Reluctantly FF, have no idea what I'm doing!

[LindtLover]

For reasons I'd rather not go into because I'm still upset about it I am now bottle feeding my 6.5mo DD. I've never bottlefed before and have no idea how it works - is there anything I need to know? I have been and bought some Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottles, are they ok?

I have only done a few bottles so far and I just followed the instructions on the tub which was fine at home but what will I do if I'm out for day? I won't have my kettle to boil and leave to cool for 30 mins etc etc.

How do I know I'm giving her the right amount? With breast feeding I didn't worry I just let her feed until satisfied, I was told a breast fed baby won't overfeed and will take what they need. Will I overfeed her by accident?

If you're going out for the day it's probably easiest to use ready made cartons.

You can make bottles in advance if you need to - make them up with hot water as per the instructions, cool them quickly and store in the fridge. Then you can reheat as needed. You mustn't keep them for more than 24 hours though. The most important thing is making up the bottle with hot water to kill any bacteria in the powder.

There should be a guide to how much to feed on the packet, or there's a calculation you can do based on weight. So long as you're not making your baby finish every bottle or cajoling her into drinking more than she wants, I'm sure you won't overfeed her.

I know you say you are too upset to talk about it, and please ignore this post - but is there anything any of us can do to help with the reasons you're giving up breast feeding? Women often think they have to, when it turns out they don't. As I said, ignore me if you want to.

Unless you are mix feeding I don't think it matters which bottles you use. The 'closer to nature' ones are supposed to prevent bottle / nipple confusion. However, they do seem to be the bottle of choice for ff too.

It might be worth trying a few different types of bottle to find one that suits you and dd best.

If you turn the bottle slowly whilst feeding it helps prevent the DC gulping too much air and suffering with wind.

I just want to point out that you don't have to wait for 30 minutes after the kettle has boiled; it's that you shouldn't use water that's cooled for more than 30 minutes (it is then too cold to sterilise the milk powder).

I used ready made cartons when I was out and about.

My HV told me that the only real way to overfeed a baby formula was if you left him/her propped up with a bottle. I used the instructions on the formula tin as a guideline but didn't worry if she had a bit more than that. Your baby will let you know when she's had enough.

I wouldn't worry about the brand of bottle; if your baby is happy with the one you have tried, then stick with it. You should be able to ask your HV for advice about FF; they're not meant to promote it but are supposed to give you the information to do it safely.

If you're going out, just put together as many sterilised bottles as you will need (minus the formula) & take ready made cartons with you. Take a small pair of scissors with you to snip the end off the carton when you need it. To warm the bottle just sit it in a bowl of hot water. Any restaurant/cafe should be able to help you out.

I use Avent bottles, but TT are fine too.

If you have a dishwasher, you can wash everything in that. Including the teats. You still need to sterilise them though.

LindtLover - have a look at this fab blog and this support thread here on MN.

Info on formula - see Unicef leaflet here.

This leaflet will give some info on the actual feeding and amounts etc.

Dept of Health guidelines leaflet.

WHO guidelines.

These 2 leaflets talk about safe preparation and some safe methods for preparing in advance.

Website with info about bottles - one thing to look for is that they should be free of BPA.

seeker - I am sorry but as a former FF I must say that I find your post absolutely insensitive. Just which part of I am now bottle feeding do you not understand?

We found that the bottle brand didn't matter but the type of teats did as the first ones we had, we could see DS sucking for all he was worth and not getting anything - ended upo trying to enlarge the hole with a pin! Then DH went to the local chemist and came back with a selection, and we just went with the one that suited best and then stuck with it.

Thanks all, she seems to be taking the Tommee Tippee bottles ok so I thought I'd stick with them but in Mothercare there is such a lot of choice I couldn't figure out which would be better than others so just went for a brand I'd seen others mums at my baby group use.

Seeker Thanks so much for the thought but no, its a medication issue and have done my research and its a dead end for breast feeding sadly. She will be my last baby and I didn't want it to end this way, but not much to be done about it

MoonUnit I thought you couldn't make them in advance anymore, thats what I was worrying about really, I couldn't figure out how to make them up out and about. I guess its ok if you happen to be in a cafe or somewhere to get hot water but otherwise you are stuffed.

