will adding formula make my life easier?

[amijee]

Hi there

My ds is 10.5 weeks old and is having 12-13 feeds in 24 hrs, day and night with only one long stretch early evening. As the night progresses, the feeding intervals become closer and closer together so that by the time he is awake and ready to greet the world mum is wanting to curl up under her duvet and hibernate!

I am due to go back to work in under 2 mths and have a stressful job working long hrs. I can cope with being this exhausted now but not when I go back to work. I've started wondering about adding formula in about a mth's time to see if it will space out his feeds more both day and night. I feel really unhappy about doing so as I love breast feeding and feel really guilty about not breast feeding exclusively until he is 6 mths age ( he will be about 3.5 mths) If I was at home all the time I would definitely feed him until he was a year.

I'd really like some OBJECTIVE thoughts on this - not just people telling me I can express at work blah blah. I know all this - it's my mental functioning i am aiming to preserve not the logistics of breast feeding whilst working! I know there have been threads similar to this before but I really would like to hear from formula feeders as well as breast feeders. Thanks for your help x

Hi Amijee,you advised me on a thread yesterday.Thanks for that!I am BF and have started to give my DS a bottle of formula/EBM at night.With either he wakes up 3 hours later.So I dont think formula fills him up for longer.Why dont you bf as long as is possible and then switch to formula when you go back to work?That way he will have got atleast 4.5 months of breastmilk and you wont feel soguilty about it?

thanks for your helpful replies. Yes - I agree, I am worrying and stressed about work rather than the way he is feeding - if i wasn't going back so soon I would happily continue as I am. I think the reason I posted the thread was because I was just so exhausted - we are all overcoming jet lag and being in a hot place he is obviously gonna feed more.

Have been thinking about it and have decided to wait until nearer the time before worrying about it and just enjoy my hols! Also I may redistribute my work days so that I am not working all 4 days straight thru but have a day off in the week somewhere to recuperate.

BTW, I bought the no cry sleep solution yesterday and think it makes a lot of sense. It also made me realise that babies wake regardless of how they are fed so there is not necessarily a magic bullet! ( if there were, we'd all be buying one!)

Thanks for all your support x

Glad you are feeling a little better about it amijee. Agree with the idea of having a day off midweek, I used to work 4 days straight ( went back when dd was 4.5 months old) but found everything a lot less tiring when I changed to having wednesdays off.
I breastfed for nearly two years in the end-- expressing for first few months back at work and then mixed feeding (ie with formula) after about 7 months.
Good luck

I agree it worked so much better for me as well to have a day off midweek. If you can swing it.

That way DD didn't go too long without mommy - I was gone 12 hrs a day on working days so only saw her for her before bed

No wonder I jacked it in when DS came along

Hope the book helps you get some more sleep It is so exhausting. Enjoy your hols.

thanks. btw, ukusamum, im in florida visiting in laws.

Last night was unbelievable, he only woke at 1am and 4am for a feed. I followed the advice in the book to leave him until he was properly awake/wanting food.

Only problem was - mummy still couldn't sleep

Your body just gets used to having no sleep!

I have the same problem, exclusively b/f and having to go back to work. ds is now 16 weeks and I go back 9-5 when he is 19 weeks.
I b/f solely until he was 13 weeks on demand so it was up to 15/18 times a day. Really good weight gain.
For the past month I introduced one small formula feed a day (only on weekdays though) for the babysitter or mum to give. It gave me time to work at home/do stuff with dd.
Why did I not express? because the amount I was expressing was not enough for him and because I have suffered from chronic cracked,torn nipples which even the gentlest express machine hurts. A direct latch actually is less painful for me personally because the milk swills round.
Also, I won't have time at work to express the quantities he needs (I teach EFL to adults at a private institution) as I'm going back on condition that I work a short but compact day.
So, I'm quite happy to let him have formula twice a day as I have b/f exclusively for 3 mths and only gave formula weekdays once a day in his 4th month.
I say this; whatever makes you happy, relaxed go for it and don't have guilt trips. b/f for the first 3-4 mths is most crucial and you will have done that.
It seems like all this guilt tripping about introducing formula once or twice a day is not nice to read for those mums here who do not b/f as if formula is a terrible thing.
This is all my very very humble opinion of course.

thanks faye 68 - I really appreciate your honesty. It's good to know it can be done - I'm feeling a lot better about things and will take them as they come rather than stress in advance.