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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Have I gone mad?!

3 replies

Pitstop1986 · 16/06/2022 09:36

DD is 24 weeks old and feeds once an hour and always has done. It's exhausting! I've tried breast compressions, letting her wait a little bit after her asking for food before feeding (this does not go down well!)... The only thing that worked was feeding her, then giving her a top up bottle straight afterwards- an extra 50-60ml. That way she'd go just over 2 hours between feeds but I had to pump after every feed to keep my supply up. After a couple of days, we reduced the top up to 30ml as she was feeding longer on the boob, then another couple of days we dropped it and she fed every 2 hours. It was great! That lasted 2 days and on the third day she just went back to hourly feeds.

Anyway, me and hubby decoded that from 6 months, we'd give her a bottle of formula a day to lessen the load on me.

For some reason, I got it stuck into my head that I also needed to fill the freezer with breastmilk so that we also had a supply of milk to give her from there.

Every morning for the past 2 weeks I've fed her from one side and pumped the other and put it into the freezer. DH thinks that I've gone mad and doesn't understand why.

I am just hyperfixated about getting at least 30 bags of milk in there before I can drop a feed.

Have I gone mad?! Is there any point to all of this? I'm literally giving myself extra work by having to wash and sterilise the pump every day and probably for no reason!

OP posts:
babythrive · 17/06/2022 21:14

Well the good news is, you probably don't need to sterilise your pump!

https://www.baby-thrive.com/blog/washing-pumping-equipment

That's not really the point though is it?

How long do you hope to keep breastfeeding for? Is the stash for after the breastfeeding ends?

How much you feel comfortable storing is a very personal & emotional topic, different for every family.

Also...the best milk for your baby is fresh milk not frozen & recent milk will of course contain the perfect immunity factors for right now...just a consideration

Pitstop1986 · 17/06/2022 21:29

Thanks for the link, it'd definitely lessen my workload not having to sterilise the pump every day!

The freezer stash was to give instead of formula. Hubby and I agreed we'd give her a bottle of formula per day from 6 months and so I'd be breastfeeding slightly less, just to ease the load for myself. I don't know why, but I've got "breast is best" in my head and I'd rather give her expressed milk rather than formula...

I know that a bottle of formula per day won't hurt one bit, but it's stressing me out, making me feel like I've failed by resulting to formula, hence the need to fill my freezer to the brim so that she is fed breastmilk exclusively.

The more I write, the more I'm realising that I've definitely gone mad!

I blame hormones! 😂

OP posts:
babythrive · 17/06/2022 23:03

Well…breast kinda is best but the fact you are talking about after 6m of course makes lots of difference as your baby is now having solids & their gut & microbiome etc is matured

Hope writing it down helps! Maybe it’s helpful to reflect upon what would I do if I didn’t express? How would it be if I didn’t give formula? What am I gaining with the daily pumping & formula bottle?

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