September Babies Thread #5 - we're a chatty bunch

[Stroan]

Yet another thread for our September babies!

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This post was edited at OP's request

annieAR I had one of those pipette nose things for DS but he really hated me using it. I would have to hold one nostril closed to use it on the other nostril but then you've got no hands left to keep baby still!
I also bought a million Muslins as everything I read said how many I would need. I never used a single one. DS was never a sicky baby and I never leaked milk. I donated half to a friend when she was expecting and still have a drawful upstairs!

happydays I would say just wait til you try breastfeeding before you buy any of that kind of stuff. Get yourself some nipple cream like lansinoh so that's it's there ready to use if you need it (I never needed it) then you can just get shields and things of you need them on Amazon. I had a tommee tippee electric pump which I found ok, was fine for just expressing every now and again but I wouldn't recommend for anyone who wants to pump a lot.

@happydays00 I combi fed DD but I would also see how things go before investing much. I liked my Medela electric pump but it's a bit of an investment if you don't know you will need it. Some hospitals also hire out hospital-grade pumps if you were desperate.

Last time, I refused to have anything for FF in the house as I felt it might encourage me to give up BF. So we used some ready made bottles that come with disposable teats for a day or two until we gathered everything else together. Eventually got a perfect prep.

I'm getting the self sterilising bottles from MAM- most babies seem to take them but I'll limit myself to a pack of four or something just in case. I'll not use the sterilising feature at home (DSis is lending me hers', the countertop style that's like a veg steamer!) but they're really handy when you're at a friend or relative's house. Even my parents have got the hang of them now.

Re. breastfeeding, I'm going to give it a go but I'm not going to break my heart over it if it doesn't work out. Will try very hard for the colostrum regardless but after that if baby's not keen or I have supply issues then I'm going to get a Prefect Prep and make the most of FF. I'm only going to be off with her for six months and I want to enjoy it, not spend the time beating myself up.

@happydays00 Agree with above, the only thing you need is nipple cream. See how it goes! I own a Madela pump but honestly doubt I'll find the time with a toddler to chase. If feeding does go well, I really recommend the haakaa or naturebond pump. You put it on one boob while feeding on the other. In the early days or for morning feeds, I ended up being able to get nearly a full bottle just by having it suctioned on. You can also use it as a manual pump if you really need to (I put it in my bag and took it to dinner without DS a few times). Definitely one for the wishlist and not the basket at this point!

I found the mam self sterilising bottles leaked a lot, also the large ones were too tall to assemble to sterilise in my microwave

@TheCraicDealer I feel exactly the same re BFing, if it works then fine but otherwise I'm completely fine with FF.

Even the mention of nipple cream makes me feel a bit 😬 hopefully I'll become all Earth mother this time when baby is born.

I don't want to derail this thread into a feeding one but for those that did combi feed - how early did you offer formula vs the breast etc?

Derail away happy - I'm also really keen to hear anyone's combi success stories? from what I had previously understood breastfeeding was best as an all or nothing sort of thing?

Combi feeding sounds like the best of both worlds but my understanding from lurking on MN for ten years is that you still need to do the cluster feeds and all that to get your supply properly established before you introduce formula. I feel tired just thinking about it.

Google says combi feeding is when you BF and FF, so what's mix feeding then? Same thing? What do you call it when you express and give BF in a bottle? Just expressing?

@thecraicdealer @happydays00 that's exactly my attitude this time (and I wish I'd seen sense last time). I want to try and I want it to work, but I'm putting a time limit on it and I'm not beating myself up. I have two children to think about this time.

@kyles101 my combi feeding wasn't really intentional but DD never once latched on, even with the help of La Leche League and a private BF consultant. So, I fed using nipple shields, expressed after every feed and in between to keep my supply up then topped up with formula. We first gave formula in hospital when a health care assistant told us that a pediatrician would take DD away and give her formula. In hindsight, that did not help and they wouldn't have done that anyway - she just didn't want to help me at 3am. Over time, DD became lazier and started to have more and more formula. I stopped BF at 7 months.

Honestly, it was exhausting and I was a mess. My NCT group judged me for it and I beat myself up, plus plenty of people wanted me to fail (in-laws in particular) so it was a hard 7 months.

We tried a few things to try to make sure DD didn't prefer formula! Paced feeding, so she didn't get used to the easy flow of bottles. And DH did most of the formula feeds so she didn't associate me with bottles. None of it really worked for us though!

I'd be happy to try combi feeding again, but would aim to BF exclusively for 6 weeks to establish supply. I think that's the recommended time to introduce a bottle. I would prefer to exclusively breastfeed though because I can't be bothered dealing with bottles etc and I didn't feel the need for time away anyway.

The Kellymom website has brilliant advice, explained really simply. It's great for all stages of BF, including combi feeding and exclusively expressing.

@thecraicdealer that's my understanding too. As above, it wasn't the way we did it in the end. I think the first 6 weeks are probably the hardest so getting through that is incredible in itself.

That said, I did the cluster feeds and honestly didn't mind. I wasn't doing anything else anyway!

I think they call it exclusively expressing. It must be even harder though!

Ah new thread just spotted now 😂🙈

Welcome back @KJR123!

I'm just quietly taking in all the BF info over here.

