Moving from breast to bottle

[Turno1]

My little one is 12 days old. On day 3 he had only lost 3% of his birth weight, however on each weigh day he is slowly losing weight each time going from 6lb 9 to 6lb 3.
We have been through everything and Everything has been checked and the bf part is all ok, he is feeding every 3 hours and feeds average between 30-40 mins, so doing the bf is all ok, and he is doing plenty of nappies, inc some explosive stools, but he is still losing weight. Gut feel was telling me my milk / hind therefore not rich enough so he is not getting enough fat content to maintain or put on weight (had a cs and wonder if this has affected my milk supply).
I have been advised to now do top ups of 1oz formula ( tried to express and got hardly anything from pump), every other feed. I was given the cup, this was a nightmare trying to balance so he could lap whilst he is moving about, not easy for a first time mum. Ended up having to do top ups by bottle. He then gets weighed again Sunday. If he has not put weight on they will increase top ups and will see peadeatrician.
Part of me wants to continue to breast feed but I mainly want to make sure my little one is getting what he needs to put on weight and if my milk not good enough and I have to move to formula fully as long as he gets fed and is putting on weight is all that's important and I don't want to keep dragging it out for him with top ups and getting weighed if it is just a case of moving him to formula fully.
Society seems to make you feel guilty if you stop or can't bf, and this can make it a difficult decision to move to ff fully and stop bf.
You also don't seem to get same support/help with formula as you do with bf, and I have lots of questions in relation to formula-

• is it best to wean off, adding formula feeds in gradually or move fully?
  
• what happens to breasts until they shutdown, do they become uncomfortable/painful, gorge etc.
  
• do babies still cluster feed on bottle and how do you make sure they are not over fed if they do?
  

Any advice anyone can give on moving from breast to bottle would be appreciated.

[Helbelle75]

We had exactly the same thing and did formula top ups for about the first 5 weeks, then slowly reduced them, as dd started to gain weight nicely. I had an emcs and then was advised to use a nipple shield due to dd sticking her tongue out and breaking the latch. I don't think my milk fully came in for a few weeks.
She is now 14 weeks and we've been ebf for about 8 weeks now, except for 3oz by bottle at night time so dh can be involved and to keep her used to a bottle. Her weight gain is lovely.
So if you want to bf, don't give up, we found combi feeding really worked for us.

[Newmumtobabyno1]

Hi Turno, sorry you're having such a hard time .
I would definitely say stop slowly either by swapping a breast feed for a bottle every few days or if you want to switch to formula straight away to express and drop one express time every few days. Otherwise it can be quite painful if your milk has fully come in and you end up very full. I think the slow reduction is also very important for your hormones. I went cold turkey for about 18 hours before I went back on my decision and I was a hormonal mess. Definitely should have done it slowly.
It you still want to mix feed could you try offering more oz at the top ups and not more top ups if you see what I mean?

[Butterful]

Hi there OP,

I'm sorry to hear that you're going through a stressful situation. I agree with you that feeding LO is best.

If you want to switch fully to bottle feeding, then there is no need to do this gradually, from baby's point of view. I have no advice for your poor sore boobs, but it should only take a few days for your milk to stop.

Your LO won't cluster feed with the bottles (one of the many joys of bottle feeding!). They'll feed every 2-3 hours. If you share every second feed with your partner, then that gives you each around 6 hours between feeds - bliss!

Good luck, OP!

[MoHunter]

Has your little one been checked for tongue tie? As that could explain why he's not gaining weight.

We had lots of weight gaining issues with DS1 and ended up combi-feeding (1 bottle of formula to start with, later 2 bottles) - it worked for us and baby still got antibodies from breastmilk but gained weight nicely! We gradually dropped the bottles when he was 6-7 months old and on solids so went back to breastmilk only.

[Turno1]

Hi, yes was checked for tongue tie and told he was ok. Think it is more my milk supply.

[Turno1]

Yes he has been checked and was ok.