anyone start off BF before FF?

[Luzelle]

I think part of me just wants some freedom and i can only get that from switching to bottles. I want to go out again and see my friends and go for a meal & be able to leave LO at home with hubby for a few hours without worrying if he is hungry & if i need to go home.
I feel so selfish thinking that but its true

I recently voiced this opinion too, wanting to be a little more independent and being able to ask someone else to take over for a while - and it was interpreted as being hugely selfish. I want to breastfeed and will probably be expressing to get some of this 'freedom', and if I want to go over to formula I will do just that, and won't be listening to people trying to bully me.

Maybe bottle-feeding feels natural to me since I have made up and washed (though not sterilized) literally hundreds of bottles - for lambs, puppies, kittens and calves!!! And since they were all 'babies', I'm used to caring for their emotional needs as well, and knowing myself, I don't think ff will affect my bonding/skin time with the baby very much.

(Think I should actually say thousands of bottles - literally! At one time I was preparing 100 bottles per day! All made up out of powder milk)

 

[PrayinForBaby]

I had to stop @ only 4 days old..i developed severe mastitis in both breasts, LO had severe jandice from not getting enough to eat, plus thrush and a whole other slew of issues...so she's FF now and is doing great! But I did enjoy the bonding time with her and if things had happened differently with us I would've still continued to BF...matter of fact, we tried to after her jaundice went away and everything but my milk is gone now from the antibiotics and the ace bandages I had to wear for the mastitis =(

 

[SKATERBUN]

Im still chopping and changing nearly 3 weeks on!
I started off badly BF in hospital where the MW's bullied me and totally scared me and put me off BF, it was not enjoyable as even though LO wanted to latch on, I was in pain and she wasnt getting enough milk.
Once we tried Formula she built up her weight more, but was still keen to get some Breast milk into her. We alternated after I expressed a few times throughout the day.
This week I have hardly expressed as TBH my routine has got so busy. LO is lapping up the forumla thick and fast and I am worried about milk drying up now.
I wish i could persevere for longer but expressing is time consuming and BF exclusively (now that we have got the hang of how to do it) is haphazard, no matter what MW/HV says I still think LO is not going to get enough milk from me, I cannot see how much she is getting and if she is satisfied at the end of a feed. She seems to just mess about and take short drinks from me and then fall asleep, and then wake up again crying for more, where as with formula she will drink the whole bottle and not ask for more for a few hours. I am torn between the two. I know at the end of the day breast is best, but then theres been lots of babies reared on formula who have turned out fine.

 

[lily123]

I Breastfed my LO for 8 weeks, then due to having to go on medication that is not compatable with BFing, i had to switch to FF. Although there is no shame in FFing, It definitely wasn't my choice and if i had my way then i'd still be BFing now. You're doing really well though hun i'd encourage you to keep at it xxx

 

[kirstylm]

My LO is 11 days old now and as bad as I feel I switches yesterday.

I now do both. Express and use sma and feed from bottle. I do miss BF as I wanted to do this exclusively for 6 months but hubby and I made the hard decision to change.

Reasons are same as urs. BF is very much on demand and Eva was getting to a point of waking hourly wanting more feed and sometimes just suckling for comfort. She ended up having 3 nights in a row of harldy any sleep and just screamed! We thought there was something seriously wrong. I was intears and called my mum over hubby was worried sick too.

I couldn't cope with the constant hourly feeds it completely took it out of me and I didn't want LO to pick up on my stress.

Since switching she takes 4oz and she only tiny! Don't think she was getting that from my boobs as she only ever suckled for 15 mins if that sometime!

She slept soooo well last night, woke every 4hrs for feed and then zonked out again. She seems much more content and took to bottle straight away.

Am guna express breast milk as boobs are so engorged and sore But still want her to have it. I can only manage to express about 4-6oz in a day so give her that and the rest is sma.

I do feel soooooo guilty about not giving her exclusively breast milk bit at end of day, it's obviously better for her this way as I know she's getting enough and she's happy as she's full for longer.

