will soon settle into a nice routine, any pain wil go, and that you will get so much satisfaction looking at your lovely chubby baby and knowing that all that goodness and nutrition came from you

Best if luck, and dnt forget there's tonnes f support here so just pipe up if you need anything

 

[Maria1977]

I've been BFing for 7+ months now. At first it was really hard work, it didn't help that Oz was tongue-tied and couldn't latch on properly for the first week, plus my supply was slow coming in, took about 5 days because of not being able to get him on enough. I had to top up with formula cup feeding for a couple of weeks, but we got there.

I've always fed on demand and at first, when we got going, he was always on the boob, getting my supply up. He used to cluster feed for hours and I won't lie it's bloody hard work and draining, but after a couple of months it evens out to about 2-4 hours between feeds.

Now he's on 3 meals a day and the feeds are right down, and so quick, take about 10 mins max.

We did do 1 bottle a night for a couple of months at first just to get his weight back up again but he rejected the bottle in the end and still only wants boob!

It's hard work, but so worth it xxxx

 

[NaturalMama]

I fed on demand with both of my children and managed to feed my first for 13 months and then my last for nearly two years.

With my first it was most certainly confusing and hard work, but I didn't have a lot of support so please make sure you find local groups etc

I didn't really bother with bottles (neither would take them) but did try cup feeding sometimes.

I then did BLW from 6 months and carried on breastfeeding.

I highly recommend you block feed which is feeding from the same breast until totally drained (so going back to to the same breast you last fed on) before moving onto the next and starting the whole process again. I found baby was more content and had a FULL feed from the breast, it also prevents wind and mastitis.

I did this with my 2nd child and wore her most of the day........ it was a breeze

 

[xxbeckyxx]

I don't want to put you off combination feeding but I have decided that I won't ever try it again with any other children that I hopefully have.
Lizzie took about 3-4 weeks to learn how to latch on properly and we found BFing quite hard, even though I was desperate to persevere. Think we got to about 6 weeks and she had her first bottle - she had a bottle maybe once every couple of days? Not a lot anyway. BUT at 3 months she went through a nursing strike and I couldn't get her to BF for 6 hours (which was worrying as I was used to feeding her every hour!) so gave her a couple of bottles.
It got worse and worse and got to the point where I could only BF lying down or walking around the room with her under my arm. Obviously couldn't do this in public so started expressing and giving her breastmilk in bottles when we went out.
At this point it wasn't too bad as we were using Medela Calma bottles and Lizzie would go back to the boob - especially when she was tired - I would usually feed her whilst she was asleep (at the end of her naps).
But then it got to the stage where I didn't really have enough milk to express enough feeds AND breastfeed at the same time so I decided to just express all her feeds (except night time ones). This was HELL and I will never ever do it again. I was expressing for half an hour at a time, every 2 hours. Lizzie recognised the expressing equipment by this point and so would scream for milk when she saw it, which led to her being shoved in front of the telly while I sat there being 'milked'

The last straw was when we were on holiday and I was going back to the hotel room every 2 hours so couldn't join in with anything. When we got home I gave up completely (except for a couple of last night breastfeeds) and went on to formula.

So all in all, Lizzie got breastmilk exclusively for the first 6 months of her life but it was extremely stressful and I feel it wasted a lot of time that I could've been playing with her etc, rather than stuck on a pump.
While I feel glad she got the 'goodness', if I have the same problems with another child in the future, I won't hesitate to go onto bottles.

People may shoot me down for this comment, but I absolutely LOVE bottlefeeding. I love being able to look at Lizzie's face while I feed, and I love the 'convenience' of it all - I didn't particularly like BFing in public.

Sorry if this reply worries you at all, it was just my experience and I think probably the worst case scenario!

Whatever you do, don't feel any guilt for whatever you decide. I think the only reason I put myself through all the expressing was because of the guilt (and all this 'formula is bad' stuff midwives drum into you), and I wish I had just realised I wasn't really giving Lizzie the best because I was so unhappy and stressed with it.

Good luck hun xxx

 

[JJ Mum]

How many feeds do you do on the breast vs the bottle?
I have BF from day one as I never managed to do it with my first 3 kids due to special care for 2 babies and didn't try with the other (kick myself now for not)

Did you exclusively feed from the breast only for a period of time, i.e. 4-6 weeks? In hosp he also had form bottles- was made to top him up due to jaundice, when I came home exclusively BF and then food introduced with BF at 4 months (any food/cereal) till 6 mths made with Expressed BF tho. Still BF now at 7 mths - hope to last till 12 mths (teath dependent (getting bitten at every feed now).

