To move to formula?

[Peep23]

Weighing up the decision to wind down breastfeeding and move to the bottle full time.

DS2 is 8 weeks old this week - showing slow weight gain (dropped from 50th to 9th) but still tracking on his centile. Mild tongue tie that we may get snipped. Has nasty reflux which he’s on Omeprazole for.

Feeding has been a struggle this week - he’s so sleepy at the boob and feeds can take absolutely forever and he very rarely seems satisfied after a breastfeed. It’s been driving me mad worrying about whether he is getting enough from me, so for the last few days I’ve been bottle feeding - expressing where I can and supplementing with formula and giving the odd comfort feed. Just can’t stop thoughts that I’ve given up too easily and I should keep trying to breastfeed full time - but not sure if my mental health can take it.

Not sure why I’m posting really - I guess to see if anyone else has felt the same, made the switch and regretted it, or if in the long run it’s been a good decision. I’ve been so anxious the past few days and torturing myself over the decision to move to bottles it’s really affecting not just me but my family - I have a 2.5 year old too I want to be there for and my head is just all over the place.

Any thoughts appreciated.

If it were me I’d get the tongue tie snipped and keep breastfeeding. I always regretted stopping breastfeeding my first at 6 weeks and for the second and third I persevered and was so glad to breastfeed - it was far easier in the long run having done both. I think expressing and bottle feeding is probably the hardest of all in terms of time and faff.

There is usually a growth spurt at 8 weeks which means cluster feeding. There is no shame in using formula at all but I understand the feeling of grief/guilt when you make the decision to switch. My twins have been having a bottle of formula every evening since 5.5 months due to poor weight gain. This has helped tremendously and actually encouraged an evening routine. I do love breastfeeding them though and wouldn't want to completely stop because the benefits for them and myself are so worth it.
Please of skin on skin, allow your baby to cluster feed. This too will pass. My girls are almost 11 months and only feed 3-4 times a day from me now which feels so relaxed.
Speak to your health visitor, visit some breastfeeding support groups, and take care.

Does it have to be either or? Could you do some mixed feeding for a while?

I'm all in favour for whatever works best for your own health, including mental health.

Yes this, you could do mix and match like you are doing. You don't need permission or to feel any guilt,

I'd get the tongue tie snipped asap. My son went from epic hours long feeds (longest almost 10 hours!!!) to feeding normally within about 7-10 days of getting his tie snipped at 4.5 weeks. (It becomes a bigger procedure if you wait until baby is older, and can cause issues with weaning depending on nature of tie.)

Tongue tie aside, the first 6-8 weeks of breastfeeding are the hardest - engorged, leaky breasts, long sporadic feeds, cluster feeds etc. Your supply getting established, your baby learning how to latch etc. It's exhausting, very tough going. But from 8 weeks is when you'll start to see a big shift. You'll be amazed at how quickly your baby will soon be able to feed compared to now (assuming tongue tie fixed). Once my son was a few months old I could feed my son in just a few minutes - less time than it would take to make/clean a bottle. If we wanted to go out, we just went out. No need to prepare bottles etc.

But it's not all or nothing - my son had one bottle of formula each day (given by his dad at bedtime) that we had to introduce because of the early feeding difficulties and I wasn't able to drop as my supply never increased enough. I kept breastfeeding until 15 mths despite our difficult start.

I regrettably gave up with my first but second time round was better mentally prepared. Try your best to keep going, it will in fact get easier as everyone says. For your milk supply try having some fresh Panjeeri it naturally boosts the quality and quantity of your milk supply. The one from NourishCrumble.com is ridiculously tasty, you can eat it straight out of the packet or mix it into milk etc It does get better I promise you

The TT may look mild - who described it as such? - but everything you're experiencing suggests it is causing a lot of issues. Getting that snipped, plus specialist breastfeeding support, may really help.

However, if you want to switch to formula that's ok. When you have a toddler as well it's a really.rough ride with a baby who is struggling.

Formula is fine, calories are the most important thing at this age.

However, nasty reflux was my baby's symptom of CMPA. Going on formula would have been a disaster.

So I'd try the formula but keep pumping to keep up supply until baby is happy on formula.

Hi all

Thanks for taking the time to respond! I had a great session with a lactation consultant today - essentially baby has a high palate and recessed jaw which makes feeding challenging. Tongue tie is not severe enough to warrant cutting it. Talking it through with her has made me realise it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, so I’m going to continue with bf, expressing where I can and adding formula if needed and we’ll see how we go!

Is the lactation consultant a tongue tie practitioner? Or has a tongue tie practitioner assessed the tongue?

High palate and recessed jaw often go hand in hand with a tie.

Yes tongue tie practitioner

Ok fab am glad you saw someone who actually knows what they are talking about! I know i was asking a lot of questions but so many women are told "it's a mild tongue tie" by MW/HV/GP who just look, don't fully assess. Did they also help with latch etc?