To put newborn on formula?

[BumWad]

Just a bit of background. DS who is 6 weeks old arrived at 32 weeks, his due date will be this Sunday.
He was in SCBU for just over 4 weeks, has had no issues apart from working on the feeding. Apart from a bit of formula in the first few days before my milk came in he has has breastmilk and I have now been ebf for nearly 3 weeks.

It's not all rosy at all. He's got reflux so is not keeping a lot down, except as soon as he's sick he wants to feed again. I am utterly, utterly exhausted. He's putting weight on but the feeding every 1.5-2 hours is killing me. The actual 'feed' is ok however I have to burp him then keep him upright for 30 mins afterwards which then makes it time for the next week.

Alongside this he's on Ranitidine 3 times a day, dalivit once a day, iron once a day and folic acid once a week. He's been prescribed gaviscon too but vomits that up too! I administer all these via a syringe and it's really taking away the job from breastfeeding.

I have lots of breastmilk frozen as I was pumping round the clock when he was in SCBU but this will eventually run out. I just feel so guilty about giving him formula so soon. Another thing that is constantly on my mind is that breastfeeding reduces the SIDS risk, I've had a previous stillbirth so I'm on edge with that as it is.

I guess I don't know what I'm asking but I'm getting to the end of my tether here. Any advice/support would be appreciated. DH is going to try and give him breastmilk in a bottle tonight so will see how that goes. I've got a wrap but he's not big enough to go in it yet, I've ordered a swing got a bouncer etc.

hibbledibble - I am not a 'wind up merchant', no.

Link to the NHS website re reflux in babies. Nowhere does it state that ff makes reflux worse.

I had experience of reflux with both of mine - my eldest was also vomiting all the time, as well as screaming; my youngest not so bad - just the constant screaming.

The thing that helped the most? Not being the sole provider of nourishment for the baby, as it allows the mother some rest and respite.

hibble your own experience is not the same as every one else's.

I don't have first hand experience of it but a very close friends dd2 had it amongst many other things. She went on to ff and the doctors also recommended weening at four months. Which she did. And things got better.

Everyone has their own experience and many GP, consultants and specailists also have their own view. My friend went to hell and back in the first six months of her new dd life with the conflicting advice. At one point she refused to leave the hospital untill she has seen a different consultant.

Just because you believe your advice to be correct doesn't mean it's correct for every one else .

hibble

you know my grandma's sister had twin girls during WWII. she didn't have enough bm for both as the stronger one sucked out the most and there were no formulas nor donor milk available so the weaker baby died.

every time anyone argues against formula milk they should keep that in mind. And unnecessary deaths still happen.
bf and/or ff really really doesn't matter as opposed a baby dying because of malnourishment.

the important thing is to make sure a baby is fed and gains weight and is as healthy as possible by any means necessary.

no need to make people who already feel shit and are in a crappy situation feel guilty. most of us are doing are best.
enough with the sanctimonious "brest is best"
Alive babies are best!!!

(btw I had bf all of mine children, ebf then mixed then ff feeds. they are doing just fine)

All the angst over BF v FF always makes me laugh.

It's such a tiny part of raising children in the grand scheme of things.

I wish some people would put as much thought/passion into what they feed their kids once they're weaned.

Then perhaps there wouldn't be so many overweight/obese school children.

OP, just do what you think is best and ignore the keyboard warriors.

"All the angst over BF v FF always makes me laugh.

It's such a tiny part of raising children in the grand scheme of things."

Yes - astonishing that the NHS puts resources into promoting and supporting it really, given how unimportant it is.

Sorry I haven't read the posts but wanted to reply. DS arrived a little early at 36 weeks. Like your baby he was sick a lot and fed frequently. At 8 weeks I gave in to formula and it really didn't make much difference and I constantly wished I had just stuck with breast feeding because making and washing bottles was a chore. It never occurred to me to try mixed feeding. If I had it would have given me the opportunity to go back. Good luck whatever you decide.

I'm not talking about the NHS. I'm talking about keyboard warriors who bang on and on about breastfeeding, and then allow their kids to get fat before even their 4th birthday.

It's all about the milk bout the milk, no treble

My boy was born at 36 and was ill do in SCBU.

I hated breastfeeding - he would feed for hours and it was exhausting and painful.

I put him on to formula and felt bad but he is 13 yrs now and seems none the worse!

Formula is a faff - all the mixing, sterilising etc - but it saved my sanity.

OP Your baby sounds v similar to mine. He's now 10 months old.

He was constantly being sick when he was first born. His weight went down. He was unhappy, I was unhappy. The doctors gave me gaviscon and ranitidine. Ranitidine helped because the reflux was no longer painful for him. It didn't help him keep the milk down though so he kept going down the percentiles. My once bonnie chubby baby fell to below the 25th percentile. I knew it wasn't right. Health visitors told me he was fine. I knew he wasn't.

We switched to formula. An anti reflux one. It was a miracle for him. Suddenly happier, no vomit and he went back up the percentiles. It was the best thing I could have done for him.

