Please make me feel better, DS having first bottle of formula.

[Flossam]

I don't have enough milk. He is pulling away and crying, unsatisified. I'm absolutely gutted, we've made it to nearly 21 weeks on nothing but my milk and I'm sitting here crying!

That's a normal phase around 20 weeks though if you don't want to give up don't and whether the next week or so and he'll settle back down honestly he will

But you have done brilliantly and a bottle of formula will not harm him in any way at all so don't worry if you still want to give formula

Well done Flossam! That's a long time to breastfeed exclusively. He's probably getting ready for solids and having a bit of a growth spurt. DH gave the DTs a bottle of formula in the middle of the night to allow me to sleep. They are healthy and thriving. I agree with Mud.

Flossam, you've done great! Give yourself a pat on the back.

Flossam, the formula will do him no harm at all, but if you want to continue to breastfeed, give yourself a weekend off from everything but feeding. Take baby to bed with you, plenty of skin to skin contact, and feed him as and when he wants. Get your food and drink served on a tray and relaaaaax as much as possible. You'll stimulate the milk supply and you'll both be happy again.

This worked for me and dd at around this age.

HTH

I agree 100% with Mud. The formula won't do him a bit of harm, your milk will be fine, and before long he'll be eating Turkey Twizzlers and all this will seem a distant memory
well, OK, possibly not Turkey Twizzlers, but you know what I mean.

Don't worry Flossam! He'll be fine. 21 weeks is much longer than I went with ds1 before he had a top-up bottle. Have a good rest over the weekend if you can.

Thanks. I think he needs to be weaned. I know I know, you're all going to shoot me down, but I was so wanting to get to six months. But for a while now he has seemed unsatisfied after feeds, tonight it just reached a bit of a crisis point. I think he has lost weight (been avoiding the clinic so I didn't get brain washed by HV!), his nappies seem looser. He is biting me frequently, which I think is where he is desperately trying to get more out IYSWIM. And he bobs on and off, just not getting enough. I think I would rather start some gentle weaning with some baby rice, and like you've all said, have a nice quiet weekend and sort the feeding out. Am I mad?

Not at all!

No you aren't mad, you're the mummy and if that is what you feel is right, that is what is right

I've always find it strange the way babies seem to grow though - they tank up and get fatter then suddenly shoot upwards and thin out a little so I would doubt he has actually lost weight he has probably just grown a bit taller

ds was like this at 21 weeks so i weaned him. Got fed up with people saying "he should be on solids by now". very weak willed as a mother, me.

But I do agree about the relaxing baby feeding weekend - works wonders.

flossam, there's no harm in trying him with a little baby rice, but if you're just starting to waen him, you'll get more calories into him if you breastfeed first, then offer the rice if he still seems hungry.

Well done on 21 weeks. Wow. Did you know that by six weeks more than half of all babies in the UK are on bottles? So you've given your ds much more breastmilk than most babies have (and more than my ds, he was on one bottle of formula a day from something like six weeks).
Hope the excellent advice here is useful but whatever you decide, don't beat yourself up!

Thanks so much everyone. Well I gave him some baby rice, and it all went! Not a bad effort for a first timer, I think I made more than I was supposed to aswell! So I think I'll give him some for lunch too and maybe that will help to sort out our problems, and I can solely breast feed again. Thanks so muc for your support everyone, you're all great!

It does sound like a growth spurt, ds had one at around 20 weeks too and I started to doubt my milk supply but ended up carrying on until I weaned him at 24 weeks.

Do try the feedathon if you can. Take to your bed or the sofa with a nice magazine and feed and feed. Take a nice relaxing bath together. However if you do think that he is ready to be weaned then remember that just becasue the calender says 26 weeks your baby may not follow it. La Leche league say that babies are ready for their 1st solids "somewhere around the middle of the first year" 26 weeks is not a magic figure.

I did try weaning ds but he clearly had no idea what to do with the spoon, the tongue thrust reflex was still strong. If that is not the case with your ds then a little baby rice will probably do no harm.

No, he pushed the first couple of mouthfuls out, then after that he 'got it' and seemed to really enjoy it. I think I will try and focus on the fact that we are five weeks clear of 4 months so I don't feel too guilty about it. On the positive side, weaning will be well underway before I have to return to work, which might be fairer on both me and DS.