 

[littleblonde]

I switched at 4 weeks. My daughter had bad colic and would not sleep for more than an hour at a time. I was feeling so ill. I stopped and regreated it so much. I wish even now i had kept it up. The best was mt HV said to no if a baby is getting enough is to have your baby weighted. That always made me feel good.

 

[kirstylm]

I'm so glad u said that!! That's exactly how I feel. I love breast feeding but I too don't think my LO was getting enough! She would do the same mess around take 5 mins of feed or 15 mins and then an hour later scream
for more! She now has 4oz of formula each feed and although MW and HV say she would be getting all she needs from my breast I don't see how she could get that in the short periods of time she was feeding!
I do feel u sometimes get guilt tripped into going back to BF I know I'veade the right decision (see above post) but every time I talk to MW or HV they male me feel
so guilty!

Im still chopping and changing nearly 3 weeks on!
I started off badly BF in hospital where the MW's bullied me and totally scared me and put me off BF, it was not enjoyable as even though LO wanted to latch on, I was in pain and she wasnt getting enough milk.
Once we tried Formula she built up her weight more, but was still keen to get some Breast milk into her. We alternated after I expressed a few times throughout the day.
This week I have hardly expressed as TBH my routine has got so busy. LO is lapping up the forumla thick and fast and I am worried about milk drying up now.
I wish i could persevere for longer but expressing is time consuming and BF exclusively (now that we have got the hang of how to do it) is haphazard, no matter what MW/HV says I still think LO is not going to get enough milk from me, I cannot see how much she is getting and if she is satisfied at the end of a feed. She seems to just mess about and take short drinks from me and then fall asleep, and then wake up again crying for more, where as with formula she will drink the whole bottle and not ask for more for a few hours. I am torn between the two. I know at the end of the day breast is best, but then theres been lots of babies reared on formula who have turned out fine.

 

[twiggy56]

I regret both not switching over to FF earlier and also not BF...confusing I know.

I BF abigail for 2 weeks, but had too much milk, abigail didnt feed properly and I ended up with severe mastitis and cysts which blocked my milk completely. Had to give her formula- I cried whilst I gave it to her and couldnt watch her drink it, I was sooooo set on BF. It meant ALOT to me, and the thought of giving her this formula made me distraught.

Anyway I was put on antibiotics and should've cleared after a few days- a WEEK later, still horrendous pain, complete blockage and no milk So I was put on even stronger antibiotics (the worst mastitis 2 BF support workers and 3 midwives had ever seen in their careers)

So here I am, in unimaginable pain, no milk and abigail starts to thrive on formula- she starts sleeping as shes getting enough food, her jaundice goes (which she was going to get referred because of), her weight stops dropping and I get some sleep whilst OH does a night feed....

My god- I am GUTTED I had my BF dream taken away from me but....good lord I was so pleased to see my tiny baby thriving I just didnt care about my BF being snatched from me

 

[Lara310809]

I combi fed. It was always my intention to BF at home and FF when out. But I had a family emergency (lasting 5 weeks), where I was hardlyt around for my LO, so she didn't get much milk from me, and I wasn't making much because she wasn't on my boob enough to encourage the flow. In the end I was BF for an hour, she would empty both boobs, and I would still have to give her a full 3oz FF straight after. We were both getting so stressed out by it, I didn't feel like we were bonding properly, so I just FF.

I stopped BF when she was a month old, and even though I tried really hard to carry on, I felt very guilty for not continuing. Now I look back and think that I could have tried more, but at the time I was worn out and I couldn't do any more. Yes, breast is best, but your first month with your LO is so important. I feel like with the family emergency taking my time, and then getting stressed with LO when she wouldbe hungry all the time; I wasnt' actually enjoying being around her at all. That's time I will never get back, so for that reason, I am glad I switched to FF early. For all other reasons though, I'm sad I'm not still BF. I thnk a number of people listened to me say "I'll BF", and they didn't believe me. Now it's almost like a punch in the stomach because I've shown them they were right. But nobody understands the struggle but you, and you shouldn't have to explain to anyone, so I haven't

 

[IvyBaby]

You can try to express to give your nipples a break. I had similar issues in the beginning but now I am so happy I persevered, because I am giving my baby the perfect food that nature intended to be given to babies and I want to give her the best even if it is hard. It won't last forever! There is a lot of support online and locally too if you search a bit. Good luck!

