Did you ever regret formula feeding from birth?

Not at all. I had 2 boys that I BF and the first one was so traumatic. The 3rd was a girl and I knew straight off she was being FF. Don't regret it at all as I had three under 4!

Nope.

I do not regret formula feeding from birth for my second (first wouldn’t latch). But one thing I’ve worked really hard on is being happy for others who wanted to breast feed and managed it. And it turns out I genuinely am! Then when I look at my own life I know my contentedness isn’t just some sort of veneer to cope.

No, not for a second. I tried BF in hospital but it wasn’t really working. My baby would latch on but not much came out. For the first yeti weeks at home I tried and tried, alongside giving formula. Then I just gave up and formula fed ever since. It’s a perfect fit for us as our baby is happy and healthy and it means my partner and parents can feed him too.

I absolutely believe you. But every single baby is different, this baby might latch like a dream. You obviously want your baby to have some breast milk, so what I would advise is go into it completely open minded and with no pressure. If your baby jumps on the boob and feeds no problem, great! If they don’t, they don’t, and don’t beat yourself up over it.

My friend had a horrible time trying to breastfeed her first - the baby ended up losing dangerous amounts of weight before she was almost compelled to switch to bottles. Her experience with her second was completely different - breastfeeding worked easily. She said it was so different that it made her realise it never would have worked with her first for multiple reasons.

So I'd say, it might be worth at least giving it the chance to work, but don't feel guilty about switching to bottles if it doesn't.

Did a mix, but pumping was a complete faff and pain in the arse. I stopped the second I felt like I could (3 months). We mixed formula and pumped milk from birth. Fed is best. You do you.

Editing to add both our children were early, neither latched, breastfeeding was like trying to feed a ferral cat. It was laughably bad.

No. I FF from birth even in hospital. It saved my mental health. Both my girls are healthy, and at 8 and 10 you can't tell who was BF or FF in there friend group. Formula isn't the poison that some people make it out to be. Yes Breastfeeding is healthier if if works for you, but many babies have been FF without negative consequences.

My daughter was born in 1970 in Edinburgh. My Mum and I always thought that was why she had such lovely skin. I have no idea when they stopped the practice.
It certainly did my daughter no harm. She is an English teacher in a school in Madrid !

Slight tangent but I BF okay, baby put on loads of weight so district nurse told me to start him on solids at about 10 weeks because I wouldn’t be able to breast feed him enough myself at that weight. And that was also the era when at 6 months you put them onto cows milk. All kids hale and hearty.
Bottle feeding from birth will really not be a problem. Enjoy the extra freedom it gives you.xx

3 x FF children. The alternative of them having nothing to eat is too dreadful to consider. So absolutely zero regrets here!

Honestly I would bottle feed from the start if I had another. I breastfed my first and mix fed my second. And formula feeding was so much easier. And gave me the time to recover from my c section.

I have breastfed both of mine, but my first was an absolute nightmare to get bf established. Couldn’t latch, tongue tied, weeks of exclusive pumping, lactation consultants and lots of tears before we finally managed to progress to exclusive breastfeeding. My second latched perfectly minutes after being born and it was effortless. So your experience might be very different this time if you wanted to try breastfeeding. You could always bring some ready to feed formula to hospital with you so that you’re prepared to go straight to formula if you feel breastfeeding isn’t working out, and give yourself permission to do so guilt free. Then you can try it out with no pressure and see how things go, if part of you would like to breast feed.

Either way your baby will be absolutely fine. It’s a very low stakes decision as parenting goes.

I exclusively breastfed my second as he wouldn't take a bottle he round it hard due to tongue tie that I didn't pick up on until 4 months old. ..but my god. I really hated and still hate breastfeeding. My now toddler just wants milk constantly and it's exhausting. My hair and skin are so greasy, I'm touched out and IV not lost any weight. IV actually put it on! I think noone ever hears about the down sides of breast feeding and it just has caused me and my little one all sorts of problems. He's a Velcro baby that barley eats at nearly 2 years old and he is so attached to me I can't even get dad to put him to bed. So I wish I FF FWIF.

