first time mummy combining breast and bottle, breast not satisfying...am I doing something wrong?

[icet]

my little one is 10wk old today, I am giving her SMA gold 4 times a day and feeding breast at night, early morning feeds are not satisfying her and she is awake from around 4.30 mooching. She also has reflux so tends to be sick more on breast (gaviscon goes into her bottles). Should I come off the breast?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

ICET
x

You'll probably get loads of MNers advising you to stay on the breast. My only advice to you is do what you think best ... whatever gets you through the day.

She'll be fine with either scenario.

Thanks D, it's hard to know what's right, the early morning play times are the norm now....

Hi, icet.

What do you want to do? If you want to breastfeed, or to retain some breastfeeding, what you are doing now will hasten the end of bf....it's just the biology of it. 4 formula feeds in 24 hours are just not compatible with maintaining breastfeeding for long, as lots of people here will confirm. You've also got a long gap between breastfeeds when you give formula in the day....another factor that speeds up the disappearance of breastmilk

Now, if you're ok with that or sort of accept it, then it's not for anyone to say do something different.

But early morning waking is normal for many babies (though it passes) and the chucking-up she does on the breast is also normal (though messy!). You would be able to go back to full bf, or mainly bf, if you wanted to, but it would mean dropping the bottles one by one, and replacing them with as many breastfeeds as she wants.

Hope this helps.

thanks tik tok, I'm happy giving her bottles as it means I can get out more with her in the day. I have expressed some of the feeds but during the day nothing kicks in until late evening. Good to hear it's normal for babies to be sick more on breast, we've seen a specialist who confirmed it's reflux with her, she's still feeding every 2 hours, hungry baba.

x

You cna get out just as easily when breastfeeding

Or even more easily in fact

Puzzled at why it's easier to go out with the baby if you take bottles....did you mean without her, maybe?

Expressing is a hassle, you 're right.

tiktok may correct me but I've never heard that BF babies are sick more than FF ones. I've BF 2 babies and none of them were sicky babies (with DD2 it would have meant letting go of some milk which would have been against her nature). It's really easy to go out when BFing you never have to make up bottles and remember to take enough.

At the end of the day it's entirely up to you what you want to do but as tiktok says it's pretty inevitable that your supply of milk will dry up as you not stimulating your boobs enough to make milk. It's quite simple the more the baby feeds the more milk your body will
make for her. You can easily make enough milk for her yourself.

Babies go through spurts where they want to feed 24/7 draining on you I know but it gets easier.

good luck with whatever you decide to do

Hi, my little one had reflux as well, but she is now 5 months old and the reflux has completely gone, so don't worry it will get easier!! I had the same problem in that she would tend to bring up more milk when I breast fed, whereas if she had the bottle she was ok - think this was due to the different positions, as when she was fed from the bottle she could be in a more upright position which encouraged the milk to stay down. You could try keeping your little one upright for about 30min after each feed to help keep the milk down!!

My GP prescribed infant gaviscon which really helped. You can give it from a syringe if you are bf, or mix it with the formula milk.

Breast feeding was a nightmare when she had this reflux so I ended up expressing breast milk into bottles and bottle feeding my baby using this expressed milk. If you can perserve with the hassle of expressing then this would be an ideal solution as you will maintain your milk supply. I struggled with expressing at first but I bought an electric medela breast pump which completely changed things. Your milk supply with adjust to meet demand so you will soon start to produce milk during the day again. I found that putting warm flannels onto my breasts before expressing helped the milk to flow. You could also try a warm bath or shower?

My little one is back to bf "normally" now that the reflux has passed but this is only possible cos I maintained my milk supply by expressing.

Hope this helps x x

Bringing up breastmilk after a feed is very common and sometimes means you need to feed again to replace it. It doesn't necessarily mean that the baby has reflux that needs treated IMO. It means you need a good supply of muslins.

My ds1 is 7 months with quite bad reflux, he is fully breastfed and although it's a faff getting meds down him it is managable.

Of course its really your decision and if you are happy to stop b/f then carrying on as you are will eventually lead to that naturally. But as tiktok said if you do want to carry on b/f giving bottles is going to make that more difficult.

Getting out and about while b/f is very easy when you get used to it and even going out without baby is pretty easy after a while.

