Impact of lockdown on infant feeding

[blondie87]

I’m really interested in exploring how lockdown has impacted new parents’ decisions around infant feeding for those who have had babies during the pandemic in the UK.
I read somewhere that more people might consider breastfeeding as they are obviously at home and not rushing around or having lots of visitors. If women are nervous about feeding in public, this becomes irrelevant during lockdown. Also, at the beginning of lockdown, people were worried about food shortages and stock piling, so I wondered if this might have put people off formula feeding due to concerns about supplies.
Conversely, new mothers are unable to access traditional forms of support and face to face help with establishing breastfeeding for health visitors/lactation consultants/family and friends so those struggling might not continue. What do people think?

I’d rather this thread didn’t become a debate over how people should feed their babies but more a discussion about the impact of lockdown on infant feeding practices as there are already a plethora of threads on that debate. Thanks!

I was having BF struggles pre lockdown and was starting to incorporate more formula when out and about.

However since lockdown I am almost exclusively BF (keep 1 bottle a day) so in my case the lockdown allowed me to keep breastfeeding.

I had a few formula packets as family bought them for me in the first lockdown week. I wasn't too concerned with running out of formula, more thinking about antibodies and being home made BF easier to fully establish x

Sorry meant to add that I had already accessed support pre lockdown and I needed this physical aspect. Had baby been born later I would not have been able to access and therefore would have had to formula feed fully (tongue tie)

Thank you so much for your input. Can I ask what about the conditions of lockdown allowed you to keep breastfeeding? I’m really hoping to research this area in the future!

My DS was born 10 days ago and I have been able to access amazing BFing support. Both on the phone and in person and got his tongue tie sorted out when he was 3 days old. I’d say the support I’ve received has been better than I had with my older too children. So I’m not sure it follows that the support is worse everywhere because of Covid.

Also we were planning to introduce a bottle but now can’t really see a benefit, as you point out it’s not like I’m going anywhere where being able to give a bottle will be beneficial!

It will be interesting to see the figures when all this is over.

My second baby is 14 weeks old and EBF. I fed her brother to 2.5 so was always likely to breastfeed her and luckily it has gone well. When she was smaller I considered getting a small amount of formula to a) make sure she could take a bottle and b) enable me to leave her with her father when I took my firstborn out for some one on one time. However, when I saw that formula was hard to come by I decided against getting any as I didn’t want to deprive anyone else or risk affecting my supply and then be unable to find formula. Also, with lockdown there was nowhere to take my son to and so I never needed to leave her alone with my husband.

My baby cant latch. But I pump every time he naps, and aim for twice a night, to keep supply up. I cant keep up with the amount he needs, but if there ever is a problem getting formula, atleast he wont starve. I might've given up on the relentless pumping if it weren't for the pandemic. As for bf support, if 5 nights in hospital, a tongue tie division, and following all the skin to skin, nipple to nose ect didnt help nothing will.

Before lockdown i was contemplating introducing formula (silent reflux meant DD had struggled to gain weight, though this is now fixed) (i was also feeling a bit touched out and stressed, and was hoping to have a bit more time to myself/go intonthe office every now and then) but once it all kicked off i was worried i wouldn't be able to get formula so stuck with BF. It got easier, and now we're doing really well. DD doesn't take a bottle anyway.

OP- Specifically during lockdown:

Lack of pressure to socialise, visitors, going out and about etc. I was not confident breastfeeding in public so being at home
allowed me to continue, people free! Plus more time, focus just being on baby and our little home routine. This was hard with all of the visitors!

Mentally thinking that we are at home all day so I can focus and give this to baby. Lockdown eased a lot of pressures with a newborn for me, though I miss family so much.

Timing of lockdown- I had a difficult birth so by lockdown I was back to being well so mentally in the mindset to feed, as well as physically. I had also got past the cluster feeding and initial pain! This is just a personal thing for me not really lockdown.

It was not due to formula concerns

We are shielding so would have struggled to access physical support during lockdown but glad to hear others have! X

Really interesting, thank you for your contributions so far!

I think it might have helped me keep up with mainly BF because there hasn't been much else to do! But I also know someone whose baby has their tongue tie operation cancelled and moved to formula, when possibly they might have kept BF if the operation had happened.

Similar experience to previous posters. My baby was born on 2nd March so I had already established breastfeeding before lockdown and it was going well. But I have enjoyed being able to sit and have my boobs out and feed comfortably at home without having to worry about visitors being embarrassed etc. I was a bit concerned about how to feed in public but haven’t had to deal with that yet. So it’s been good for me! However, some friends have had issues with breastfeeding and I think in person support (eg. Baby cafes) would of helped them. It’s a very interesting discussion point!

It got me thinking as I have actually had a baby myself recently. I’m so interested in the effects of lockdown on early parenthood, I’m considering applying to do a PhD and identity a specific area and infant feeding seems to be a rich area to explore!

My baby was born in July. Without daily support from community midwives until day 12 I don’t think we would have got the latch sorted.