At 7 months we now BF feed first thing 6am, plus after breakfast time , midmorning, after lunch, mid afternoon , after tea and bedtime (somethings one of the mid morning/pm ones will be dropped and hope to drop both soon as snacks /water in beaker are upped)


When did you start expressing? Do you find it easy?
Yes did it in hosp onwards, no trouble getting 5 oz milk, had TT elec pump and manual for hosp and camping! For ages pumped at same time as first morning feed from other side and that saved me doing it twice and got more milk due to letdown. I froze milk in icecube trays and defrost 3 tiny cubes for cereal making up.

Have you had any trouble with nipple confusion when moving LO onto the bottle? yes , milk supply went mad from expressing in first weeks so HV told me to stop expressing till he was 6 weeks, left it , got better at BF and then he wouldn't take a bottle ever!

Do you offer any formula feeds as part of your routine? No never since hosp

Any tips, advice etc greatly appreciated x[/QUOTE]
Also Midwife told me never to do that dream feed bottle thing at night as BF all the evening/night feeds - your milk apparently has more sleep hormones in it , when people drop this feed and offer bottle to make baby last longer, apparently this has reverse effect in long run. I think its true as Devon was my best sleeper and goes for hours compared to my 3 bottle babies

Best way to sucess for shyer ladies (like myself) - get yourself solutions to help you not give up ready, then it will work. I got myself a BF apron, which I only used 3 times as felt more concious with it, still have it in bag for any time I need total cover or auwkward situation maybee. I now use new look summer vest strappy tops ( £2 at mo) and wear one of these , with normal tops on top, then I can pull one side of vest down under boob and pop baby on under top, then just pull top up a bit once on, and the end of bib or long feeding bib thing up over the tiny exposed bit , no one would have seen any flesh and I feel better. (I have vests in every colour and lots white ones!) Bit hot in two tops sometimes in summer , but I am always ready to feed if needbe.

I also did not buy any bottles before birth to not tempt me too use them

Buy one tube of lansinoh before birth and use after every feed - from first feed, if you do that , your nipples will be fine and you will only ever need the one tube, I stopped using at about 2 mths.

You do go through a dairy cow stage and get totally fed up with being the only one who can feed baby and I hated being chained to the sofa and my feeding cushion (great buy) and having to eat dinner on sofa while feeding every night. but you get through this, ondemand feeding is draining, but Devon stacked his feeds, at one point at 4pm onwards he fed constantly till 9 pm bedtime!!) but would sleep through from 8 weeks 9pm till 7am so worth it.

If you BF you can feed laying down - god I love this and even if you have to night feed (doing now when Devon teathes) , what an easy way to do it - sooo lazy

 

[Piglet's Mama]

Thanks all for fab advice

I have my tube of lanisoh, medela nipple shields (just in case) my Medela Swing on order (as I know hubby will want to do some feeds in the bottle) so we shall see what the next couple of weeks bring x

 

[JJ Mum]

Best of luck with the birth , I see youve not got long left at all now - so exciting

 

[Piglet's Mama]

Best of luck with the birth , I see youve not got long left at all now - so exciting

Thank you

Yep, 8 days to go - scary stuff x

 

[inky]

Awwww, your babys due on my LOs first birthday . Good luck!

 

[frankie707]

Good luck for your birth!
Breastfeeding was difficult for me in the beginning but it was soooooo worth sticking with, you will feel tired and you will feel like a dairy cow at times but if you stay strong and positive for the first 3-4 weeks (at very most!) then the benefits to you and baby are amazing. Hope it works out for you, come on here if you need any advice or support and my advice would be to make sure you are happy with feeding/latching on before you leave hospital.
Enjoy your new addition

 

[Jones]

thought id add my experience....
been breast feeding for 5 months now, for some...both baby and mum take to it like a duck to water , for others its really difficult. thats why its so important to be open with the miwdives both in hospital and community to show u the correct way to latch baby on to prevent cracked/sore nipples. my baby has 6x feeds a day. she had her own routine which i kinda encouraged to be honest waking her up she went over 3/4 hours without feeding. tends to feed for an hour before bed to which she sleep from 10pm to 9pm in the morning. shes exclusively breast fed but i have given her juice in a bottle and she took to bottle straight away. shes a thumb sucker however and rejected a dummy when introduced (yeyyy) hope this helps sumwhat x