I just gave my LO formula......

[missgiggles75]

My DD has terrible colic and screams from 8pm until 2am. She has been EBF Since birth but for the last week I've struggled to cope with the screaming, she is nine weeks old.
During her "colic period" she is on and off the breast, I keep offering her it to calm her down more than anything.
Last night I was at my wits end, DH is not supportive (never was with our first so I knew what to expect!), so as an expirement I quickly expressed some milk info a tommee tippee bottle, and she calmed down straight away.
So tonight I gave in to DH and gave her some formula in a bottle, she gulped all 3oz down despite just coming off the breast and is now asleep in my arms as I type. I cried the whole time I fed her.
In the day she goes on the breast beautifully. I feel like I've deprived her of her booby. I always joke that she loves her booby, so in my mind I'm depriving her......

But she is so calm in my arms now, surely this is better than seeing her in pain for 6 (or more!) hours a night......

 

[BabyDinoMummy]

Do what's best for baby. If giving her a bottle means she's not in pain then to me it's worth it

 

[shanny]

do not feel bad it is ridiculus how we make ourselves feel over a bottle

mine has a bottle for convienience (began at 10 weeks)

I felt sooooooooooo bad

it took me a while to feel ok - which is stupid

try it again tonight see if it helps

my hv said to me - if it helps you feed for longer do it DO NOT FEEL GUILTY

if baby is happy feeding during day from you do that - I really enjoyed combi feeding towards the end with my third and am progressing towards that with my 4th

happy and stress free mum is v important too xxx

 

[palmtree123]

don't feel bad, if it settled her then it's worth it. I do the same at times when my lo is colicky and he is so settled after xx

 

[CupcakeBaby]

Don't feel bad Hun. Especially if it's helped baby.

Was she ok after the BM bottle?

If so what you could do is pump while DH gives her a bottle and then you can get him to give her BM bottles and you will eventually not need the formula.

No guilt for you and also it means your supply won't suffer. X

 

[missgiggles75]

She didn't sleep any better, but her colic period seemed a lot shorter.

I gave her formula again tonight with the intention of replacing the formula with a BM bottle.

I'm not anti-formula, but I'm not ready to give up booby milk! I couldn't feed my DS for various reasons, and I'm thrilled it's working out, it's just this nasty colic that's spoiling it.

The colic period is really tough, it's six hours of constant screams......

 

[Celesse]

That sounds like pretty normal baby behaviour....lots of cluster feeding and crying for a few hours in the evening. It doesn't last forever. You can just go with it and feed and swap sides and feed and swap sides until baby finally settles.

Not the only option though.

That fussy period is part of the reason my DD carried on having an evening bottle for so long and part of the reason I introduced DS an evening bottle. I found it was easier, more pleasant and kept me slightly saner to give a bottle of formula around 7pm. Filling baby quickly with a few oz of milk meant they didn't need to spend those cluster feeding hours crying and constantly nursing. I still nursed throughout the day and night, I still nursed well into toddlerhood, but I didn't go crazy in the process!!

 

[susannah14]

That sounds like pretty normal baby behaviour....lots of cluster feeding and crying for a few hours in the evening. It doesn't last forever. You can just go with it and feed and swap sides and feed and swap sides until baby finally settles.

Not the only option though.

That fussy period is part of the reason my DD carried on having an evening bottle for so long and part of the reason I introduced DS an evening bottle. I found it was easier, more pleasant and kept me slightly saner to give a bottle of formula around 7pm. Filling baby quickly with a few oz of milk meant they didn't need to spend those cluster feeding hours crying and constantly nursing. I still nursed throughout the day and night, I still nursed well into toddlerhood, but I didn't go crazy in the process!!

Exactly this. As terrible as screaming for hours on end in the evening is, it sounds like cluster feeding. Mine did the same, was on and off the breast until about 1 AM. Sometimes, if I'd had enough, I would give him expressed milk in a bottle, and PRESTO! he would settle and go to sleep, because he got many ounces all at once, instead of tiny amounts spread over 5 hours.

Don't feel bad for giving herformula, but I agree with what another poster said: If you feel strongly about not giving formula, then pump and give expressed milk to help during those cluster feeds.

Also...I know how you feel about crying while giving formula. When my son was 3 days old I was trying SO HARD to feed him myself, but my milk hadn't come in, and I watched my son gulp a formula bottle and I cried harder than I ever have in my whole life. I felt like a complete failure. But looking back, I know it did him no harm, and that's the last time he ever had formula.