Once giving birth, when should baby be fed?

[KKx]

After birth of DS he was put on my breast. But after that we were left for 9 hours before nurse came round to help me breast feed! Think I was waiting on someone to tell me what to do. I couldn't hold him anyway, I was so week and anemic.

Anyway I just wanted to know for next time, if I bottle feed how long should I leave it once baby is born and how many ozs and how often do you feed the baby if you are bottle feeding. It not on demand like breast feeding is it?

[moondog]

I dunno about bottle feeding but for breastfeeding you can try straight away?
Are you planning on giving breastfeeding a go?

(Madness that you were left for nine hours!!! I remember being helped with b/feeding an hour or so later)

[onepieceoflollipop]

I have breastfed both of my dds and on both occasions iirc they were both put to the breast immediately and the midwife came to check if all was going well - as moondog says it's not right you were left for 9 hours.

The midwife will be able to advise you further re frequency etc of bottle feeding if you have made the decision to formula feed from the start. On my box of formula (which dd2 has been having since 25 weeks when I started mixed feeding) it stresses that the baby should be fed on demand.

Some mums decide to try breastfeeding for a few days initially (or even just give one initial breastfeed) so if you haven't made a firm decision that may be something you like to consider.

[KKx]

Thanks for that you two. I think it is a tough one too.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this. I've got to go to bed now, but will check this thread in the morning for the solution Thanks x

[whomovedmychocolate]

DD was fed in the recovery room and pretty much fed from that point on solidly for three days.

I was always told that newborns shouldn't go more than four hours between feeds (whatever the source) but I think that my have been my midwife being her usual strident self

[TigerFeet]

DD fed pretty much straight away

WMMC I was told off on the maternity ward for letting my day old dd sleep for 6 hours... a very stern midwife scolded me "Well, I wouldn't let a newborn sleep for more than 4 hours"... BOG OFF you sourfaced old cow if she is hungry she will wake (and she did )

[onepieceoflollipop]

My dd1 once didn't feed for 8 hours (during the day) when she was 3 or 4 days old. I kept trying to wake her and give her the breast. The community midwife did a routine visit and found me in tears. She was wonderful. She said something like "please don't get upset. It is because it is daytime; if she had slept like that in the night everyone would have been telling you how great you and she were doing!"

dd1 had a lovely long feed for most of the evening and night after her restful day.

[Alexandersmummy]

Hi, I bottle fed both of mine from birth. DS was fed by his dad when he was about 30 mins old, (while I was having stiches etc). My DD it was exactley the same.
We started offering them 2oz to start with roughly every 3-4 hours, but it is still a bit like breast feeding in that if they are crying and hungry you still feed them, it doesn't matter if it's only been 2hrs 30mins.
You gradually up the amounts according to what your baby wants.
My DD is 9weeks and has between 4 and 5 bottles a day of 6oz.
Your midwife should be able to advise you, also remember to take bottles and milk to hospital as we didn't with DS and DH had to go to Tesco at night to buy some as the hospital said they could only give us one lot of formula!!
Hope this helps!

[whomovedmychocolate]

I just asked DH and he says the four hour thing was explained to him (he was definitely paying more attention in parentcraft than me), as the time it took for a newborns stomach to process and entire meal (thus becoming empty).

Well there you go, you learn something new every day.

Ah go on, give him some norky, much less faff

[fishie]

i didn't get ds latched on for 5 days, no decent advice in hospital (i had a cs so was stuck there for a while). the midwives gave him a bottle at about day 2, none of us knew what else to do and no proper support available.

do you know about colostrum and expressing that for newborn KKx? because it is very much worth making sure your baby gets some of that if nothing more. i do so regret missing that opportunity, even though ds was/is bf.

[expatinscotland]

DD2 didn't want to feed right away.

she slept a bit, then woke up and was hungry.

DD1, same thing.

[KristinaM]

I had a similar experince with Ds2. I had an emergency section and my Dh gave me the baby to feed in recovery. When i was wheeled back to the ward they insisted that he leave straight away as it was after "visiting". i had terrible trouble getting the Mw to pass me the baby to feed. i woudl ring for ages, then they woudl come and argue with me, telling me that a Bf baby didnt need fed for the first 24 hours.

It was very tough to argue with them to get them to pass the baby, when i was tired, in pain and very hungry ( no food except toast for 20 hours) and thirsty ( they woulndt give me a drink as they said i didnt need it on a drip).They were pretty PO with me and then woulndt come to get put the baby back down. i was so worried i woudl fall asleep and drop him. It was also hard to position him to feed as i had slipped down the bed and couldnt move myself

i think if i had not been completely determined to Bf i woudl have given up. They preferred you to bottle feed so they coudl take the baby over to the nursing station to feed him and talk to their friends

[Rohan]

I'm no help, but I've got to chime in because I'm still so about what happened to me with DD.