How would I heat up the bottle when out - do I always have to be in a cafe to get hot water, it will cost me a fortune in Costa coffees if thats the case. I don't think she will drink it cold. God, its such a faff.

Just want to say not to beat yourself up about the end of bf. You've given her a great start and it's going to be fine!

tommee tippee bottle warming flask!

Tabouleh Wow, thanks thats a lot of good info for me to read. I really want to do it properly but just couldn't get my head around it at all, its all such a faff compared to just lifting up my shirt! I guess I have to adjust my expectations!

I didn't know about ready made cartons, I will go and get some tomorrow. Are they like UHT milk and they have a long expiry date on them? I could maybe keep a couple in my bag as 'emergency milk' for if I stay out longer than expected or get stuck somewhere.

Biscuit That turning the bottle tip is genius, I will try that. After her evening bottle today she burped like she had never burped before so I should give that a go.

Thanks so much for the advice I feel a little better now. I can see I'm going to have to be more organised to make sure I have everything I need when I need it.

Still quite new to all this myself, but I'm pretty sure you don't need to heat up the ready made cartons when out.
I think this is just as some babies won't drink if it's not warm enough. My DS has never turned down a room temperature bottle of EBM or formula. So you might be lucky enough to not need to chase heated bowls of water.

seeker, you were not insensitive, and the OP did not think you were either....you were gentle, polite and tentative.

tabouleh - people sometimes stop breastfeeding because they have been told they cannot continue. You know this. They become upset, and switch reluctantly. They may not know their options, and may not know that having made a decision, if they are still upset about it, and have an option to breastfeed, they can return to bf - and the OP had given only 'a few' bottles . You were harsh on seeker :(

OP - I hope things work out for you and you make a smooth and happy change. The good thing about babies of 6 mths plus is that they can communicate their nutritional/appetite needs really well, so it's hard to go wrong :)

Our emergency carton has an expiry date of August 2011!

My advice about warming bottles is don't bother. I never have and DD takes it quite happily at whatever temperature it happens to be. If you always give the milk at a certain temperature then babies will learn to be fussy.

Tabouleh That flask is genius, I have amazon vouchers from Christmas so off to buy one now.

Seeker I should have said earlier, I wasn't at all offended. I just don't feel up to going over the whole sorry saga again thats all.

I didn't expect to be this upset about having to stop, its taken me by surprise a little really. Each time I've given her a bottle - only about 5 so far - I have watched her drinking it its just so hard because I know that my breastmilk is made just for her but she isn't drinking it. At the same time I'm so very grateful for formula because otherwise she'd be pretty hungry by now.

nothing much to add to all the excdellent advice already given. one point though - make sure the teats you use are age-appropriate for your dc. don't know tt - we use avent who do diff "strength" teats for diff ages. good luck!

I'm off to bed because I feel all teary again will check back in tomorrow.

Lindt - I sort of know how you are feeling as I had to stop breastfeeding, but after a lot shorter time than you (days) due to medical issues. I sometimes felt that I should carry round photocopies of my medical notes to prove to some people that I wasn't using formula by choice! However I had a very kind district nurse who realised I knew nothing about FF as hadn't planned to do it and she gave me lots of help and made me realise it wasn't the end of the world. I look back now and can't believe how awful I felt and how big a deal it seemed at the time, and I wish I had been strong enough to answer back to some of the people who made me feel that it was just a lack of trying hard enough. You are doing the very best for your child and you have already done so much. Please try to relax and look after yourself.

Thanks Biscuit, your post has made me realise that I ought to be grateful that we got to past 6 months rather than focussing on the months in the future that she won't be breastfed. I guess 6 months is still a pretty good run even if it wasn't as long as I wanted.

You did 6 whole months! That's incredible, not just pretty good. Loads of us would have loved to do one sixth of that, but couldn't.

It is a great run! Well done!

I also recommend the powder dispenser thingy - got mine at Boots, but have seen them in supermarkets. I only used mine at home though, found it easier to measure out the powder in advance so I didn't lose count when putting it in the bottle. I took cartons with me when I went out, and had a mini penknife in my change bag so I always had scissors to hand to open them - did this after having to use my teeth to open one and got a mouthful - yuck!

By the way, I never heated the milk - she would even take it straight from the fridge! Much more convenient! My mum was horrified but GP said there was absolutely no reason to heat it.