Bottle Feeding

[ClareWeeval]

My milk never came in despite all the great advice i got on here. So now we are formula feeding. I was so adament that I would exclusively breast feed that we know nothin about formula feeding. My midwife suggested we feed on demand but it seems a minefield some feeds she takes 40ml and others she takes 120ml, sometimes she'll go 4 hours between a feed and other times it's an hour and a half. We're worried we could be over feeding her. Oh before i forget DD is 14 days old, we get 5-6 wet nappies a day and she poos daily. Any advice?

Laundrylover.... Labour ward are not always the best place. When ever I attend a birth as a doula I ALWAYS get the MWs to rely on me or come to me for extra BF advice !!!!
Unless a MW has chosen to get extra training or has a very keen interest their BF training is minimal... I know that's hard to believe but it's true.
Two days ago at the BF clinic I volunteer at a mum came in and told me that her lovely community MW had told her to have a mars bar and a hot cocoa every night to help!!!!!!!! I have also heard that MWs sau you must drink a glass of mil or have a high meat diet .... in 2006!!!!!

As a midwife I agree with PUPUCE!!

You cannot be guaranteed thatthe advice you are getting is correct unless your midwife has studied further on breastfeeding.

ClareWeeval - it really is not too late if you wanted to try breastfeeding again but you would need to have the advice of an expert breastfeeding counsellor.

I know the mum pupuce referred to earlier and Domperidone made all the difference to her initial supply. I have also helped another friend relactate when she was bottle feeding after every breastfeed. her baby had been admitted to hospital due to weight loss. We worked on her baby latching on properly and I also taught her to hand express properly which really helped boost her supply. She weaned off the formula then exclusively breastfed from 16 weeks until 6 months.

ClareWeeval - if you are happy with your decision to formula feed then that is absolutely fine. If you really wish you could breastfeed then all is not lost. It does take time and effort though and proper support.

Thanks mears. i got so much conflicting advice from midwives as I struggled in the beginning. DD is happy and content on formula. I'm the one that's not happy (so I don't know if I'm being selfish.) The birth centre has said that the breast feeding counsellor is in tomorrow, so I'm going to go and see her.

I suggested the hospital as Clare said that the drop in had been cancelled which is what happens around here quite often. For instance at our hospital there is quite likely to be one trained MW in attendance if you are desperate and are getting no luck from your community MW. Before Surestart the hospital would have been the only place for one-to-one 'hands on' advice in my area. I do agree that many MWs are terrible at BFing advice tho and it saddens me.
Anyway Clare has found a bf counsellor at the birth centre solet's hope she gets some good advice.

Clareweeval, this is horrid and awful for you. I've ffed two babies and bfed my middle one, and I felt much as you do now when I couldn't bfeed dd1. I'm now ffeeding ds and am happy with that. I really hope you do manage to get what you want and bfeed your daughter. But if you don't, please don't do what I did and waste so much time feeling sad and angry with yourself. It really isn't half as important as it seems, what really matters is that your dd has the best mummy in the world - you.

Oh, and whilst bottle feeding on demand is right, you may find your dd wants to suck after she's full (or even between feeds), so if you do carry on ffeeding I'd get a couple of dummies. The night I switched from bf to ff with ds he stuffed himself silly as he wanted to suck, not eat - the next day we got the dummies and he's fine now and in a much more regular feeding pattern.