New mum and bottle feed- Stressed and sad

[Kiran25]

I am a new mum and was wanting some advice on bottle feeding

My baby boy is now 3 months and i feel my milk suppply is sometimes low , as i express milk to feed him when my nipples are sore

Please help me ..

1. How do i know how much formula milk he will need ?
2. How do i alternate and give him top up of formula is the express breast milk is not enough

3.How do i prepare formula milk

I'm not an expert, but two things jumped out at me:

1. If your nipples are still sore 3 months in, that suggests a problem with the latch. Have you tried going to a breastfeeding group or calling one of the helplines?

1. Expressing is no indication of supply. Some people just don't get along with it. Are there any other indications that you feel he's not satisfied with a feed. Actual low supply is, as far as I know, rare, but latch problems affecting delivery and stimulation are quite common.

Hope that helps a bit.

KIran, sorry you're feeling so sad about this.

Can you share a few more details?

Are you breastfeeding at all (direct, I mean)?

How often are you expressing?

Have you had proper help to make breastfeeding easier for you?

Are you in touch with the health visitor?

Is your little boy healthy and thriving?

What makes you think your milk supply is low?

If you are judging your supply on what you can express then stop This is the world's most misleading way of assessing milk supply

Tiktok - hello

Yes i am breastfeeding direct 80% of the times, only when i feel my boobs are a little sore i express and that gives me breast a chance to heal.

If i were to express it will be 3-4 times feed for that day.

He is putting on weight fine when we attend baby clinic. I have another weighing in session next week.

yes are right i am judging my milk supply by how much i can express.

Question Tiktok - if i expressing do that make my milk supply less.?? As before sometimes i used to have milk dripping due to the overflow but these days i dont have that.

Ah, lots of useful info here

The most important thing in your post is that your baby is fine and thriving. This shows more than anything else that you do not need to be concerned about your milk supply.

It is normal not to have milk overflow/dripping. This is something that almost every mother finds ceases as her baby gets older. Expressing only shows you how much a pump can get out at that particular moment. The baby removes milk differently and often more efficiently - sometimes, it's true, pumps get more out than the baby eg when a baby is small, weak, pre-term. In your case, this doesn't apply. It's very common for expressing to produce less with very established breastfeeding - does not mean the baby is getting less.

Expressing does not lessen your supply, no, but it is pointless doing it to judge your supply - hope I have convinced you of that

Just feed direct, and if you are sore, you can see someone who knows what to look for and get things fixed, often by amending the way the baby akes the breast.

Nothing you have said makes it sound like you need formula - not one word

TikTok

Thank you very much for that info..I feel a little smile now

Yes in the early days I dripped and leaked a lot, after about 2 months nothing - your supply settles down to meet your baby's needs so don't worry

Thank you BertieBotts I am feeling much re assured now

I believe that one of the reasons people often stopped feeding at 3/4 months is because at that stage, your breasts don't feel full anymore and HV would tell everyone they had run out of milk.

So, it could just be that you have adjusted to an older baby.

After 6 months you can have tiny, scawny breasts producing loads of milk. (At least I did)

Do check the latching - you shouldn't feel sore at this stage.