Why do you think morning b/f are not satisfying her?
My ds1 is still b/f every 2-3hrs at 7 months and up till 4-5m was feeding every 1-2hrs. Hungry baby yes but not unsatisfied.

thanks all, I think she's going thru growth spurt as fed more today. I'm not totally comfortable feeding in public, more a confidence thing. Ive noticed my breasts are not as full, hence thinking she not getting enough although i've not bottle fed in evening or early morning at all. x

You can buy special bf tops which have a zipped or poppered "opening" at the front - makes bf in public very discrete. Think mothercare sell them, also jojomamanbebe or blooming marvellous x x

icet, softer breasts can be normal with established bf, but with 4 formula feeds a day it's very likely the impact on your milk supply means less milk is being made for her...the only way to reverse this is to cut down the formula.

With practice, you can become more confident bf when out

I wouldn't be without bfeeding tops, get a few of those and you won't be exposing your entire chest in the cafe or wherever! Get out while you can, before you know it she'll be walking and you'll have to chase after her!

I wouldn't worry about breastfeeding in public. No one gives a monkies really. I've never had a bad comment only positive ones. I've fed in the middle of service stations and parks and allsorts. I understand that if you aren't confident that it is daunting. I had a big huggababy sling which hid everything so no one ever knew that I was feeding the hungry chipmunk. Just my take on things...I found it really hard to breastfeed and I am now a zealot.

My local garden centre has a so called "mother and baby room" and I needed somewhere to bf my baby so I thought this would be ideal. There was even a picture of a nursing mother on the door. When I opened the door the room turned out to be a TOILET with no room to even put my buggy inside!!!

I started off BF with a few bottles in between especially when I went out. Then I got all brave and also got fed up of sterilising bottles so exclusively BF. I stopped hiding myself away in public and BF anytime and anywhere Never BF DD1 as I couldn't face the thought of it but after BF DD2 I feel like a BF pro. Did find DD2 was a very sickly baby compared to DD1-she stopped projectile vomiting at 11 months-phew!

Hope everything goes OK and enjoy your baby.

xxx

Just be aware that formula feeds can greatly effect your milk supply. How you feed your baby is totally your choice and in my opinion, what works best for you IS what's best. But to make an informed decision about BF/FF, just wanted to warn you that FF can reduce women's milk supply a great deal and whilst some mums manage to strike a good balance and do both for a long time, others can find that the formula takes over completely from the BF in quite a short space of time. The reasons for this can be because...

FF interfere with the sensitive supply/demand process that lets your produce milk

F milk is a different substance to breast milk and can stretch the babies tummy so babies can seem less satisfied by BF, which are also easier to digest - leading to more FF and so on.

At this point, you can rebuild your milk supply if you want to coniune breastfeeding by offering BF regularly and reducing down the amount of formula you offer. There are women who have totally stopped breastfeeding and managed to re-start it, although it is much harder further down that line.

How you feed your baby is your choice alone and its wrong for anyone to pressure you either way, but read up on BF/FF and make an informed choice whatever you do. BF can be hard but so many problems can be resolved with the right information and support. Read-up online, talk to mumsnetters - if you are considering giving up BF because of social pressures, other peoples ignorance, mis-information and lack of help/support - you don't have to. There is help and support out there. If you feel you are making an informed choice and FF is what you want to do, then carry on as you are and don't worry.

Good luck in whatever you decide .x x x

Also, if feeding in public is an issue for you, some women find simply tying a muslin square to their bra strap whilse feeding can make them feel more comfortable.

Lots of people find it a bit nerve-racking at first, but the more you do it, the more normal it seems.

I would rather not feed in public as it is my personal preference also ds2 gets very easily distracted.
I tend to shop near my local mothercare/dept store as they have good baby feeding rooms
Failing that I'll head back to the car

Or ask your local NCT for bf friendly cafes locally, they should have a list
I'm in Lincs and the midwife post natally gave me a 4 page list of bf establishments that actively encourage bf!
the more you feed the more milk you produce and soft breasts are on indication of supply - sure for the first few weeks you get fuller feeling as your supply establishes

Mine are soft most times now but milk supply is top notch.
Good luck with whichever you choose