Should I buy bottles etc when planning to breast feed?

[SkyeOneDay]

I'm 5 months pregnant and really hoping to bf baby when he/she arrives. I don't know many people with young children, but of those, none have managed to bf over a few weeks/months (most have given up straight away). This worries me as although I really want to do it, presumably they did too, but couldn't manage it for whatever reason. So first question is, how can I best prepare to bf successfully? (I'm not planning on going to NCT classes btw).

Second question is, is it worth buying a breast pump, steriliser and bottles etc? My thoughts were if I struggled initially, at least I could give the baby EBM rather than formula, hopefully to take the pressure off a little and maybe help if it's really tough. But obviously if all is going great, it'll be a complete waste of money!

Thanks for any help, and sorry if these are silly questions, this is all very new to me.

Congratulations! I can only advise you from my experience, and I'd say that it is handy to have a pump and few bottles in before your baby arrives. Hopefully you won't have to use them though.

I breastfed my DD for five months, but had real trouble at first getting her to latch on - I used an electric breast pump in hospital, and it took two weeks and a couple of visits to the drop-in BF clinic to finally get the hang of it.

If I hadn't have had my manual breast pump and bottles, I would have struggled. The breast pump meant that I could encourage my milk production, plus it was helpful afterwards when I was engorged and was able to take milk off. It also meant that DH was able to feed DD ocassionally if I'd expressed. Good luck!

From my experience, a couple bottles can be handy but like clothes I found lots of people offered me them once I was 7-8 months. What would have been really useful was if I'd looked up where there was a bf support group near me on each day of the week and how to get there, and possibly gone along beforehand.

In the event I had to figure that out while in pain and having lack of sleep, as local HVs had no idea and the helplines didn't answer (they're volunteer run so someone will ring back within 24 hours, but not much help if you're desperate right then). Once I found a couple drop-in clinics it got better, especially after I had hysterics at MrNC and packed him off to Mothercare to buy an electric pump, cushion, and any other overpriced thing that looked useful.

If we'd planned in advance the electric pump would have been half the price online (£45 not £90), and if MrNC had known where Mothercare was it would have helped - he got lost round various Croydon industrial estates and found it 5 min before closing! Luckily the pump and My Brest Friend cushion saved my sanity and ds was breastfed for 15 months - he's now using the bottles for bedtime milk. And SIL now has the pump so hopes her dc2 will get breastmilk for more than 3 weeks. But I recommend finding out where to get a pump from before you need it.

And with luck you'll be one of the women who just take to bf like a duck to water, who don't tend to post here. My other SIL was one of them - didn't have a clue about bf, tried sticking her breast in her newborn's mouth, it worked...

I agree about buying things as you need them. My tip top tip, to echo others, is uninterrupted, unhrried skin to skin contact immediately after birth. Weighing, measuring, temperature taking etc can wait. They are not as important as getting a good long period (an hour is great, more even better)of skin to skin. It really works wonders- later, too, if baby is reluctant to feed or fractious then use it again. They can't get enough of it. It's such a low tech, simple thing but helps bf no end.

Sorry, it's a bit of a hobbyhorse of mine!

I bought a steriliser when I saw it on offer when I was pregnant and it came with two bottles. A friend lent me a pump (then another friend lent me a better one when I was struggling!), otherwise I might not have had them and this would have been very stressful.
I've mixed fed since DS was 8 weeks old and, like nocitrus, I had to start with some bottles of formula with little notice - it was not to difficult for DH to run out and get formula, but if he'd had to negotiate his way around a mothercare or equivalent looking for stuff I'm not sure what I would have ended up with, but I'm sure it would have cost a lot more!
The most useful thing is speaking to mums who have or are bf and finding out where you can get support in your area (your mw should be able to tell you this). And if you give birth in hospital, ring for help everytime you feed - you're not being a pain, even if you think you're doing it right, this support and encouragement will help long term.
And remember, every breastfeed is beneficial - if you find you need to start using formula at any point, it doesn't mean you are 'giving up' or 'failing' and you should ignore anyone who suggests otherwise.
Good luck

I have to admit that I assumed that everyone breast fed and therefore it didn't occur to me that I wouldn't.

