Questions re breastfeeding

[MadameG]

A few q's I need help with! First baby due in Sept.

• I want to hopefully breastfeed, but I'd like to also express milk and bottle it to take while out and about as I'm not keen on whipping me boob out in public. With this in mind, is it best to get one of those 'everything you need' kits that have the pump, sterilising unit and bottles etc etc in? Or should I just get a few individual bits? Expressing milk also means hubby can feed baby too sometimes.
  

• How many bottles should I get?
  

• Also thinking of getting some formula for the cupboard incase I have big trouble breastfeeding. Is there a certain brand that's best?
  

• If I did express milk and take it out and about, would it need to be warmed up before baby drinks it? My changing bag has bottle insulating pockets but don't know how much good they do.
  

Sorry for doofy questions but bit lost on this subject!

[MumNWLondon]

1. Ease of feeding when out and about is one of the best bits about breastfeeding whereas expressing milk is the worst thing (IMO) and having to carry around chilled EBM etc would be a pain. Although expressing can be useful, unless you are not planning to go out much expressing milk to carry around does not seem like an easy plan. How about instead investing in one of these if you don't want to whip boobs out?
   
   cover
   
   
2. Its not really recommended you express before around 4-6 weeks to get BFing established. Also although I never found BFing uncomfortable I find pumping quite uncomfortable esp at start.
   
   In terms of bottles to support expressing 4 x 4oz should be enough. You can store BM in the freezer in bags - or if you have avent pump the cups can double up as bottles which is useful.
   
   
3. Buying formula? Not sure why you'd want to do this? Supermarkets are open 24 hours a day. If you have big trouble you'll have a few days warning that its not working so plenty of time to buy the formula.
   
   
4. Its really unlikely you are going to be carrying around freshly pumped breastmilk. It doesn't work that way. Say if you fed at 10am and then wanted to go out. It would probably be hard to express then because the baby would have drunk the milk. Certainly you wouldn't be able to express enough for another whole feed. So most likely you'd need to expresss another time and freeze it. So you'd need to find somewhere to warm it (generally not a problem). Then say at 1pm your normal feeding time your baby would be hungry so you'd fed the expressed milk but your boobs would be full expecting your baby to drink - you'll then be feeding the bottle while your boobs (hurt) and leaked. Or are you suggesting you defrost the milk warm it and carry it around warm in your insulated bag? I wouldn't have thought that was a particularly safe approach.
   
   If you fed at 10am and then wanted to go out at 12.30pm you'd probably just feed before you go out.
   
   In terms of buying a pump I would recommend you start off with a cheapo one (say the avent hand pump) and if you find you want to do a lot of expressing you can buy a better one later. I have the avent hand pump and its fine for the occasional expressing. I would never faff with it for DH to feed the baby, more if I want to go out for the day without DS2.

[Kity]

Hi there, some good questions, don't feel daft! Its a minefield all this feeding malarchy.

I breastfed DS for 7months and will hopefully do same for this one.
I agree with MumNW on all her points. Expressing is a great thing but we would use it more so that hubby or anyone else could give a feed and it also gave me a bit of freedom to go out for a few hours when I needed to once we were well and truly established. But I didn't ever take expressed BM out with me.

The thought of BFing in public before you have even had your baby is pretty daunting and I was absolutely convinced that I would not be doing it as it was just too embarrassing HOWEVER, once you get established you'll be amazed at how discreetly you can do it. I ended up feeding all over the place, its very easy to find a quiet spot in most cafes etc and places like Boots and Mothercare and others do have feeding rooms. It is SOOOOOO much easier than faffing with bottles and is the beauty of BFing that you can do it anywhere.

With DS 1 I did buy some small Nuk bottles and some aptamil JUST IN CASE. DS must have had maybe 2 bottles of formula in those 7 months? one of those was in hospital and due to him not latching on, being jaundiced and damn hungry and the other was due to me having to go to hospital (unrelated) so I would say that it isn't necessary to have forumla in but it wont hurt. Don't buy a big tub of the stuff though, as we did this first time around and it didn't get used, by the time DS went onto formula he was ready for the next level. The ready made cartons are great though and I have got a couple in the fridge already just in case.

Lastly, just another word of advice BFing is hard, especially in the early days, I was shocked as to how much we both had to learn to do this and it wasn't just a case of showing the baby the boob and hey presto. It took us a good 3 weeks to be really happy and comfortable with it BUT it is so so so so worthwhile, so do battle through those first few days and use all the help you have around you midwives etc. There are some great helplines too, NCT etc.

