BF for first few feeds then FF - a few questions

[RockinRobinTweets]

I've made the decision that I want to FF as I didn't enjoy BF last time. I would however like to do a couple of the early feeds, if baby will latch on okay.

How long do you generally feed colostrum for?
Will my milk come in anyway or if I don't feed colostrum, will it not trigger the milk to come in?
Would you feed formula for the days where you're trying to give colostrum? Or will the baby not be interested in the boob if they're full? Do they get full on colostrum?

I'd be grateful for any advice. Thank you!

Hi. You will have colostrum for a few days until your milk comes in, usually day 3-5. It should be enough to fill your baby if you feed on demand for the first few days. Once you start giving formula you might find that babies stomach will be able to take more and the colostrum won't be enough. My sister didn't bf and her milk still came in, so the same could happen to you even if you choose not to give colostrum. Cabbage leaves in the bra are supposed to work wonders in getting the milk to go. I would do colostrum for a day or two and then switch if you don't want to breastfeed once your milk comes. Good luck

Your milk coming in is triggered by having given birth, not by breastfeeding afterwards. If you don't feed at all, or express, then it will start to dry up once it comes in.

Colostrum is enough for babies, so you don't need to give formula as well. Your mature milk will come in a couple of days, or even up to 4 or 5 after delivery. You'll be able to tell because you'll get a lot more engorged. You can give colostrum/breastmilk for as long as you want, each feed is valuable.

Thank you, that’s all helpful. I got to 6 weeks before, ebf for 3 and mixed for 3 but don’t plan on doing the early nights on my own this time!

I can’t really remember how I stopped/transitioned to eff without it being sore.

I ebf for 3 weeks and mixed for a week. I just kept stretching out the time between pumping gradually and never fully drained my breasts when pumping and my supply dwindled naturally without too much discomfort.

My milk was seriously delayed coming in (8 weeks) and I wasn't advised to supplement formula, which led to a seriously ill baby. Colostrum is fine for a day or two but I wish I'd followed the advice in here then instead of trusting the midwives! fedisbest.org/resources-for-parents/feeding-plan/

Baby needs more than colostrum after a few days - by day five mine had lost 13% of her weight and had high sodium levels - this can cause brain damage and even death.

Yes, colostrum turns into mature milk as baby demand feeds. Obviously some women encounter issues with this, and their milk is very delayed. Parents should be told by midwives to check for regular wet and dirty nappies, and to seek advice quickly should they be at all concerned.

And told what regular and wet actually mean. Those terms can be very widely defined.

Your milk will come in anyway OP, unless there's some issue with it which no reason to assume there would be since there wasn't last time. It will probably come in a bit more than it would if you weren't feeding though, so bear that in mind. I know a lot of women recommend sudofed when you want to dry up.