Switching from breastfeeding

[Shazz12]

My LO is 3 weeks and a half and so far I have been exclusively bf, I am finding it so difficult because my son only eats for 3-5 minutes and stops falls asleeps, starts crying and then 5 minutes afterwards will start routing and if i try to prolong the feed he becomes even more irritable, so i have to wait till he starts routing in 5-10 minutes and this process will repeat itself for 2 hours and he will sleep for 3 hours and wake up and repeat. He has been gaining weight so there is nothing wrong with my breast milk.

I live by myself so this process is very draining and makes it hard for me to clean up, get ready so we can go to appointments etc. My mum gave him some formula a few nights when she was staying over to help me and he drank and seemed much more calmer.

do you think i should switch to formula so i can be more awake and active to look after me and my son or should i try mixed feeding? what did you do?

will it be a struggle since he has breastfed for 3 1/2weeks?

 

[olliveoyl]

Hi I also had difficulties with breastfeeding, it is exhausting and frustrating. I had to feed my lo every 2 hours and spend the 2 hours between feeding winding her! At about 5 weeks I started giving her the odd bottle to give me a rest and then moved on to feeding her bottles during the day and breastfeeding at night which worked out really well. I know ff exclusively.

Maybe you could show someone like your health visitor what happens when he feeds? They might be able to see if there is a problem that could be solved.

As your lo has already taken a bottle of formula I doubt you'll have any problems switching now if thats what you'd prefer to do.

x

 

[a_c]

I think you should try to get to a breastfeeding clinic & have a chat to see if there are ideas for improving the situaation. Has he always done this? I swapped from exclusive breast feeding to combining it & bottle at 2 weeks, it shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[Shazz12]

Ive gone to a few breastfeeding clubs locally and they just seem to want to force me to exclusively feed like I have no other options.

I want to combi feed.. So now I have to pick your brain a little bit (sorry in advance for the amount of questions i'm about to ask you!)

How did you do it? did you gradually reduce a bf and replace with ff? How many bottles do you give your LO? what bottles do you use? and what formula do you use? and do you premake the bottles?

 

[tu123]

Hi there-i express most milk-have you considered that? I had similar issues to you and i know what you mean about the breastfeeding groups-i came out feeling completely unsupported and even more depressed!

I hired a medala symphony-costs £40 a month and is fantastic at getting breastmilk out!

Just have a good hard think about it. I still get down about not being able to breast feed. That is quite hard when you swap-it may not be for you though!

But if your LO will manage better with formula then that is right for you and LO!

 

[Shazz12]

I have a tommee tippe CTN manual pump but it doesnt get a drop out of me, do you find the electric pump much easier? what bottles do you use?

 

[Shazz12]

Hi I also had difficulties with breastfeeding, it is exhausting and frustrating. I had to feed my lo every 2 hours and spend the 2 hours between feeding winding her! At about 5 weeks I started giving her the odd bottle to give me a rest and then moved on to feeding her bottles during the day and breastfeeding at night which worked out really well. I know ff exclusively.

Maybe you could show someone like your health visitor what happens when he feeds? They might be able to see if there is a problem that could be solved.

As your lo has already taken a bottle of formula I doubt you'll have any problems switching now if thats what you'd prefer to do.

x

I didnt see this reply before! He has taken formula at night a couple times while my mum has been round to help me out. He drunk it and was relaxed.

which formula do you use and bottles.. I have AVENT but they have a tendency to leak. I want to be able to combi feed. thanks for the reply x

 

[tu123]

I have a tommee tippe CTN manual pump but it doesnt get a drop out of me, do you find the electric pump much easier? what bottles do you use?

I lord-i had that too-then got the electric one-ruddy useless-would only get 60mls at the max.

Lots of people say the small medalas are good. But for me the big hospital grade pump is the next best thing to sliced bread And you can do both boobs at the same time too

I started with Nuks-as that is what she liked, but when she needed a large teat size the next size up was FAR TOO BIG so tried TT. She took to it like a duck to water. I tried the extra special anti colic ones but made no difference to her reflux so i stick with the normal TTs. She is 12 weeks today and is using the size 2 teats.

With breast feeding at the start she lost weight every week Now she's a cherub at 14llbs

 

[tu123]

Currentl use Aptamil 1, but have tried Hipp (at a friends after a disaster with my travel bag)-she loved it and it stayed down better than the Aptamil.

Not to mention teh price of Apatamil!

 

[Shazz12]

i was considering NUK thanks for the help

 

[olliveoyl]

I use Hipps Organics in Tommee Tippee bottles.

When i started to combi feed I would just give one or two bottles a day. Then moved to giving bottles all day and only breastfed laying in bed with her (which made the feeds more relaxed) the last feed at night, the 4am feed and the morning feed.

 

[ShanandBoc]

The avent bottles will leak if u try and tighten the top too much. Once you feel the teat 'grab' on the top of the bottle as u tighten, then this is enough x

All the best, you can have the best of both worlds by combi feeding!!!

 

[Shazz12]

thanks,

i am gonna try and give combi feeding a try.

I'll just start with a night time bottle and see how that goes.

thank you lovely mummies x

 

[a_c]

Ive gone to a few breastfeeding clubs locally and they just seem to want to force me to exclusively feed like I have no other options.

I want to combi feed.. So now I have to pick your brain a little bit (sorry in advance for the amount of questions i'm about to ask you!)

How did you do it? did you gradually reduce a bf and replace with ff? How many bottles do you give your LO? what bottles do you use? and what formula do you use? and do you premake the bottles?

Hi- I actually did it pretty quick like over two days. Started with a bottle for night feed. We use Tommee Tippee as they are most like the breast. We use SMA but a lot of people don't get on with this & all my friends are using Aptimal. I use cartons for when I go out & premake with powder for next day night before. We do one bottle feed next one breast feed. I think best practice is to always offer breast then top up with bottle but I wanted to completely rest my nipples so we never did that. Luckily my daughter still latches fine but some may fine it tough interchanging. She will last 2hrs on a breastfeed & three on formula during the day. I love combi feeding- best of both - but it doesn't work for everyone.