Help, sorry, quick answer needed before I panic!

[Sarahjct]

Sorry for demanding title. I've just arrived home with LO from the hospital and, for various reasons I am having to formula feed when I wasn't intending to. I've got enough bottles, I think but as I wasn't expecting to use them that much I haven't read up about them.

I want to be as ready for the night feeds as possible but only have a small steriliser. I'm using ready mixed formula and just want to know, how long the bottles stay sterile for and under what conditions.

For example, could I take them out of the steriliser, add the formula and put them in the fridge ready to heat up when needed? Or can I assemble the bottles empty and add the formula at room temp when needed?

I don't want to use bottles that I think are sterile and aren't.

I will get organised but just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing tonight.

Thanks

wooo hoooo !!
re the evil twin thing.. babies feed a lot, and when you are used to sleeping at night, not being up feeding, your patience can wear a bit thin. you might find you are feeding more in the night getting BF established, which is good as you have more prolactin at night.

also, she doesn;t know it is night time, anytime is milk time/ mummy time/ cuddle time for a new born !

Also, get a comfy chair and snuggle down or think about co-sleeping, so baby and you can feed and be comfy together all night....so glad you got decent advice in RL x

Brilliant news. It won't be long before you are doing this without thinking. I can remember wandering around the house with ds tucked under my arm feeding him when we had visitors over! He also fed a lot in the nighttime and was still waking once until just after his first birthday.

(Still feeding him and he has started waking up again and getting into our bed - but that's another story! It's amazing what you can get used to, it does get easier x)

Great news ! Co-sleeping for at least part of the night is a real sanity saver. Big boobs are an advantage for feeding in bed too as you don't have to roll over to give the other side.

Hmm, that's also possible with small boobs although probably not as comfortable!

Hi everyone. Well, we're still here. MW has just gone and, having watched me try to feed, has said that, really there is no point fighting this as Harriet really isn't getting the hang of it at all. She's (we're) no better at it than on day 1 and we're both frustrated and beginning to dread even trying.

So, I'm going to pick up an electric pump today as I'm in full production now and it looks like expressing and feeding from the bottle. She actually slept most of last night on me so we're getting lots of skin to skin time now but I think I have to be realistic. I may change my mind in 5 mins and keep trying but I think deep down I know it's not going to work.

It's funny how all of the midwives that I have seen have been fairly dismissive of bf and quite happy for me to drop the idea. Oh well. She's doing well, that's the main thing.

Please, Sarah, (you have done brilliantly!), keep going to the breastfeeding supporters, either at clinic, or via NCT or another support line. I can't stress enough how unsupportive and ignorant the vast majority of midwives and Health Visitors are of breastfeeding. Even the midwife who visits you at home for the first couple of weeks is usually NOT the best person to advise on feeding. I know, it's nuts. best of luck

Well, the woman I'm hiring the pump from is a bf counsellor and I'm seeing her this afternoon. I'll see what she thinks. I don't want to give up but it's also beginning to stress us both out.

You are doing brilliantly to put so much effort into bfing. Just thought it might encourage you to tell you about one of my friends whose baby was 5 weeks early and came home from SCBU bottle fed. She really wanted to bf and spent days (possibly weeks) at the bfing clinic - her ds finally latched on at about 10 weeks and she fed him until he was one. (She had been expressing so had plenty of milk still). So if you really want to bf it is definitely not too late - although of course like starlight said if you decide not to there's nothing wrong with that either. Go back to the bfing clinic again and again if you need to - they won't mind at all and they sound really good. Good luck!

Oh and the support from your hospital/mw sounds terrible. I was having a rant with a friend last week about how there is all this antenatal info about how wonderful bf is, and then once you've had the baby minimal help to actually do it!