How different is baby after switching to formula!

[KittyVentura]

Right ladies... lets keep this clean. We'd all have to live in caves to not know the merits of BF and that in an ideal world this is best for baby and mums. Don't let this turn into a judgemental BF over FF thread.

For those that started BF but for whatever reason had to stop and switch to FF... wondered what changes you saw in baby? Positive and negative!

I am BF and plan to stick at it... even though it is bloody hard. This is just one of those "I wonder" threads. Knowledge is power etc etc xx

 

[kerrie24]

I havent switched but I did ff my eldest son and by 12 weeks he slept 12 hours at night BUT he also had colic and I often forgot his bottles and once even melted my sterilizer!!

 

[kerry1981]

Hey,

I stared out bf but we had issues (just found out bubs has tongue tie) and had to move to formula. To be honest the only difference I found was in her no 2's. Apart from that, there was no difference other differences. She is still as grumpy in the afternoon ;-) and is more than capable of sleeping through on both bm and formula

x

 

[kc1980]

My LO is BF but we stArted giving 1 bottle of formula before bed and I know it makes her sleep longer. Also her poos are very different - much more of it and super smelly.

 

[Lilicat]

I ended up having to switch from breast feeding before I left the hospital (I was in several days), he was miserable, wouldn't sleep and cried constantly. Even the midwife couldn't settle him. As soon as he had his first bottle he stopped crying and slept.

I read my notes a few weeks later and is was written over and over, baby distressed and hungry I wish I had swapped sooner. I just kept being told breastfeeding would work if we just kept going and I just needed some other person who was going to come in and help me. I saw every person in that hospital who dealt with breastfeeding and it just did not work out. Now I don't trust any of them because all the time they were telling me he was fine and to keep going they were writing he was distressed and hungry in my notes

 

[Missy86]

I bf for a week, after all the problems I had with bfeeding I just found I had a happier household we were all more relaxed

O and smellier poos lol

 

[Missy86]

I ended up having to switch from breast feeding before I left the hospital (I was in several days), he was miserable, wouldn't sleep and cried constantly. Even the midwife couldn't settle him. As soon as he had his first bottle he stopped crying and slept.

I read my notes a few weeks later and is was written over and over, baby distressed and hungry I wish I had swapped sooner. I just kept being told breastfeeding would work if we just kept going and I just needed some other person who was going to come in and help me. I saw every person in that hospital who dealt with breastfeeding and it just did not work out. Now I don't trust any of them because all the time they were telling me he was fine and to keep going they were writing he was distressed and hungry in my notes

 

[Szaffi]

I was breastfeeding exclusively until 8 months. Now as my milk supply is diminishing I'm supplementing with a little bit of formula. The poos smell terrible - I haven't noticed many other changes (though she's been on a mixed diet with solids since 6 months anyway).

On the plus side, I don't worry so much if she gets all the vitamins she needs.

 

[rwhite]

I haven't seen a hell of a lot of changes per se, he is still feeding a lot. Granted it's not as often as it was (every 30 minutes sometimes when breastfed!) but it's every two hours so that's still quite often. He's a growing boy, obviously!

Also, he was quite a spilly baby from birth up until about 5 months old. Well, he had stopped vomiting for the most part so that was great, but now he has started vomiting again Bought him a special reflux formula today so hoping to see changes soon *fingers crossed*!!

And that's it, I think Has always been a good sleeper (while breastfed would always give at LEAST 8 hours, if not 12) but now gives me that little bit of extra sleep and sleeps in until 8/8.30 (sometimes 9 ) as opposed to 7/7.30.

 

[rihanna]

i switched from BF to FF prooperly at 12 weeks but started from 8 weeks.

I noticed the poo smells (which i prefer so i can change him quick rather than before it went up his back and soaked thru before i noticed!)

He sleeps 10-12 hrs at night

He is more content in the day and not always sucking his fist like he was before.

 

[special_kala]

Once i stopped trying to BF River was much happier and settled. She had tongue tie and all she did was get upset when i tried to BF. Her first night she spent up and crying which i now realise was because she was tired, hungry and frustrated.

 

[lkb21]

With ds, I only breastfed for a little over a week, once i switched he slept through and life was much more organised. On the negative, he CONSTANTLY had a cold, which i dont think would have happened if breastfeeding, but i could be wrong. Also, I found feeding out and about much more stressful with formula. Im breastfeeding dd now and outings are much easier... I've fed on a park bench before now. It's too soon for me to compare the health benefits though as she's only 6 weeks.

