BREAST FEEDING for the first time

[vhlw21]

I am a mum of two girls, 3 & 1 and I am 5 months pregnant with baby no.3. I am considering breastfeeding the new baby but have never breastfed before. I was wondering if anyone out there has has 2 perfect, bottle fed babies and then gone on to breastfeed? I am worried about the lack of attention the older two will get? will they feel pushed out? would it be worth expressing and using a bottle? HELPPPP?!

 

[pinkpolkadot]

I don't have exprience of BF after FF but I will be BF LO with a toddler and plan to give feeding in a wrap/carrier a try so I can still have hands free for DD who is quite demanding

Expressing can be very hard work and may take more time than just BF, for me it took ages to express what I needed for just one feed if I needed to leave DD and then of course you still need to warm it up and bottle feed it to baby.

 

[Popples1]

I've done both bf and expressing and am combi feeding now due to low supply. I'd say bf is a lot more convenient than expressing. Baby is more efficient at getting the milk than a machine, plus I find that when I'm attached to the pump (I have a double one) I'm literally stuck as I can't move too far from the plug socket and can't really hold my baby while I'm pumping because he gets in the way of the equipment! Finding time to pump while your newborn is fed/happy/sleeping is hard - mine wanted to be held a lot.

Personally, I think it's a great idea for you to try bf, even if you just get a few days of colostrum into your LO. Be under no illusion though, it's hard! I'm proud of every feed I get into my boy and we've been doing it for ten weeks now.

Good luck

 

[leigh5tom]

My daughter was ff and I found there are pros and cons to both. It was nicer seeing how much milk she was drinking because if she cried I knew I could eliminate hunger straight away. With my son I have no idea if he's had enough milk, or if he's still hungry etc.
I don't miss washing bottles up and making then up every night!! But hubby misses feeding the baby and I would love a hand doing night feeds.
Breastfeeding is awful the first few weeks - it only got easier for me at about 6 weeks. Now I can't imagine the pain bottle feeding would be, bfing is a lot more convenient for me xxxx good luck xxxx

 

[leigh5tom]

Sorry I realised I didn't really answer your question!

I did feel that my daughter was slightly neglected attention wise for the first few weeks because of cluster feeding, and my son literally fed all day. I have an amazing family who took her out and spoilt her. Things are easier now though.

I really wouldn't say exclusively pumping would be easier at all really. Have a look at the sticky thread about it x x x

 

[Rachel_C]

I found that my FF baby and my BF baby required just as much feeding, but when you FF you have one less hand free. When BF, you can hold baby with one arm and once LO is well latched you can use your other hand to play with an older child or shove chocolate in your face. When bottle feeding, you use one arm to hold baby and another to hold the bottle. If you feed in a carrier/wrap, with bottle feeding you'll be holding the bottle with one hand (probably at an awkward angle) but if you BF once baby is latched you'll have both hands free. Forgetting all the other benefits of BF, for convenience alone BF wins hands down for me, particularly when you have other children.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

I found my older son loved being the helper. So if I'm stuck on the couch with a clusterfeeding newborn, I would ask him to fetch me things like diapers or swaddling blankets. Other distractions also helped.

I ff and bf with ds1, and I can say that not having to deal with bottles in the middle of the night is so convenient, but having other people help with the feeds is a big plus.

The first weeks of bf are rough, I won't lie, but I just hit 6 months and this is the easiest it's been