I'm the opposite - was happily breastfeeding till 2.5 months when lockdown started. I then had to go back to work because i run a small business from home and the team needed me. This lead to more and more formula feeds because i couldn't be around exactly when he needed me. Now i only breast feed over night and in the morning and i feel quite sad about it. I am working on getting my supply back up so i can return to more BF if not EBF. Had we been able to get out and about more and had i not had to return to work, i wouldn't have started relying on formula i think.

There was statistics released from royal college of midwives (I think) showing that the amount of babies back up to birth weight by day 5 had risen dramatically. No rushing around, visitors popping by, mothers can just sit and feed - breast or bottle.

I was ebf before and continue too, no change. With my husband home more, i have been able to focus on it more but I'm not sure if things would have changed.

I know other mums who are pushing themselves bf because of the risk of formula shortage and one because of the possibility of covid19 antibody protection should their family be exposed.

This sounds like it would be a fascination area for your PhD thesis OP @blondie87.

I had my second baby two weeks ago and although I had planned to breastfeeding this one too, I think the lockdown has done wonders for it too.

I struggled to BF my first and ended up expressing too for the first part of his life while I worked on his latching. It was incredibly stressful trying to do this amongst a constant stream of visitors, along with feeling rubbish from a hard birth and the feeling that as the mother, you should at least be able to BF! I also felt a lot of pressure to BF over FF.

Being in lockdown, I have been able to focus solely on BF instead of having to juggle visitors times. I've been able to lie around topless and let cracked nipples heal and get some air!
So although I'm BF my second, ,(and therefore some argument of 'i know what on doing this time around'), I've still needed to get to grips with it again and get confident again.
I'm still in soft crop tops rather than bras so feeding is still a case of flop it out rather than discretely latch baby on around the nursing bra. It's taking practice to get back to that stage, especially when newborn hands are all over the place.
Although I'm struggling with the lack of family around for me, it's been excellent for the BF.

I struggled with BF with my 1st and hated it so didn’t put any pressure on myself to do so this time round. My second was born exactly a week before lockdown but we pretty much locked ourselves down anyway from the day he was born. He’s 9 weeks now and I’m stil BF despite mastitis, tongue tie and thrush for a month which I’m still battling to see off!

Without a doubt I would have packed it in by now had we not been in lock down. Primarily because of all the problems I’ve had which I don’t think I’d have been able to focus on improving had we been out and about or having loads of visitors.

I have had excellent support from peer BF support albeit over the phone and via video chat. Tongue tie was still able to be snipped despite lock down. GP appointments have been rather difficult but I’ve managed to get what I’ve needed over the phone although it has taken much longer than it should! I Definately was worried about the availability of formula and also know BF is best for immunity so wanted to give my baby that even more given the circumstances.

So for me a combo of factors but in particular when I’ve not been in pain this time I’ve actually liked BF!

I was going to start a thread about this very topic!

I formula fed my first after a rough start. I'm now exclusively breastfeeding my second, who is 4 months old.

I've had some real issues and was able to see a lactation consultant just before lockdown, which I think encouraged me to keep going. Had I not seen her and received some fantastic support (at a time when the health visitor said I needed to top up with formula), I would have given up.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with bf. I'm keeping up with it because as you say, there are no visitors so I don't feel worried about people commenting on how often baby feeds, I don't need to feel self conscious, I'm not trying to plan car journeys or days out around where I can feed...etc. The health visitor isn't weighing babies any longer (and my baby dropped centile lines at the last weigh in, so she should have been weighed really!), so I no longer have a weight to obsess over. I just go by how baby looks, and she looks fine.

I was also thinking that if we got coronavirus in our household, that at least baby would get some antibodies through breast milk. I was also worried about not being able to get hold of formula, but I think that's probably not an issue now.

I think I would prefer to give up (i want my body back, to not be feeding all the time, to wear a nice underwired bra, to be able to wear a dress without silly flaps, to not need bra pads, to not be leaking all the freaking time, to have a bit more time to play with my eldest, to be able to have a lie in or evening/night off, to have an early night, to know that baby is definitely not hungry because I know how much milk she's had...honestly there are so many reasons!). Were it not for covid, I would probably be back on the formula by now. It's mostly fear of not being able to buy formula, and the antibody thing, which is keeping me going.

Tittie if you don't want to stop yet, what about expressing or combi formula feeding the night feed so you can go to bed early or have a few drinks? Dh dream feeds our baby, i feed at 7 then he feeds until the early morning one. I pump if i need too.

@User8008135 Thats a good point you've made there. I'm not able to express a decent amount but now that feeding is established I might just try a bottle of formula in the evening for a break!

It's interesting that the lack of visitors has helped several people unthread to focus on breastfeeding better. I really wanted to limit visitors for that very reason in January, but some family members were offended so I backed down. I was secretly thrilled that we had an excuse to close our doors once lockdown started 

This really does sound like an interesting topic for a phd @blondie87 . There are so many factors at play. I'd love to know the official statistics in a few months time!