Do not feel guilty.

My son still has reflux, solids did not really help. He vomits food less frequently than he did breast milk but he's still quite a sicky baby. Don't assume it will automatically improve once he turns 6months.

"every time anyone argues against formula milk they should keep that in mind. And unnecessary deaths still happen."

Unnecessary deaths in developed countries? From under use of formula? I think you'll find the majority of deaths in developed countries linked to infant feeding choices are caused by SIDS, which is the most common cause of death in babies under 1 and is twice as likely if a baby isn't breastfed.

"you know my grandma's sister had twin girls during WWII. she didn't have enough bm for both as the stronger one sucked out the most and there were no formulas nor donor milk available so the weaker baby died"

Tens of thousands of babies were artificially fed long, long before the second world war.

Wet nursing died out as a profession after 1900 because of the widespread availability of infant formula, both medically produced and that made at home.

SIDS...is twice as likely if a baby isn't breastfed

^

What an absolute load of fucking bollocks.

Evidence please??

How dare you state that bullshit as fact when the OP has mentioned that as something that is making her fearful.

Oh come on, use your brains. Public health has been massively cut they don't put funding into things for no reason. The reason breastfeeding is considered a public health issue worthy of funding is because formula fed babies in developed countries sometimes die because of formula feeding. Formula feeding increases the risks of health problems, some for life and this creates a burden on the NHS, which is why they put funding into reducing that burden. That doesn't mean people should never formula feed or be berated for it but they don't do it for no reason - that's just ignorance. I think people should make informed decisions about things I don't think people should never feed formula. People do risky things all the time because the benefits to them outweigh the risks they have considered. It is not a judgement on formula feeding parents to give people information about the relative risks. Many of the risks are associated with behaviours surrounding making and feeding formula and can be reduced but only if people are aware of them.

The stats do actually show higher instances of SIDS when babies are not breastfed. BUT we don't know why. It could be correlation rather than causation.

Plus, wording it as "twice as likely" is massively fearmongering. It's an increase of something like 0.0001%. Hardly a massive jump in risk.

SIDS is incredibly rare. Follow guidelines reasonably, but don't think that you must stick to every one by the letter - it's just not the case.

It's also not the biggest cause of death any more. You can look at the stats yourself, they are freely available to download from the ONS website. I feel it would be inappropriate to discuss this further here, however.

for you op, after an early arrival the last thing you need is more stress. My dd had bad reflux and I found that formula feeds were less uncomfortable for her as I could feed her in a more upright position. As others have said if you want to continue bf then you can always mix feed, ranging from the odd ff here and there to give you a rest/to administer meds more easily, or even mainly ff with bf just for pleasure or comfort. Personally I preferred to bf in the night as I could just whip a boob out instead of prepping a bottle. Ultimately you know your baby best, people on here will always argue bf or ff but in reality lots of people do a mix of both.

I actually wish the NHS would put some funding into formula feeding too and produce information explaining how to store, prepare and feed in a manner that reduces risks. Too many people are just left to get on with it even if the best medical/social advice is to ff and that is also a public health issue IMO.

I felt exhausted bf'ing every 2 hours, and could not really believe that's how it would be. But when I decided to just accept it, it became much easier. I think with the other problems, they will still be there regardless of BF/FF. Good luck x

Lol at people completely missing my point, it seems like the ff Gestapo is out in full force.

vanilla it is fine to say that ff did not make reflux worse, but you have tried to attack me for expressing another view, which makes you look pretty dim tbh.

There is lots of evidence that ff makes reflux worse.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12013677

nicole

I'm sorry I didn't realize you were an expert in what happened to every single person during the history of the Universe.
how the hell do you know what the conditions were in Budapest under siege in 1941?????
or any other time???
I do hope you have an eye patch for your all seeing 3 eye so it doesn't hurt so much when you are looking into past, present and future

hibble I did not 'attack you', I disagreed with a bollocks statement you made.
"Making myself look dim"? Not at all!

I care not what your view is on breast or formula, or what anyone else's view is for that matter. What I found despicable is that you stated that SIDS is twice as likely to occur in formula fed babies. Which is shit. Which you know. To make it worse, you stated that made up 'fact' on a thread where the OP has specifically stated that as one of her fears.

hibble apologies for that last post, it wasn't you that said about the SIDS thing, it was nicole, sorry.

Anyway, scrolled back to find my post deleted for breaking guidelines - presumably that was where I "attacked" you?
It wasn't an attack, I just pointed out that it is not true that FF makes reflux worse. I may have said "fuck off" or words to that effect, but only because you are wrong, yet you stated it as fact.

Reflux is to do with an immature valve en route to the stomach (as I said), it has cock all to do with feeding method or type.

I have also said on this thread that however OP or anyone else chooses to feed their babies is their business (obviously), but bottle feeding allows rest and respite for the mother. (Whether that is expressed breast milk or formula, it matters not).

And please don't use 'Gestapo', it's a shitty analogy (from either side).