No More Mumma's Milk

[MummaRZW]

So...much to my disappointment I'm about to stop breastfeeding. My DS is just over 3 months and my milk has progressively dried up. There isn't anything I haven't tried from herbal to prescription to good old fashioned old wives tales.

I'm at a point now where the constant attempts to restart my milk are distressing both me and DS so I've come to terms with the fact I'll be stopping bf.

Because of my lack of milk (and other reasons) DS has been co-fed by me and DH for a while now so the transition for him is not a problem at all. My questions are around what to do differently with an exclusively formula fed baby?

My understanding was that bf babies don't need any water but formula fed do? Formula can give them constipation?

Im very sad about giving up bf but have come to terms with it so pretty please don't suggest new ways to restart. But all advice on what I need to do differently is welcome welcome welcome!

I didn't give my formula fed kids extra water until the they started solids. It's not required unless it is very hot or they are constipated. Not really much different tbh except you have bottles to wash and sterilise

No, no extra water needed.

Put the boiling water in the bottle first, then spoon in the formula (make sure the spoonfuls are flat not 'heaped' if you see what i mean?). Then let the bottles cool in the fridge, or under cold running water. That bit is a bit of a faff.

Some people make up a bunch of bottles in the morning, put them at the back of the fridge, then take out when needed. Others don't trust that method... A little common sense in all the advice you get.

Our DS was very used to cold milk, so warming it was unnecessary, but you may find yours prefers slightly warmer (again, you can warm up under a tap, or take the lid off, warm for a few seconds in the microwave, swish it about a LOT so the heat is well-distributed).

If you are out and about, you can buy pre-mixed milk in little cartons, just to pop in a pre-sterilised bottle.

No judgement from me. I couldn't BF from the get go and took me about a year to forgive myself even though DS thrived on FF. He is now 4.5 and healthy as a horse

My DD is exclusively FF and she doesn't need water. When we start solids we can give her a small amount of water in a sippy cup but certainly not at the moment

DD was prem and tube fed in hospital and just never took to BF, but her formula was room temp in the hospital so as a result she is happy not to have her milk warmed which does make life easier, especially when out and using the pre mixed formula