Best of luck

[porcamiseria]

Hi. I feel the same about public BF so have bought a cover for baby 2 due in a few weeks

pumps are good as onc e feeding is a bit more estab;ished you can pop and leave an-other with a bottle

I got the avent kit, and even tho I had electric pump the manual was easier

dont buy too much, you can get stuff online when baby is here but with 1 manual pump and 4 bottles you should be fine

good luck

[japhrimel]

I wouldn't bother buying a pump now. You'll have time when you know how bfing is going as you'll want to establish bfing before starting expressing for the odd bottle.

I wouldn't get formula for the cupboard either as I think I'd be more likely to succumb when having a bad night if its there. I know some people say that knowing it's there means they get less panicky and so are less likely to need it - each to their own I guess. But it is NORMAL to have issues bfing and the way to carry on bfing is to keep at it and get expert advice. A lot of people give up when it's get difficult because of lack of support. But medically being unable to breastfeed is extremely rare in otherwise normal & healthy women (illness, medications and breast surgery are reasons to not be able to breastfeed).

FWIW you'd get more advice on the Breast & Bottle Feeding forum.

[LooL00]

I wouldn't buy a pump until you need it. I hate expressing. I only did it when dc1 spent a week in the SCBU. I used the hospital pump and then when I was discharged and they kept dc1 in I stopped at Boots on the way home and bought a mini electric one, a horrible noisy thing but it was what I needed that week. I've never used it since wouldn't think of expressing for dc3(5 weeks). I feed in 'public' but i choose my spot. At a BBQ I might take a chair and sit under a tree away from the crowd. In town I'd go into mothercare. In the car. You can generally find a quiet spot to feed a baby without feeling exposed.

[me23]

you shouldnt really start using bottles for expressed breast milk until after 6 weeks as your milk supply is still being established and using bottles can lead to nipple confusion.

All formula is basically the same! I wouldnt advise having any in the house if you intend to breastfeed.

[tablefor3]

OK. I'm going to disagree with some here! (Just to add to your confusion ).

I BF'ed DD for 8 months, but did have a very cheap manual one from the start which was great for expressing at about Day 5 when my boobs were massive and uncomfortable, and just getting the milk out gave me relief.

I also used a bottle very briefly when nipples were very very sore and cracked(again in the v early days) to get a slight break from the strong little sucker! Not havnig to do those one or two feeds probably kept me going with the BFing.

So, along with a pump, I would also get lots of lasinoh or similar and apply from the begining to save the worst of the cracking. Also, say yes to every offer of help from MW or HCA to check feeding positions.

As for being out and about. Truthfully, you probably won't be going out much exceot to places where you feel comfortable (like a friend's hosue) until you are quite settled (and competent) at the feeding, at which point you (hopefully) will be quite happy about feeding in public, with or without some sort of "shield" depending on you and the baby's preference.

Good luck with it all. And you can always rely on lots of advice (most of it friendly, if sometimes contradicotry) here!

[cinnamongreyhound]

I breast fed for 15 months and went back to work when DS was 6 months so did express milk but it's not the most fun thing in the world!

I also found that I couldn't express until DS was about 10 weeks, I did try earlier and just got nothing out at all- not really sure why. Although DS did get into a regular feeding pattern of roughly every 3 hours I did feel that I spent a lot of time feeding and I didn't want to go off and express milk instead of playing with DS or doing other jobs but you will know when the time comes if you're happy to give it a go.

I was slightly afraid of an electric pump so got an avent manual pump and I used it with no probs. When I went back to work I expressed twice a day to make a 9oz bottle that DS had in one feed and then fed him as normal before and after work and at weekends.

I had no worries about feeding in public but because I had very sore nipples in the beginning and I had a lot of milk which often went everywhere I found it stressful to go out if I knew he needed to be fed as I really couldn't do it discreetly. After things settled down at about 8 weeks it never bothered me again and you really don't show a lot off.

DH only ever fed DS if I went out and was happy with that but obviously that's personal preference. THere are lots of other things Daddy's can do.

I never wanted formula in the cupboard and didn't have any ever, again down to personal preference but you can always pop out and get it if you get to the stage you can't face another feed.

Think it depends on baby whether you need to warm up the milk. Some take it at room temp others won't. I babysat for a 5 month old last week who had expressed milk in the fridge and I fed it to him straight from the fridge with no probs. Hygiene wise I would say its not good for the milk to stay at room temp for too long so insulation to keep it cool would be good.