February 2013 Love Bugs

[AmeliePoulain]

I wish I had the answer to bottle and bfing!

I combi fed (breastfeeding and formula feeding via a bottle) for 8 weeks because I had gestational diabetes and didnt get a lot of support in hospital/when my daughter lost quite a bit of weight.

You are normally advised to wait 6 weeks before introducing a bottle because it can confuse the baby as to how to latch onto the boob etc.

Also you dont want to mess with your milk supply too much (i.e. over stimulating it) at the very beginning with lots of expressing etc.

I think what I will do this time is hopefully wait til 4 weeks approx if the baby has a good latch and is feeding well and then express at the same time each day to give a bottle of expressed breastmilk at the same time.

I found it really hard that my daughter just wouldnt take a bottle and dont want to be in that situation again.

 

[embo216]

I'm expecting a whopper this time! My 1st was 9lb 3 on her due date, my 2nd was 8lb 9 2 weeks early so goodness knows what size this one will be :/

 

[WhisperOfHope]

i aint got a clue what to expect size wise shes meausring 2 weeks ahead atm andhubby was 7lb 7 i was 3 lb something but i was prem and a twin

 

[Lindylou]

Thanks Amelie. I really want to try bfing but my sil is feeding her baby nearly every hour and I could not cope with that so thought I would try and mix.... let dh do some!! Just trying to figure out what type of things I need to have in for when baby arrives regarding bottles/ sterilisers etc. so much to get my head around which is tricky when baby brain has struck

I asked dh how big a baby he was- he said he has no idea and surely a pound or two difference in size wouldn't make that much of a difference..... Spoken like a true man!!!!!!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

My first was 2days early and 7lb my 2nd was 1day early and 6lb 15oz (after a scan at 34weeks predicted her at 4lb :/)

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Thanks Amelie. I really want to try bfing but my sil is feeding her baby nearly every hour and I could not cope with that so thought I would try and mix.... let dh do some!! Just trying to figure out what type of things I need to have in for when baby arrives regarding bottles/ sterilisers etc. so much to get my head around which is tricky when baby brain has struck

BF babies often do feed a lot early on, it is normal and yes it is difficult. It is how they stimulate your body to produce the right amount of milk for them though and normally 'cluster' feeding only lasts a few weeks.

I would never 'push' bfing on anyone because you have to do what is best for you and your baby but coming from someone who found it difficult, almost gave up, and had quite a few issues with it - I can definitely say it was the best decision I made to carry on and I loved it in the end

 

[Lindylou]

Thanks Amelie - my sil has been like that for 4 months now. I feel exhausted watching her Will definitely try and give bfing a seriously good go. X

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I think I am going to bottle feed. I know its not ideal for everyone but its right for me and my family x

 

[embo216]

I think I'll most probably bottle feed too, will give it a good go but if it doesn't work out like with the other 2 then so be it

 

[Seity]

I had to combo feed due to low supply. I really enjoyed BF, but never could get anything from a pump and I go back to work after 2 months. I start pumping at 4 weeks and introduce the bottle at 5 weeks. I believe the 'magic window' for introducing the bottle is between 6-8 weeks. Too early might confuse baby (although that is very rare). Too late is the much bigger concern because baby may refuse the bottle.
When I introduce at 5 weeks it's only 2 times that week, not every day. I was doing my best to exclusively BF and only give expressed BM in the bottle, but the trouble with the pump just frustrated me and my son was losing weight, so at 3 months we switched to formula for the daytime bottles while I was at work. This time around, I'll probably skip the pump and just use formula from the start for the daytime bottles while I'm at work.
I don't sterilize because we are on city water which is clean, so hot soapy water is fine for cleaning bottles in our house. It's nice to combo feed because you never need to bring a bottle with you when you're out of the house, just whip out the boobs and instant happy baby.

 

[mrsswaffer]

I'm going to give all I can to breastfeed. I don't mind about feeding every 1-2 hours - it means more cuddles! DH can always have his time with Baby doing the nappies. I want to introduce bottles at 4 months, so that I can stop breastfeeding after 6 months (or do it just to settle baby at bedtime) in order to go back to work. If I can have 9 months off work, I might breastfeed a bit longer.

 

[tntrying22]

I was 8lb 11oz but DH was an identical triplet so they were born premature. Wondering if that will bring us down a little lol.

I am planning to breastfeed - I will be really disappointed if I can't. Planning to get lots of help if I need it. I am going to pump some though - I do plan on having a few evenings out and I do sometimes have to travel for work, so there will be times he'll have to take a bottle with breast milk as well.

18 wks today!

 

[Nixilix]

I was really disappointed and upset with my bf experience last time.
Dd was tongue ties but no one picked it up for weeks so ended up having to switch due to latch issues. I think that ruined my first few months thinking I would be able to do it and I failed. So this time I will be putting all my might in and not giving up.

 

[Wiggler]

DS has tongue tie and DD has lip tie, this baby is being checked at birth and if he/she has either I will be pushing for it to be snipped, it screwed up BF with both of them x x x

 

[babydreams85]

I was 7 lbs 12 ounces and DH was preemie and tiny (so don't know how that factors in). Have no clue what to expect on size.

As for BFing I definitely plan to do it, but I know that sometimes it just does not work, for various reasons. I feel like if I can at least do it half the time it helps baby's immune system. We have A LOT of allergies and asthma between DH and I, so I'm hoping that BFing will help somewhat with our LOs chances of getting our issues.

 

[RebeccaG]

I was really upset when bf didn't work out for us. I managed up to 6/7 weeks which is when we had been through thrush, mastitis and then discovered a tongue tie! Was devastated and I really beat myself up over it last time. This time I will try again but am no way putting all the pressure on myself that I did last time. It's great if it works but if it doesn't then formula it will be x

 

[babydreams85]

I was really upset when bf didn't work out for us. I managed up to 6/7 weeks which is when we had been through thrush, mastitis and then discovered a tongue tie! Was devastated and I really beat myself up over it last time. This time I will try again but am no way putting all the pressure on myself that I did last time. It's great if it works but if it doesn't then formula it will be x

That's really how I feel--if it doesn't work out then it doesn't. Formula is much better now than it used to be, so I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with doing it either way. You can only do so much and it's not worth stressing and a lot of pain on your part. If it comes easy then great, if not, then formula works just fine!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I really didnt like breastfeeding. I dont know why, it just was not for me. Lucky I never had any hassle from anyone and DF has always supported any choices I make. xxx

 

[MileyMamma]

I'm not going to breast feed, I didn't with my daughter and decided not to
This time, but even if I wanted to I couldn't because of my bipolar meds, they are going to triple them once princess comes along incase I go into meltdown and that volume of medication is not good for baby as its will be in my breast milk

 

[AmeliePoulain]

My daughter has a tongue tie, it made bf difficult because she had a shallow latch and didnt take much milk at a time. We got through it and I just had to feed her a lot it felt like!

I was lucky it never hurt badly thankfully.

It is one of the only things I actually dream about to do with this baby, is giving them their first ever feed. I think I just feel so much more relaxed going into it this time because I have an idea what to expect and I believe in myself more.

I think that applies for bf and ff, it is great feel like you know what you are doing!