I didn’t regret it for a minute . And dd2 who was exclusively formula fed is by far healthier in general than her sister who was breast fed for the 6 (torture for both of us) weeks of her life .

Not even slightly. I tried to bf DD for 4 days and she wasn't getting anything. She cried because she was hungry, I cried because I felt like a failure and I was in so much pain (bleeding rather than engorged), DH cried because he didn't know how to help me. It was horrendous for everyone. Switched to formula and everything got better immediately.

FF DS from the start apart from the first day. I was very very clear with every midwife I spoke to that I would do one day for colostrum and, unless it all worked perfectly from the beginning, that was it. I wasn't going to put me and DS through it, and I wasn't going to put DD or DH through it either.

Both of them are perfectly healthy at 11 and 7. You wouldn't know how they were fed at all.

No. I was unable to BF and it was very stressful for the first week. Once I made the decision to stop trying and concentrate on formula, that stress was gone.

It's not an either/or. You can do both and enjoy the best of both worlds. Easy breastfeed when out and about with no need to pack bottles, but hand baby off to someone else with a bottle of formula when you want to. I massively regret that nobody told me combi feeding was an option!

My first wouldn't latch so it took nipple shields and lots of help for the first weeks. I wish I'd known I could sub in formula without messing up BF but the constant doom mongering about nipple confusion scared me off.

Second baby could latch and she got so much colostrum/breastmilk she slept 7 hour stretches by the end of her first week.

I breast fed my first , but couldn’t do it for my second. Each baby is very different. I felt a huge amount of guilt about it at the time. But both dc are now in their 30s and are equally healthy and successful.

I agree, I managed about 3 weeks and was completely miserable!!

Not having another child but if I did it would be bottle fed 100%

I did both with my first: poor latch, would fall asleep and not get full feeds, would refuse. I pumped and got very little, but persisted. Gave what milk I could, but of the 6 or so bottles a day, 5 would be formula. It was exhausting, but I didn't want to give up trying so pumped throughout the day, had some attempts at actual breast feeding and made up formula for 11 months.
With 2nd baby there was a good latch from the start. Gave formula only to use when I needed to pop out, otherwise breast feeding exclusively. Pumped a bit early on, but results weren't great and I just continued breast feeding and gave up any attempts to pump.

Had a couple instances of very painful engorgement likely due to a blockage, and one bleb, but luckily was able to clear it on my own with frequent breastfeeding on the clogged side and gentle pressure. It wasn't always a picnic. But, baby is still breastfeeding at 2 and I'm feeling like a bit of a hippie mum about it this time around. 😂

Following with interest OP as due number 2
soon and was going to start a similar thread!

My first also never latched - definitely empathise with feeling like some people didn’t believe this to be the case! All of the advice I got assumed a painful latch, an inadequate latch, latching off too quickly etc - nope, DC just wouldn’t do it, it was like we were totally incompatible. Well-meaning friends and family kept telling me I shouldn’t feel guilty for stopping, when in reality we never even started. I feel so sad when I think of the first few weeks of DC1’s life and how much it affected me, and now feel anxious when I think of anything breastfeeding related.

Part of me hopes things will be different with DC2 as was @TabbyMcTattle’s experience, part of me doesn’t even want to try …

For me it was the opposite I never considered ff, it was just an assumption that I would bf. All my family did so it was the done thing. Yes it was hard at the start. But I loved it, I had ultimate freedom to go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted with baby at last minute with packing and prepping bottles etc . I would just feed before I left if I wanted to go out by myself. ExDh did everything else except feeding so he was involved. It’s just a different way…as long as the babies are fed and healthy it’s all good

I have older children now and I breast fed them. I absolutely never think about the fact that I breast fed them. It was all consuming at the time and literally the last thing I think about now.

Similarly with my friends who formula fed. Some of them did so after breast feeding didn't work out and had misplaced feelings of guilt at the time. Now our massive healthy children run round and what we fed them for the first few months of their life is the last thing on our mind.

Nope, I loved formula feeding. It made my relationship with my husband far more equal, too. 100% the best parenting decision I made. I love FF, and I wish that my friends who BF could have been as happy, relaxed, and free as I was. Parenthood doesn't have to be that difficult!