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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

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Original poster

Want to give my growth spurting four week old her first bottle of formula this evening

91 replies

Cressida1979 · 10/11/2011 20:29

My DP thinks I am. She has been practically glued to my boobs since 5am this morning and was the same yesterday and I have nothing left! She's also very irritable and only sleeping in short bursts. I really want her to chug down a bottle and get some decent kip.

DP looked shocked when I suggested a bottle and said he thought we were waiting til she was 'much older' to introduce the odd bottle, and has now gone out to the pub. I may be a little jealous of this, am hankering after a glass of wine but it would obviously be wrong to quaff whilst breastfeeding!! Very tempted to break open the emergency Actimel whilst he's out...

BTW I like breastfeeding and plan to do so until I go back to work when DD is about 6 months, we are talking about the occasional formula feed here!

OP posts:

madmomma · 10/11/2011 22:30

tell your DP that when he starts lactating, then you'll be interested in his opinion! Cheeky get! It's you that's being drained! (My DP offered the same mildly disapproving opinion when I noticed our 3 week old was starving despite being stuck to me for most of the time). You do whatever you see fit, and stuff anyone else.

runningwilde · 10/11/2011 22:33

Fabbychic

It is always quite obvious you know NOTHING about breastfeeding please refrain from giving your ignorant and wrong advice.

OP - you are still in the early stages so I think yabu to mix feed.

33goingon64 · 10/11/2011 22:34

I gave DS a bottle once per week from 5 weeks and he has always been happy to have it. Now he is 8months and we do mixed feeding but will be cutting out breast very soon. I think it's good to get them taking a bottle from a few weeks old. I think nipple confusion is a myth. You deserve a break and your DH should support whatever you choose to do.

MNHQ

OliviaMumsnet · 10/11/2011 22:42

Hello
We'll pop this in the feeding topic
Thanks
M towers

runningwilde · 10/11/2011 22:44

Why is it good? If you are bf and giving your baby breastmilk then why introduce formula and hinder the goodness of the breastmilk?!

woahthere · 10/11/2011 22:52

Have a glass of wine, or 2 or fuck it even 3! Nothing wrong with it, and you can still breast feed, of course you can. People have this warped idea that whatever is in your stomach goes into your milk. The amount of alcohol that would go onto your baby would be so negligable that it really wouldnt do anything. Do what you feels right, formula is VERY different to breastmilk though so dont be surprised if you end up with a tummy achey grizzly baby. Honestly, if you want a drink, have it, it might make you feel better.
On a seperate matter, aptimil (which i think you meant ) is fucking shit. well. as shit as sma. well has some nutrition, but your boozed up milk is far far superior. x

WoTmania · 10/11/2011 23:05

Nipple confusion is definitely not a myth.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 11/11/2011 04:22

Just because nipple confusion doesn't happen to you and your baby/ies doesn't make it a myth.

OP - good to hear you feel better about it all!

It's always probably wiser to take advice from people who managed to establish breastfeeding, in other words better to post in this forum rather than AIBU. It can be (although certainly isn't necessarily) very difficult to get b/feeding established, and it is in getting it established that many people give up and/or switch to mixed feeding, which can (not necessarily will) be the beginning of the end of b/feeding.

The thing is, once b/feeding is well and truly established, it's the easiest thing in the world. And the only people you're going to get that experience (and therefore the right advice) from is people who managed to do it. Those who struggled and didn't get it established won't be as aware of many of the myths and fallacies that surround breastfeeding; things that don't feel normal but are, things they feel went wrong or didn't happen 'properly', but in fact were completely textbook, etc.

Established b/feeders have more than likely been through the gamut and come through the other side, if not with all of their children, then at least one of them. :)

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 11/11/2011 04:27

And agree with runningwilde - why is it good to get them to take a bottle?

DD is 15 months old and has never had a bottle in her mouth. Not that this is the 'right' or 'better' way or anything. It's just that my experience with DS totally put me off.

Once DS was 6 months old I started getting him to take a bottle. Why? Because everyone said I had to. 'You have to get them to take a bottle', 'you have to get them to take a bottle', etc, etc, ad infinitum.

I just accepted it without really thinking, and it was such a bloody battle. And then, once he got a bit older, you have to wean them off the bottle, as it's bad for their teeth! But of course they're really attached to their bedtime bottle by then, so you've another battle on your hands.

When DD came along, I thought sod that, and didn't bother with the faff of getting her to either take a bottle or stop a bottle and it's been much easier all round.

runningwilde · 11/11/2011 06:38

Great advice from slinking. And of course you have lots of milk left, you are in the early stages and establishing your supply but the milk is coming.

It also amuses me that people like Fabbychic pounce on breastfeeding topics even though they have no idea what they are on about.

My kids never had bottles. First child bf for 19 months, second child is two and still bf. This insane idea that babies need to get used to a bottle shows us just how far removed we have become from breastfeeding. I would rather say that babies need breastmilk and that women should bf if they can - and most women can.

iggi999 · 11/11/2011 11:09

Being able to take a bottle of ebm can mean the difference between being able to ever have a few hours away from your lo, and not - there are advantages to being able to accept a bottle.

33goingon64 · 11/11/2011 11:16

Sorry but there are advantages to a baby taking a bottle. Even just once per week so you can get your hair done or have a night off feeding. I struggled with getting bf established and many times thought my supply had run out (it hadn't of course but I can sympathise with thinking it has), however I persevered and DS is still predominantly bf 8 months later. A bottle once per week or even once per day doesn't necessarily spoil bfing and it gives mums a break. How can that not be a good thing?

MoaningMinnieWhingesAgain · 11/11/2011 11:23

33 it's not an advantage to the baby though, is it? Babies are very portable, I took mine to the hairdressers when he was a few weeks old. Didn't need to feed him while we were there but would have been a lot easier to feed him myself than sterilise and make a bottle just in case.

Glad the OP had lots of sensible advice and suggestions and no popcorn needed

iggi999 · 11/11/2011 15:00

It might be an advantage to the baby to have a mother who is not depressed and who feels fit to face another day of breastfeeding!

KD0706 · 11/11/2011 23:54

I'm a bit late to the party. How was your night last night OP?

I would tend to be of the school of thought that at this early age you just have to go with feeding as much as baby wants, as that's how your supply gets regulated. But I think it's appalling that your DP told you not to give a bottle then farked off to the pub. Not very supportive!!

Have you tried feeding lying down, and that way you can get a bit of rest while feeding?

I hope you feel happier about everything soon.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 13/11/2011 19:28

DD started on a cup when she moved to solids - we just bypassed bottles altogether. So it wasn't like other people couldn't help out, nor her not do it herself.

All I'm saying is that there is an entrenched idea that 'you have to get them to take a bottle' and it can (not necessarily will) be quite liberating, and make life actually easier, not to.

I'm just putting an alternative idea out there - it won't be for everyone, but it might help someone as well.

Sorry - late back to this thread - OP, how are things going now?

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