Is ff easier?

[Inbl00m]

I don't mean to start a discussion about whether bf or ff is best (sure both have ups and downs, and I know people often feel strongly about one or the other) but realised that most of the threads on here are about bf problems. Is that because bf is harder and ff easier or because people don't think they'll get support about ff here?

My point was every mother is individual as is every baby.

There are pros and cons to each. Most people would say after ff 5 dc that ff is easier. But with my dd bf is very easy.

My dp didnt/couldn't/ wouldn't pick up the slack around the house so at least when bf I had one less job as no bottles to prepare.

I've never met anyone who prepared formula one bottle at a time in RL!
Each to their own!

You're right, it does depend on the situation. BF for me and DD2 means lying in bed. So I can't even drink a glass of water while bf. Ff would be so, so much easier for us. She can't be comforted or feed to sleep on the breast so it's just a nightmare.

stargirl it really does sound like you might have forceful let down. My DD is the same with not wanting to comfort feed, as the flow is too fast and it comes out as a jet stream! The only difference is she doesn't feed lying down, but we have always used nipple shields which dampen the stream a bit.
Have you expressed? Can you see how the milk comes? If it sprays everywhere that's forceful let down.
Maybe try them and see if it helps so you can feed in different positions? Might give you some freedom until your baby can cope with the let down. Look at the kellymom site too. (Sorry, can't link in iPad)

One thing occurred to me. My dd clusters 6-8 pm. We're I ff, could I make a couple of fuller bottles and would that make cluster feed times easier? Rather than 20 min on, 10 off ... repeat (she won't just do it in one go- she likes 20 min sessions!).

Not that it matters. It's tv and a beer time (yeah I'm naughty and have a beer ... just the one!) And I can eat one handed.

Not sure it's much easier if she's on and off a bottle every few minutes? Though it's true some (not all) ff babies will 'knock it back' because they have to make less effort.

Mine knocks back expressed milk like nobody's business (she has 2-3 oz a day and it's gone in a flash though it satisfies her 1-2 hr so is a full portion). I assumed that's how all babies drank from bottles!

Dd used to just guzzle down a bottle of milk even as a tiny....We used to give her an extra large one at night and she would sleep right through.

Not all babies. Search for threads. You get plenty of people despairing with cluster feeding ff babies.

The Girl, I do indeed have forceful and let down and oversupply. We've tried everything except full drainage + block feeding, and the drugs route. The Infant Feeding Specialist recommended not to use the drug route until 17 weeks. 4 weeks to go...

My DS used to knock back bottles but now at 3 months has decided to snack on 2oz practically hourly in the day. Thank God not at night. He's too distracted to drink more but then is suddenly OMG SO HUNGRY HE COULD DIE 30 mins later. I let a formula last 2 hours though before chucking so I don't waste too much! He's great at night, can chug up to 6oz in a go.

But he's never really 'cluster fed' as such. Can take a 4-5oz feel after bathtime.

No it's a pain ff bf no fuss just get on with it!

I thought you had to throw it away after 1 hour if the baby has drunk from the bottle? Because bacteria can be introduced from their mouth which can then multiply in the milk.

I stick it in the fridge if he's left loads and reheat, and change the teat and top. It's rare and only if he drinks about an ounce from a 5 ounce bottle and I know he'll want more when he decides he's hungry. But I'm literally talking 2 hours max, it doesn't turn to poison in that time and his fist full of inexplicable fluff is jammed in his mouth half the time now anyway and he licks the sofa.

Ah I got the 2 hour feed thing from the WHO guidelines. Formula should be consumed within two hours of preparation. I make it all as needed with thre Perfect Prep so I don't pre make loads. You had me thinking where had I got the two hours from?!

It is recommended that formula is not held at room temperature for more than two hours, even if water at
no less than 70 °C is used to reconstitute PIF. This is because the feed may have become contaminated during preparation, or harmful bacteria may have been introduced into the cup or feeding bottle from the infant's mouth. Also, hot water (70 °C) may have activated bacterial spores of harmful bacteria in the formula. Holding prepared feeds above refrigeration temperature for extended periods provides the opportunity for such bacteria to grow.

Ah I'm probably wrong then :) I thought it was one hour but you're right, I can only find 2 hours now. Perhaps it's changed since DS was little.

yes, unless bf comes v easy for you

I bf for 9 months and then 6 and half months and it was bloody hard work

Have done both (well am 5 weeks into bf DD, DS was FF from 2weeks) and there are pros and cons to each.

FF is not the faff/inconvenience that MN and many bf advocates make it out to be. It's very easy. Especially given that my DH used to do all the bottle prep

I am enjoying bf and I have had no problems at all this time BUT I do not enjoy the fact that I am the one who has to do all the feeds. Much less tiring when you can alternate night feeds with your partner. And I assume night feeds get faster but honestly it would be faster and cleaner to warm up and give a bottle at the moment.....

The fact that it's all on the mum to do makes bf very demanding.

Night feeds and feeds in general get a lot faster after the first couple of months. I think a lot of people's perception of BF as difficult comes from the early weeks, when a)if you have difficulties like tongue tie or oversupply, they will become VERY apparent, and b)even if you don't, it can be a bit relentless. Once the feeds space out a bit it really doesn't take up much of your time, or didn't for me. DS2 is now two and I suspect I spend five or ten minutes a day, max, feeding him.

Its all just personal preference. A friend ebfs (baby two weeks older than mine) and I ff, and we each find it easy. Her LO.took to BFing no problem at all, and sleeps through the night (11-6) already at six weeks, my four week old is a three hourly bottle drinker.

I batch make feeds so once in the.morning and once in the evening I make four bottles. Anyone can feed ds, though I prefer just dh or I to, and when I go out I just chuck a premade feed in the bag amd serve at room temp.

I have a toddler too and need to be able to deal with her too, so ffing means dh and I cam share all nightfeeds so we just alternate all night.

I reckon ff is easier in the beginning.8 mean, it tells you how to make it on the box. Bf, on the other hand is a skill that both mum and baby have to learn and there is also loads of mis information about bf out there which contribute to a low bf culture. This too, makes bf generally 'harder' in the early days.

In the long term bf has got to be easier. No faff, no bottles, no heating. Just get your boob out!

How is FF cleaner ?

I would have hated to formula feed- I'm too l lazy. I have breastfed my children for a total of 7 years- I found breastfeeding very easy, right from the first day