Feeling v. guilty for giving up and putting 4wk old DS onto FF. Help...

[badmuthaflumper]

After a struggle with v. bad cracked nipple making me miserable have decided to put DS onto FF after being a very proud BFer for 4 weeks.

Not only do I feel like i am letting him down I now feel like I have to get to grips with a whole new world of sterilisers and formulas etc.

Can anyone give me tips for making up bottles easily throughout the night without having to make the poor wee thing wait until the steriliser finished, boiled water cooled etc?

We used cartons at night and kept a thermos of hot water and a jug in the bedroom for heating the bottles. Alternatively, I'm sure that if you make up the bottles with really hot water, cool them rapidly and keep in the fridge they'll be perfectly OK. Agree with others that the new guidelines are pretty unworkable for night feeds.

Most importantly please try not to feel guilty, although I do know exactly what you mean and it can take a while for those feelings to fade. But you are not letting him down if it makes you both happier.

I just wanted to say to huge congratulations for feeding for 4 weeks and giving all that wonderful colostrum etc. You have given your DS the very best start in life and all praise to you for sticking with the pain for so long.

I too had nasty cracked nipples and thought they would always be scarred but at 4 months they are looking pretty reasonable I'm happy to report ! Hope your boobs feel better soon!!

Lots of best wishes
Julia

I sterilised all the bottles during the early evening and poured recently boiled water into them to the required level. I had a little pot with a pre-measured amount of formula powder in it.

For the night feeds, I had a bottle warmer. As soon as baby woke for a feed, the bottle was filled with the formula powder, shaken and placed into the warmer. It took about 5 mins for it to heat to the required temperature. During that time, I had a wee myself and a quick drink of water (kept in room too) then I changed the nappy and by the time I had finished, the bottle was ready. I kept up to 3 bottles in the bedroom at night as were needed.

There were still enough bottles from the sterisliser the previous evening to be ready to make up a feed in the morning if needed.

Well done btw for feeding til 4 weeks. Cracked nipples can be a nightmare - please don't feel disappointed - you need to do what is right for you.

Can someone just answer a question, why do you add the powder later and not when you initially add the hot water?

Lucy5 - when you add the powder you have to use the bottle within 4 hrs or keep it in the fridge. Not adding powder when you add the water means you can use the bottle at any time and hopefully it won't need warming up.

badmuthaflumper - I've not read through all the replies but just to say you're not on your own. I had exactly the same experience with bf and my ds is doing fine .

Thank you everyone for all your support. In the end I went 'cold turkey' rather than wean him off BF and had boobs like bricks for a couple of days! I am glad to say they are almost back to normal and feel like they belong to me again. DS is thriving and I had no problems with the transition from breast to bottle other than having to wipe my tears of the wee mites forehead for the first couple of feeds. He is also managing 5-6 hours between night feeds (long may it continue). I feel human again and really enjoy feeding him rather than dreading it. Just keep telling myself I gave him the best start (he went from 7lb 14oz to 10lb 1 oz in the 4 weeks before FF) and the guilt is slowly fading.

All in all a much happier mummy and DS.

Have managed to get to grips with the bottles at night with much the same routine as Queeneagle which seems to be working a treat so far so thanks again.