I had a homebirth with baby number one, very quick birth, very shocked me, MWs arrived with 20mins to spare, to give you an idea. They left a half an hour later. I hadn't fed the baby, it had not occured to me, I was in another world. I had not gotten up from where I was sat on the floor. I had not washed, or peed, or.....done anything, really. They left all the bloody pads and suchlike right there on the floor. When I DID get up I was scrubbing the bathroom at 90 minutes pp because I was embarrassed that there were meconium stains on the wall and people were coming round (my waters went with a BANG...and were filled with thick meconium)

I didn't see a MW after that until DD was 8 days old. By which point she was FF (I had no idea what to do) She didn't eat ANYTHING for the first four days of her life despite me waving nipples at her every hour....night four I cracked and gave her a bottle.

I don't feel terribly strongly about the BF/FF argument, but in the first dark days of motherhood, alone without even net access, not knowing anyong at that time who had BFed.....I was hamstrung and that's what I regret.

Next time!

Sorry to hijack, don't mean to juyst to let you know you're not alone in MW neglect.

[pooka]

Rohan, that was appalling treatment! I am completely shocked and angry on your behalf.
Our homebirth midwives clean up after the birth and I was visited on day1, day3, day 5 (with second baby). With first, was visited daily for the first week and then twice in the second week.
You must have been at your wit's end.

[MamaMaiasaura]

ds2 latched on within an hour of birth but only colostrum at that point. Milk didnt come in for a few days so although he was suckling was just getting the colustrum so not a huge amount in quantity. After about 3 days milk came in and that was when you could feel the 'let down' and he fed well. They arent generally hungry when born to allow time for the milk to come in. I was then feeding him with no longer than a 3 hour gap and at times had to wake him, change bum mid feed to get him to take 10 minutes at least.

[Bluebutterfly]

I went overnight without feeding ds when he was born because he slept solidly that first night and was then reprimanded by the m/w's, who at no point at all during the night checked to ensure everything was alright or that ds was feeding. All the bfing on demand information was great except that nowhere does it tell you that sometimes a newborn will not wake up and cry to let you know it is hungry. I am a reasonably well-educated person who had read numerous books on bfing and who had NO experience of babies AT ALL until my own was born.

I took "bfing on demand" too literally. I was waiting for the "demand".

A newborn baby should be fed on demand but should usually not be left more than three hours at a time without a feed because, apart from anything else, you need to make sure that your milk supply is properly established.

Don't worry, you are not alone!

[LarryVeest]

That is shocking that they left you for so long before being helped to feed (and your story is just awful Rohan!).

I was helped to feed both DS and DD very soon after the birth (within minutes I think).

Have you seen this amazing video? It makes me a bit teary

[moondog]

Rohan that is staggering and verging on criminal negligence!
How long ago was this?

[lljkk]

Rohan's story... ! MWs insisted on staying for 2 hours after the placenta was delivered, before they would leave my house (homebirth). So that was about 3.5 hours after the birth, and of course they encouraged me to feed baby before they left.

I thought bottlefed babies were supposed to be fed on demand now, too.

[lispy]

My DH gave DS1 a bottle while i was still recoving. From there I had a nurse insist that they can only have 30mls each time and the poor boy was starving until a few hours later a nicer nurse asked why i did't keep feeding him. She was great and from then on every time he cried/grizzled he had a hug and a bottle offered. Check hospital before to see what they offer in terms of formula. some make you bring your own and wash your own bottles (even if you're recovering from surgery). Make sure you're very clear about what the nurses will do/help you with. planning might be necessary. If they supply the cartons/sterilised bottles etc have a big stash next to your bed (which you may have to request firmly - they worry about theft apparantly).

[iMum]

Both my ds were premmies and BF straight away, then obviously tired didnt want to know about bf for about 3 days-I had to pump and cup feed them. I stuck at it and am still feeding ds2 18months!

[KKx]

This is amazing advice girls thanks for all your help

[beforesunrise]

if you have a normal birth ask for baby to be placed on your tummy right away, head slighlty below the breasts, skin to skin. then relax and enjoy the moment. he/she will eventually start rooting for the breast and find it all by him/herself, and latch on almost spontaneously. it is the most wonderful and amazing thing= and you don't need anyone to show you that, the baby knows it!

after that i would say just keep offering breast every so often- i honestly don't remember how often! and don't stess if milk doesn't come immediately, it will and colostrum enough till then.

[KKx]

That sounds lovely beforesunrise x

[Rohan]

moondog, about 16 months ago, not long.

There were a lot more mistakes than that, I only wish I knew to complain at the time. Problem is, I don't even know the first names of the MWs, and having such a quick birth, hardly any notes were taken, etc...

Don't want to hijack the thread though. Maybe I'll write it all out one day!

Thanks for all the s, very validating!

[stleger]

I have a set of cousins aged 40 to 50. My aunt breastfed them - but they weren't fed for 24 hours after birth. I think colostrum wasn't 'proper' milk - this was NHS, not an 'exotic' country.