Breast/bottle confusion, FTM!

[isitwinetimeyet16]

I am just not sure what to do for the best. I had my daughter on Tuesday and we appear to be getting the hang of feeding but she is very stop/start - she'll feed for a few minutes then drop off and I'll have to shift her position etc to try to wake her. I'm producing a lot of milk so we've been topping her up especially at night with cup feeding her expressed milk and that seems to work really well - she then sleeps for a few hours. But the hospital won't let us cup feed at home so want us to switch to a bottle to feed hetop ups and I'm just really worried if I do that she won't take the breastany more!! Have you /do you ever top up with expressed milk in bottles / should I wait to get BF more established before I consider it?!

Have you spoken to the Infant Feeding Co-ordinator at the hospital? It's her job to help you. The midwives can call her to the ward to see you.

how can they stop you cup feeding at home? Surely it is your decision as to what you use to feed her expressed milk

Is she jaundiced? I'm not sure how exactly the mw can stop you cup feeding your baby at home-are you still on the ward? When you say that she sleep for a few hours, how many hours? Sorry for the barrage of questions but I would suggest that you avoid topping up all together unless there's a specific issue and bf directly. Have you been told to top up and what reasons were given?

Thank you so much for the replies. She isn't jaundiced and there are no specific issues with her that require extra milk-they just suggested it as it seems she has trouble staying awake long enough to get a big enough feed to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. They apparently don't like feeding with cups out of hospital as there's a risk the milk could be aspirated so they prefer getting them to use a bottle-I am just concerned that will mean she forgets how to breastfeed!

Star girl - we are dealing with the TC nurses and one of them is so desperate for me to supplement with formula despite no problems with my milk supply, I'm beginning to think she works for SMA! I will go to a La Leche League meeting when I'm discharged

I used a Medela Calma bottle for a while when mix feeding DD1. No nipple confusion.

Thank you so much, that is good to hear!

I'm no expert but I would say just keep offering the breast as much as possible and don't top up at all unless she genuinely seems hungry and is crying at the breast. Some babies do take a few days to properly wake up but they is not really any need to top up unless there are signs that they're hungry -crying, no wet nappies etc.

Babies do breastfeed all the time. I don't think mine went a couple of hours between feeds until about 8 weeks!

If you're happy to just keep feeding all the time just do that, rather than mess about with cups and bottles to try and stretch them longer between feeds.

I think I just politely said I was fine feeding when they tried to push suggest formula to "give me a break".

Their suggestion to top up so that they "sleep more than a couple of hours" is . From what you've said your baby hasn't even been weighed yet? No urates in her nappies? Plenty of wet and dirty nappies? I can see no reason to push formula at all!

Just keep offering boob. It sounds like you're doing great despite some pretty dodgy advice!

My little one is four weeks now and for the first two weeks maybe was a very sleepy feeder. In fact she once slept six hours (so did I, it was night time!) without waking for a feed. I felt awful.

But, she's much better now. I get less sleep but she's certainly feeding more. We didn't top up with anything.

Tbh, if you want to feed with a cup then I would. Don't see how hospital could stop you

What you have is a fairly common situation with newborns. There is no need to 'fix' it coz there isn't a problem in the first place. In a few days your baby will be drinking longer feeds. Right now she can't do longer feeds so she's taking it in small doses. There isn't a problem really. I would suggest you try everything possible to keep her awake for as long as you can to breast feed. Try removing layers of clothing so she feels a bit cool & doesn't sleep off easily. Tap the soles of her feet, play with her hands. Do all you can. If you stop the 'top up' she will automatically revert to taking more directly from the breast (once she is ready). You really don't need cups or bottles at all.

Agree with Artistic, I don't think it will be a problem once you are home. My bf son feed all the time. At least once an hour. Is it really a problem if your baby feeds more than once every two hours? It will only last a few weeks. I would just go with it, faffing round with bottles, cups etc is more hassle than it's worth. I would suggest channeling energy into learning to feed lying down and angling the telly so you can see it from you bed instead

You can try tickling baby's ear/feet/cheek and removing clothes for skin to skin and to make sure they don't get too comfy if you want to keep them feeding longer without falling asleep.

Thank you so much for all the replies. There's absolutely no signs she's not getting enough milk - no urates in nappy, plenty of wet and dirty nappies and she'd only lost 3% of body weight at 3 day check. She's been in hospital for five nights after a bit of a tricky birth and while that has been v helpful from POV of always having someone around to ask about worries I think it's also meant a lot more interaction with HC professionals that I would have expected and that means a lot of different/conflicting advice! Last night she was a lot better at feeding and was almost constantly on breast from 8pm-midnight then again at 3 and now so am feeling a bit more confident (if exhausted!) so appreciate all of you taking time to reply to me. X