 

[x-li-x]

hi hun i breastfed up until a few weeks ago, my daughter wasnt putting on weight then started loosing weight, she dropped of the charts, wasnt having enough wet nappies and was just like a newborn with sleeping ect, i was advised to top up with formula, whicj i tried to avoid at first by expressing but unfortunately expressing didnt work out as i couldnt get anything, i kept putting her to the breast ect and although i thought was all going great she kept not gaining and loosing and you could tell it was affecting her as her eyes were dark round them and she was just like a 1day old at over 3 months old, i eventually tried formula top ups, which helped she starting putting on weight , not loads put some is enough, unfortunately once she had the bottle a few times she would take breast less often to the point shes be screaming crazy everytime i tried and wouldnt take it, eventually after a week trying to get her on the breast again i gave up, she is now gaining weight, still slowly but perfectly, and she is like a normal 4 month old, filling nappies, colour in the face and not withdrawn, i got reallyupset when i stopped bf , i cried loads but ones i really started seeing the great change in callie, i felt so much better with ff. xx

 

[Odd Socks]

I've just switched to formula top ups with expressed milk in the day time as we were really struggling with bf'ing. Bella was screaming every night for 5 hours solid & I called triage late Sunday night with both me & oh on the verge of a breakdown. We had issues bf'ing from the start, bella didn't feed for the first 48 hours & after that would only feed from my right side, even then we struggled keeping her latched on & would sometimes battle for 2 hours to get her latched on, staying on & feeding.

I had to beg the staff at the hospital to readmit me, & I was diagnosed with pnd on Monday. Begged to be kept in Monday night & eventually got told that a baby screaming for 5 hours straight was not normal (after days of people saying it was). We started her on formula that night & she's like a different baby, happy & contented. We're hoping to go home today & I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of my daughter's life instead of dreading every waking moment.

xx

 

[Hen]

I regret introducing formula at 11 days, my nipples were a state, they weren't just sore I had bits missing!

I started giving formula because I was starting to hate having to feed my own baby, I was tired but I was never worried about my milk supply though. Once I introduced formula my milk supply slowly went and then she refused to nurse from me. I wish I was still breastfeeding because despite having so many problems my baby was thriving on my breast milk (and I enjoyed the bond) but at the time I couldn't see how my nipples were going to heal if I didnt give them a break.

It really is up to you, don't feel guilty if you do stop. You have done an amazing job!

I could have written this!! I wish I'd had some more support at the start and I might have continued longer. I made it to 2 weeks exclusively BF Lottie and 5 weeks combined feeding. When it reached the stage where I didn't want to be anywhere near my baby cos I resented the pain she was causing me so much, and I was digging my fingernails into the palms of my hands cos the pain was so bad I decided enough was enough. Saying that I still feel incredibly sad that I couldn't continue as I do think it's one of the most amazing things a mother can do for her baby. IT was the right decision for us at the time, but if I ever do this again I will push for more support from the start and persevere harder. BF is so much more convenient!!

 

[DebzD]

For the pain, I would recommend savoy cabbage in your bra... I didnt recognise my nipples by day 4 let alone by day 7 of BFing. I was exclusively BF until she was 20 days old and still failing to reach her birth weight, by this point it had also been 5 days since her last poo but she had been weeing lots, so we decided to try combo-feeding most of the midwives said not to do this and to try expressing extra for her but since one of my biggest concerns was that my supply wasnt meeting demand, that was useless advise! Since 'topping her up' with formula, LO is a different baby... no more constant crying when awake, no more asking for food for 3-4 hrs or more per sitting, is even happy to spend time in her bouncy chair and her moses basket now (before, she would wake up if you tried to put her down and just cry)!!!
In the 2 days since we added in the formula supplement she has gained 150g and is now over her birth weight and today she has finally done not one but two very full, pooey nappies! You wouldnt think that much poo could make someoneso happy, but I am!! lol.

