AIBU to not follow new guidelines?

[LittleSugaPlum]

Im pregnant with first baby and im almost 33 weeks.
I plan to bottle feed and have brought all the equipment already.

When i was a nursery nurse, around 5 years ago, it was common to "bulk make bottles" and store them in the fridge for upto 24hours.

When i mentioned to my midwife that i was bottlefeeding, she mentioned that the new guidelines were to make up a feed when needed and its not recommended to "bulk make feeds"

Have people honestly stopped doing this? Do people actually only make one feed at a time?

Im seriously considering bulk making, if it was fine for years, whats the difference now?

AIBU to not follow the new guidelines?

i alway counted my scoops into a little tub, you can get them from mothercare/boots and so if i lost count i could just tip them back into the formula box!

"Tethersend - I have read research showing that a really large proportion of bottle feeds are made up wrongly and that babies are regularly bought to hospital with scalds caused by microwaving or insufficiently cooled bottles."

So I suppose the Australian guidelines are sensible when seen in terms of statistical risk. More sensible than ours perhaps?

Pickles..... I used the glass disposable bottles for the first week with dd3, they are the same ones as the hospital provides. They were great - expensive but well worth it.

Yes maybe so.

But I think it's crap to have to compromise and choose between two unnecessary risks.

I think the government should get an NHS approved manufacturer to create a non-branded ready made formula which would be affordable because it could be sold at cost and not have the price loaded by the disgustingly high margins Wyeth etc need to cover their obscene marketing costs.

Ready made formula should be an affordable alternative for newborns whose mothers won't/can't breastfeed.

So lady, does that mean all FFing parents in Australia and France for example are not doing 'the least they could do' by following their national guidelines?

It all gets a bit confusing, doesn't it?

Wholeheartedly agree with your last post, Shagmund.

Gosh that's a whole country not even doing the least they could do. Maybe more. Those poor poor babies. (sadface)

And that's another reason I wanted to breastfeed - so as not to put my money in the hands of those profiteering, manipulative bastard baby food companies, with their fucking cuddly cows and rubber ducks.

Jeeze - they have a right to make a profit but when the cost of an essential product is so wildly inflated by a HUGE marketing spend.... It's just WRONG.

Yes shagmund that would be ideal. There was a campaign recently? I supported it.

The cow was shit too. I got one free.

I never got a cow! Yes ready made should be cheaper, we used it quite oftern but it was too expensive for us to use all the time

I never got the rubber duck though.

shagmundfreud the reason we knew that it was a good time to try bf with dd was that she started trying to latch on to dh through his t-shirt. Nothing to do with the thread but you had reminded me of a funny memory and I wanted to share.

Oooh and there was another time when dh cuddled her with no top on and she latched on and started sucking.

Op - yes if you bf your baby may see you as a source of food but personally my dd was the optimistic type and saw everyone as a source of food. She would regularly lie in her cot with her mouth wide open in the hope that someone would shove a breast into it.

If you didn't get the cow or rubber duck then you may have got the emails at 12 weeks instead:

"by now, your baby should be sleeping through or in a routine (!), if not, why not try our hungry milk to fill him or her for longer..."

They're babes for crying out loud, not all babies sleep through before 12 months, let alone 12 weeks! (this was a friend telling me it made her worried as her baby was feeding every 3 hours at night still and me telling her it was normal )

Shag In question to your skin to skin contact after birth.

Do you mean the first time you hold her?

If so, DH has asked if he can hold her first, as he feels its important to him, so he can bond, as i ve already started to bond with baby whilst im carrying her.

As for any other skin to skin contact, no i dont think i would let her latch on.

I dont like my boobs being sucked or touched really - Another reason why im FF.

I dont know many people who have breastfed if im honest, i wasnt breastfed, my sister wasnt, and none of my aunts breastfed their children.

Tbh now I'm affronted I never got a cow, a duck or a bloody e-mail.

Are they allowed to send that shite god

That's another load of poo. Everytime ds cried someone was telling me to get comfort food. An extra pound.

For my 10 week old, who's on 6 bottles a day, I make up 3 in the evening and 3 in the morning. The containers for the tommee tippee bottles are handy if your going out for tte whole day. I take out sterile bottles and ask for boiling water and tip in the powder. My ds is fine so far.

Littlesugar - it's common in the UK for women to be in your situation, in the sense that what is natural doesn't seem natural, because they've not been exposed to it as part of their normal life experience. I think ashamed shame that so many mums and babies are denied the pleasure and benefit of breastfeeding because of what really is a cultural bias which warps their understanding of and feelings about a normal physiological process.

I hope you don't feel angry with me for saying that I think this is quite sad - you can't really make a properly informed FREE choice if you've never had any experience of seeing or understanding normal breastfeeding. I think it's a shame that you won't give yourself the chance to see what breastfeeding is like for YOU. There are many women who are totally surprised about how they feel about breastfeeding - for good and for bad. The thing about not trying it is you will never know if you could have been one of those women for whom it is a hugely confidence inspiring and brilliant experience.

What would you have to lose? If you hate it - you can just STOP.

Little sugar, wanted to add that there are many things I didn't and still don't like - being awake multiple times in the night, being scared, having to listen to crying. But being a mother takes you to places you haven't ever been and you may be astonished by what you can do, and how you feel about it.

That's what's so brilliant about being a parent: it opens you up to experiences you could never have imagined. You WILL be surprised by yourself, I guarantee you!

pickles they are only allowed to send if you have signed up for the emails. You're signing in to receive them so they can spin you anything, especially if they want to sell their product. Cow and Gate start talking about weaning in an email at 17 weeks too as they can cross sell their products, no link to NHS guidelines on weaning and looking for readiness etc.

A whole other thread and can of worms I've just opened, let's close the can very quickly I think

OP it is really normal to make the decision to FF when you've been brought up in a culture that has only ever seen FF. Even harder for you I would imagine, even if you did want to give BF a go (I'm not saying that), you would be potentially met with confusion, disapproving looks or potential support like: "give her a bottle, it won't do any harm" advice, when in fact, this is when it can (in relation to establishing milk supply). I've supported women through their decision to BF when no one around them has, and it is very difficult and very understandable why FF is chosen from the beginning.

That sounds nice that DP will have skin to skin.

I see. I don't think I signed up I didn't get anything like that.

Talk about playing on your insecurity though with that!

More expensive isn't it?

FFS Shagmund, she's made her choice, and if she's anything like me, will not be bullied by people like you to change her mind.
Op, I'm starting to pity you for even starting this thread, it was inevitable that the BF mafia would arrive.
When you have your amazing, healthy teen (like me) please come back to tell them to fuck off.

We got hit with this too when my daughter was born (exactly a year ago today!).

We ended up compromising by bulk making the water in the bottles and keeping them in the fridge. Then we added the powder each time. It probably wasn't the ideal way to do it but there is no way we were starting afresh each time.