 

[Justagirlxx]

I switched to formula at 2 weeks old so I think my story will be highly applicable to your situation.

The first time I gave him a bottle he finally passed out for 4 hours. He wasnt sleeping prior to using formula, was fussy constantly and wouldnt sleep anywhere but on top of me. After switching to formula he didnt need to eat every hour, he started only needing to eat every 3 hours. He slept in his bassinet by himself instead of needing to sleep on me. He was much less fussy and only cried when he was hungry. (He used to just cry all the time, seemingly for no reason) He also started sleeping mostly through the night, only waking twice a night at first down to once a night and now to sleeping through at 9 weeks.

Anyways I gave my son formula because at 2 weeks old he was down to 1lb less than his birthweight, after exclusively bfing on demand for 2 weeks. So I was told to suppliment. I have realised that ALL of the problems I was having in the beginning were down to him being starving. I had 2 lactation consultants come and access my latch, etc and both of them couldnt figure out why he wasnt gaining weight. (One was a LLL, one was a LC from the hospital) Anyways my experience was very positive but like I said I think it was due to true hunger that my son was awake and crying constantly. If you have any other questions let me know, like I said I stopped right around the exact age your baby is. Good luck hun. xx

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

We had horrendous latching problems (got a decent latch 3 times ever) but I expressed for a few weeks. She seemed to settle to sleep better after the BFs and bottles of EBM but was hungry more quickly which is obviously going to be the case. She also appeared to have tummy pains for the first few weeks of formula.

 

[KittyVentura]

Thanks guys! Some great info here xx

 

[Seity]

I EBF for the first 3 months and then had to switch to combo feeding because he was starving. The most obvious change was that he stopped needing to eat constantly and he gained almost a full pound in one week. Because he'd been starving he'd started to poo green poop multiple times a day and night. Once on the formula his poop became more normal because he had enough food to digest, only it had that horrid formula poop smell instead of the sweet BF poo smell. Formula poop is also this gross thick grey poo instead of the yellow seedy poo of BF. His sleep didn't change he still woke every 2 hours at night. A lot of the changes (except the poo) I saw were simply from getting more to eat and not specifically from the food being formula.

 

[Jody R]

He was instantly a happier baby.

We struggled so hard to keep BFing but he had problems latching to one breast, I was hardly producing milk and what we did manage to get out of me and into him was almost instantly brought straight back up because of his reflux and colic problems.

He was losing weight to the point that we were almost sent back to hospital and he was upset and unhappy all the time. We stopped BFing at that point, in part because we'd had a horrible time while were there and in part because I realised while I was feeding him that what was coming out of me was blood and not milk

After switching he was happier, he was finally feeling satisfied for the first time and getting enough to eat. He put weight on, he slept better although not longer at first, just better and without the whimpering noises he had been making.

He put his weight back on and thrived on formula and although I am sorry BFing didn't work out for us I know that we did the right thing by changing.

 

[loverguts]

I personally didnt notice that much of a change. I combi fed from about 6 weeks and cut out BF at 12. I think maybe because the change over was dragged out so slowly thats maybe why i didnt notice much of an effect. I do remember thinking that my LO was constantly on my boob when i was exclusively BF though, at least now i get 2/3 hours inbetween! Sleep habits didnt change at all either.
It does make me chuckle when people think all FF babies will suddenly sleep through... i was looking forward to better sleeps but at 6 months my LO still wakes up at 3.30am most nights for a feed!

 

[bubbles123]

Um, hard to say as LO never really latched onto me because of his tongue tie which took an age to get sorted so I had to express and mix feed from day 1.. Just the usual really - he would sleep better after formula rather than BM so I gave formula at night (still pumped though!)... When he was on bottles of EBM and formula (Aptamil) he took them exactly the same and his poo was similar - yellow like peanut butter but I think that's an Aptamil thing. He would want feeding again quicker after EBM but again that's to be expected. Even on just formula though he never went more than 3 hours between feeds in the daytime until he was 6 months.

 

[Odd Socks]

I tried to bf for 2 weeks, & was then readdmitted to hospital because i couldn't cope. bella would scream constantly & wouldn't feed (though no-one could establish why, she cold suck, she was latching on fine, but she'd pull off & start screaming, over & over again).

a midwife asked my permission to feed her formula, & bella took it & settled right away. oh & i cried, we'd never seen her settled, he'd never even held her without her screaming.

it made such a difference. before that, we were thinking we'd have to give her away, that we'd created this demon baby that hated us. now, well, we couldn't possibly enjoy her more.

xx