Breast feeding advice please

[Bostonbullsmumma]

Hi I'm EBF my 5 week old baby. I'm finding it very difficult. I have had a difficult year and spending all day feeding is taking its toll. I also have a toddler to care for.

I'm considering combi feeding or moving to formula.

Does breast feeding get any easier? Or does anyone have any tips to get baby to take a bottle?

This is my first time bf so all very new. Older child was formula fed from day 1.

Many thanks

My personal experience was starting a bottle of formula for my baby at 6 weeks so that I could go to bed early and my partner could do a feed at 10.30ish before I woke up at 1 again to feed.
By starting a bottle at that age I had no problem with her taking it; she had a normal tommee tippee one and continued breastfeeding normally.
It worked for us and it meant that I continued breastfeeding far longer than I would’ve done as I also found it completely exhausting and felt like giving up completely at some points. Towards the end I was doing 3 formulas and the rest breastfeeds and that also worked for us.
It felt like quite a big decision and i did think about it carefully before as emotionally I found it tough.

Definitely gets easier but do whatever works for you, your baby and your family! Must be hard with a toddler too!! My dd is 16 weeks now and we're definitely in more of a rhythm with the feeding. If she takes an expressed bottle before "bed" she'll generally sleep longer (and you won't be as full when you wake up!). If you're giving a formula feed..... possibly you may still need to express so you're not waking up soaked in milk but I'm not sure??

Thank you both! I will try a bottle of either expressed milk or formula and see how it goes! Nice to hear that it gets easier!

It does get eaiser.
I have a 10w old and a 3yo, and by now I can feed the baby anywhere without too much fuss. He's got better head control, and a bigger mouth, so its all just more straightforward. I think it gets markedly easier from about 6-10 weeks depending on what your baby is like.

It does get easier. We had quite a tough start - emcs, nipple shields - but dd is 5.5 months and it is fine. No more cluster feeding, feeds are now quite short.
I tried not to get too caught up in the exclusive breastfeeding and our dd has had a bottle of formula from her dad at bedtime for a long time. This has been brilliant as it means she will take a bottle meaning that I can go out for a couple of hours.
Ultimately though, do what's best for you and your baby.

This blog has some great advise on breastfeeding... it's my personal experience with breastfeeding on two occasion toddlerdevelopmentblog.com/breast-is-best

I hope this helps (:

I never found it truly easy to breastfeed until my children (both of them) was at least three months old. It got better but not truly easy.

Here is my favorite US breastfeeding site: kellymom.com/

Thank you everyone for your great advice- really appreciated. Have tried a bottle of formula but so far not interested in taking it. I'm hoping like many of you have said it will get easier!

I know it sounds so patronising to be told it gets easier because it is so so so tough at the beginning!!! (Being a parent/breastfeeding/the whole lot)

The baby settles. The breastfeeding settles. Everybody gets more sleep you're doing great! Your baby just wants mammy's love and doesn't care where their milk is coming from!

I had moments of sheer panic thinking WTF am I doing? Crying. Feeling so frustrated and so overwhelmed. But now I look back and see how far we've come with our journey

Chin up you're doing amazing x

Hi there mummies,

My 10 day old darling daughter is currently being combi fed due to a number of reasons and I’m finding it very difficult to get the balance right. EBF isn’t an option for us as my 2.5 year old toddler has aggressive silent reflux and therefore there is a strong chance that my baby may have it too. Combi feeding will allow me to move her onto dairy free milk should she be diagnosed later down the line...I should also mention that my toddler was EBF and didn’t take to any of the special milk so I’m trying to avoid this from happening again.
Anyway onto to actual problem...should I be focusing on nailing the breastfeeding before introducing a bottle or should I be combi feeding from day 1. To date, I have breastfed for all feeds except for the last feed before bed however DD seems to be taking less and less of the formula feed. Should I persevere or stop the formula and give her expressed milk just now? I’m reluctant to stop the bottle completely in case she completely gives up on this. Please help!