If you are worried about your supply and are having similar probs to the ones I had I would definately recommend BF as normal but when you think your boobs are empty (20-30mins each side for me) then offer LO a bottle of formula milk.. the difference it makes is amazing and because they are getting full they dont ask for food asoften which means your boobs get chance to fill up again and it gives yr nipples more chance to heal if they are not constantly being munched on!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do and sorry this has ended up being really long!!

 

[IvyBaby]

The more milk you remove the more will be made by boobs. In the beginning I was also tryng to give them a brake and let them fill up more but it didn't work and I was not making enough,- I managed to start BF exclusively only when I let her feed as often as possible, sometimes every hour during the day.

 

[Eve]

I will give encouragement and support, but I can't say don't feel bad to switch, and it won't help. You know yourself breast milk is best and no matter what anyone says, you will feel bad for switching if you do. It's like putting a bandaid over a wound, it's still there, you just can't see it lol. You can still go out and give your baby the best milk out there hun. It's called pumping...? Some say don't pump for a while, don't offer bottles etc... but if you want to go to formula to get freedom, you don't need to. I pumped from day one, and my LO had bad bad jaundice and was too lazy so I pumped and bottle fed and breast. I didn't have sore nipples as they had a break too. I would have OH give LO her last feeding in the evening until she was 2 months old, then I was just too lazy to pump as EBF is much much easier. I now have LO back being able to drink from a bottle ( I haven't left her yet, other than once for 2 hours, which I don't mind) but I was worried if I had to go for an emergency she wouldn't know know to do lol... anyways, if I want to go out all night, I could. Breastfeeding is only time consuming the first few weeks in all honesty, then it's a breeze if you want to pump and stuff It's worth it in the end to stick it out hun, Keeping on breastfeeding is something you probably wouldn't regret.

 

[Eve]

Please don't get offended by my first post, it's not like I am saying bad about formula, but I am just saying no matter what is said, she will feel bad, as it's only natural. I get told not to worry about something, but usually I still do lol, so please don't take offense.

 

[SKATERBUN]

Im still switching between the two. More predominantly formula though.
I can still express 50ml in the morning and 50 in the evenings so I figure Im still getting some of my nutrients into LO, I'll continue to do this indefitely or until milk drys up.
Even though shes used to bottle feeds now, she still latches onto me when she feels like it, sticks around for a while until she gets bored
Exclusive BF didnt work for us. I just couldnt do it when out, and was worried that LO wasnt getting enough feed from me. She always appeared to be hungry too soon. Least with FF I know how much shes getting and its conveinient when out and about.
If I get lucky to have another LO I will try and persevere with exclusive BF, I think the hospital put me off with their persistant badgering of sticking with it.. with this being my first born, feel a bit underconfident with the whole experience of feeding her myself, think next time round I'll feel more in control.

 

[BlackBerry25]

I did and I felt great after quitting and felt no guilt. Were you really wanting to BF while you were pregnant? If so, maybe give it a little more time, but its your call. I quit at the same point as you are at now.

 

[newmum1]

I changed over to formula 2 weks ago and i really miss breast feeding. I was combination as i thought my wee girl wasnt getting enough satisfaction from my milk. As it happens it was actuall a milk allergy she had and i either had the choice of making my diet totally milk and milk product free or putting her on to a specail formula for this allergy. I made the choice of the formula because i couldnt bear watching her in agony after feeds for a minute longer and also that if i slipped up with the dairy free it would have effect on her. After 7 weeks of total hell i have got a very happy content baby most of the time and i can spend quality time with her that i would have been spending looking at every food label. I do really miss feeding her but it is only natural to. Before i swapped i told my health visitor that i would be fine with not breast feeding so it shoes you how emotional it can be.