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Infant feeding

necessary travel and BF on demand

6 replies

belindarose · 20/10/2009 20:14

Can anyone reassure me/ share any tips to make this weekend survivable please?
We have to go away Friday - Sunday to view houses in a county about 4 hours drive away. We'll be staying in a B&B and have appointments to look at houses in a few different towns. Baby is 9 weeks old and BF on demand. I feel a lot like a beginner as she had to have expressed milk for the first 4 weeks, so really only 5 weeks into BF 'proper'. I still need pillows etc and also leak a lot from the unused breast (ie 50ml per feed which I collect in a breast shell). I have some expressed milk in the freezer.
I'm worried about the journey itself, how we'll cope with stops etc. And also about the rest of the weekend, how to fit in feeding around timed visits! We have baby's grandparents coming with us to help, so they can have baby and a bottle some of the time.
Oh, so many worries....

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NotQuiteCockney · 20/10/2009 20:21

Does she still accept a bottle? And have you breastfed in public a fair bit already? (If not, you can feed in the car if you're nervous.)

It might be worth planning to stop halfway through the journey, so you don't have to experience a long stretch of motorway driving with a crying baby. (Poss have breast shells to hand, in case crying causes let down?)

It sounds like you've done a really good job of getting BF established. I assume your DDs weight and health are good, so if a few feeds are a bit late, over the weekend, it won't do her any harm.

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caughtintheact · 20/10/2009 20:25

can you experiment with feeding in the car? see if you can do it comfortably in the back or passenger seat (parked obviously before someone thinks otherwise!) you could take your pillow/s and breast shells and still feed on demand just excuse yourself or stop when necessary.

I would recommend a sling to carry baby around the houses- I found the demand for feeding less frequent when my ds was being carried relative to in the car seat/ buggy

good luck!

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belindarose · 20/10/2009 21:19

Thanks. I haven't breastfed in public at all yet! In front of various people at home, but not even at anyone else's house yet. I've only recently graduated from having to do it in one particular chair upstairs - can now do it in the living room which is a major breakthrough. Breastfeeding in bed is still a distant dream! It's all still a major operation really, but is going well and DD is very settled and happy. I don't want the weekend to undermine our hard earned success.
DH is very supportive, but seems to think it'll all be a breeze. I wish I had his optimism!
We'll plan a stop a couple of hours into the journey. She's a fabulous sleeper usually, so will sleep unless starving.

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Melody4 · 20/10/2009 21:44

You should be fine on the journey there as she will more than likely be asleep (crossed fingers) and if you feed her an hour before you leave, travel for 2 hours then have a break, by then it will be 3 hours later since her last feed and she should have a good feed, without looking around too nosily. I would just take all those pillows and instead of attempting any change to feeding, breastfeed as usual, but obviously in the different places! Take a pillow out with you - why not?! While you are in the B&B you could use tons of pillows sitting up against a headboard. I used to do that, at the at base of my back, feeding on a bed was very comfy. You could practice at home. I also found it easier to bf in the car as dd's/ ds's used to that environment. Also because the feeding will be on your mind you may if you are like make the mistake of offering too frequently, while she will actually be interested in the new environment and will actually want to look around her. So just for that weekend you may find you need to feed less frequently but she will drink more quickly and hungrily. Don't worry if she does: she will make up for it when you get back. x

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belindarose · 21/10/2009 09:29

Thanks. I'm feeling a bit more confident now. She's so used to getting exactly what she wants immediately, that I've been worried about what will happen if she has to wait a bit. I think it's because we had such a precarious start to breastfeeding. There have been a couple of times when we've been on our way back from somewhere and she's woken up in the car to scream for food all the way home, but it's only been a maximum of ten minutes. I'm sure we'll never be more than ten minutes away from a convenient layby! And she lasts for 10 hours at night, so is obviously capable of waiting a bit!
Perhaps this weekend will be the making of us, as I'll get more confident if it all works out well.

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belindarose · 25/10/2009 21:42

Just to say thanks for the support. The weekend went really well and I found feeding in the car probably more comfy than feeding at home! Fine in the B&B too and I had some frozen expressed milk that I used a couple of times when we had to leave baby with the grandparents. I think the weekend might have coincided with a growth spurt too as she ate longer and more often than usual, and very hungrily, and we still coped well. Back home now and she's fast asleep in bed. So all in all, I think I'll be much more confident at getting out and about now, although 'public' feeding still won't be an option.

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