Always imagined myself as the mother earth who would just take to pregnancy and birth and breastfeeding like a fish to water with no intervention. However I've found pregnancy so hard and relied on medication the whole time, so I've already begun to accept that my Ideal of birth and breastfeeding may very likely not go to plan either! Trying to prepare myself for that so I'm not too hard on myself when it happens as I've really struggled with the guilt of having to take the HG meds.

on the BF talk... I had to top up feed DS whilst we were in hospital, I remember feeling really shit about it at the time and cried when the MWs first told me that is what they were gonna have to do to get DS out of the jaundice danger zone (along with the UV light). My milk flow was good at that point but I guess with us having sepsis and us both on antibiotics there was no point in taking further risks.

But, that did mean DS was combi fed pretty easily I think. We started out feeding him out of a small cup so he would lick the milk up like a cat (the MWs told us to do this to avoid nipple confusion).

By 3 weeks we moved him onto a bottle (still BFing too), just a tommee tippee brand so nothing fancy, and oh my that helped so much as it meant DH really could help out with the nightfeeds.

We really hope that we are lucky enough to be able to combi feed pretty much straight away again. I dont think I would have coped with any extra cluster feeding (I recall one epic feeding session that lasted 3 hours).

There was this one time that I found myself having to laugh at the situation, I was talking to town centre (about a 45 minute walk) and DS needing feeding so I just sat on someone's garden wall and fed DS. Got walking again and he wanted another feed so I just thought "fuck it" and fed him by supporting him with one arm and pushing the pram with the other haha.

Welcome back @KJR123

There's someone else I've not seen any posts from - wonder if they are also lost. I think it was @Whisky2014?

Hellooooo!
@Megan2018 thanks for thinking of me! I actually got suspended for troll hunting a troll.. then when the suspension was to be lifted I tried to log in and still couldn't. Tried the rigmaroll of changing password etc but still couldnt get in so I basically have been away in a huff!
Looks like inhave alot of catching up to to! How is everyone?!

I actially have my 20 weeks scan in a couple of hours...I'm so excited I feel faint! I think we will try and find out sex if we can.

@Stroan that's appalling re the HCA!!!
Super exciting @Whisky2014 ! Good luck this afternoon!

Really interesting to see people's experiences on bf.

I'm terrified by it as it sounds like too much time tied to baby but tempted to give it a go - I am not sure it will work for us long term as I will want to leave baby with DH once a few months old so I can tend to horse and combi feeding sounds like a right faff.
But I am curious about bf so intend to give it a cautious try and see what happens. I have absolutely no qualms about FF though.

Plan at the moment is to have a pack of those ready made bottles for hospital in case required, but to not buy all the FF kit until we see what happens.

I don't think I have any issues about guilt though - I was FF as my mum couldn't establish BF with me and I'm fine!

Welcome back @Whisky2014!

I will hold my hands up and confess. I never ever tried BF with any of mine!

@Megan2018 in the first six weeks you want to loll about recovering from birth and pregnancy, so having a teeny baby attached to your boob is an excellent excuse, to be honest. I loved that stage with both mine. I could definitely have left mine for a few hours after the first bit, for something like tending a horse, and I exclusively breastfed both. You may well fall into a rhythm fairly quickly. But whatever you do re feeding, you should write off the first six weeks or so to the fug of recovery/baby learning to be alive. You get a free pass!!! I also reckon the free pass doubles with each child (6 weeks with the first, 12 with the second etc... @IVEgottheDECAF gets a two year pass with her fifth by that method!)

@DustyDoorframes
Oh yes, first 6 weeks or so I expect that and I'm making arrangements for the horse for that time as likely to have a section - but not months down the line.
There seem to be a lot of people who can't leave their BF babies for 3 hours and that would be an issue for me long term.
But we'll see how it goes - am happy to try BF and switch to FF if that's best for us. Equally we might love BF and stick to it for 2 years. I don't have any fixation on one or the other.

The only thing I am certain about are nappies!

I BF DS for a year and I loved it. It was hard in the beginning but I had no pain or anything so I was quite lucky that DS just knew what to do. I wasn't so confident in myself though. I was always really adamant that I would BF and hated the thought of switching to FF (not judging those who do, just wasn't for me). I really missed BF when we stopped and it was one of the things I really looked forward to when finding out I was pregnant again!
BUT I have no idea how it's going to work with twins. I will try my very best to BF both but if it's too hard or they need topping up then I know I will absolutely have to do that this time. It's going to be something I'll just have to work out when they arrive.

@boodles101
Friend of mine managed to BF twins to start with, but had to express so her DH could feed at the same time otherwise they screamed and she couldn't hold them both comfortably to feed together with her c-section scar.

They moved on to FF gradually by 6 months as she was just exhausted and needed more rest and the babies needed more as they weren't putting on quickly enough (they were early and small but very healthy). But they were her first so it was all new. You might find it less daunting as you know how to do it.

I know quite a few people who have breastfed twins for yonks (at least three past a year). I think if you had an easy time of it last time you're likely to be golden @boodles101! One friend had a tough time to start with as one of the twins was really tiny- but the other twin kept the milk flowing which helped.
@Megan2018 Have you done the nappy lady questionnaire? I'd recommend not buying a ton of nappies ahead of time- I used cloth with both mine, and we ended up hating the kind we thought we'd use before DS was born... our stash has pretty much disintegrated after two so need to decide what to do this time...