Therefore, I didn't buy anything in advance.

If you're not going back to work until 9 months/year you never need to use a bottle...you can go straight on to cups.

We do have one bottle floating around from an attempt to get our dds to use a bottle, but it has only ever been used for measuring out liquids for cooking.

I think - reading all these posts - that it's all a bit of a state of mind...if you are surrounded by people who breast feed then it's easy, but if you've got lots of people telling you that you haven't enough milk etc. then it's difficult. I was always in the former position.

Yes it is quite likely that your baby will feed very frequently to start with. Inevitably someone will say you are not producing enough milk and suggest giving a bottle. Please note feeding frequently is normal for new babies and your body will make the amount of milk your baby needs as a result of the frequent feeding! Smile and just continue with the bf.

I think that choosing not to buy bottles and a small supply of formula 'just in case' is akin to (although obviously on a different level) having a home birth without access to an epidural. If it's there, sooner or later, you'll probably use it! Not that there's anything wrong with epidurals (had one myself...) etc etc.

You probably won't need bottles, that's the thing. But if they're sitting there in a cupboard, someone will probably suggest 'helping you out', and it's a lot harder to resist that if the wherewithal is right there in the house. If there's a real emergency and you need to express or the baby needs to be bottle-fed for some reason, they're pretty easy to get hold of.

I don't think you should worry about not going to an NCT class (they're meant to have a breastfeeding counsellor give one of the classes, but mine didn't) - get hold of a decent, and recent book on bf and find out a little about how it works. Kellymom is excellent here as well. Then you're less at risk of being undermined by 'helpful' advice from others, as you'll know what's going on with the way you produce milk.

Good luck, I'm sure it'll be fine, and there are loads of people on here to help you along!

No don't buy any bottles!

I was bought bottles & steriliser for dd but used bottles maybe three times as I was rubbish at expressing & dd wanted boob not teat! All the equpment is still cluttering up my cupboards, 3.5 years on stll meaning to eBay! Don't buy until you need it babies clutter up your house no end anyway.

As many have said it can be tough initially but if you think there is a problem then ask for help. Bear in mind that although hv's & midwives are well meaning they are often give shitty poor advice. Find a breast feeding counsellor or even go on mn! Also, try not to worry too much about weight gain, healthy alert baby is what is most important.
Good luck, get a good bf book & swot up!

I am BF a 20 week old. Never have I found life so difficult (no freedom or life away from baby as feeding 2 hourly day and night since birth ) and it has led to post natal depression. I would say make sure you're little one can take a bottle unless you're of the personality who is willing to devote you're entire maternity leave to BF.I am not; just wished someone had warned me before.

Don't buy anything until you really decide you need it. DS is a year old now and never touched a bottle.

also contact La Leche League to find a group in your area

I posted earlier but just to counterbalance yentil's POV - I am BF a 12 week old (fifth child, all BF) life is pretty great. It has led to postnatal elation. BF is the perfect excuse not to be parted from your child by officious MIL or others.

Why would I want a 'life away from baby'? I want to revel in this precious time. (In this case she has been sleeping through the night for about a month even though I am inches away with boobs on the alert for her slightest whimper! Her older sisters didn't sleep through the night until much older but night waking is not so bad when you don't even have to get out of bed.)

I had dc6 last January and had a nightmare start to bf.

None of the midwives would listen when I said I was having a problem. They knew I was an experienced bfer so just left me to it.

By the night my milk came in (day 3) he was still not latching and feeding properly at all. He was fighting and screaming at the breast until exhausted and then falling asleep. I got into such a panic at 3am I got up and expressed 3oz (milk had just come in so was engorged anyway) and he guzzled it down while I sobbed. It was just a short term solution though and I phoned for help in the morning, but if I hadn't had the bottle and pump in the house I would have been frantic - no 24 hour supermarkets here. I really thought my baby was going to die from dehydration and starvation.

I managed to sort things out, although it took weeks of perseverance (and he only had one more bottle of ebm) and he is still bf now. So having these things handy doesn't mean you won't be committed to bf.

You might be able to pick up a pump on Freecycle. Failing that Asda have a Baby Event starting on 16th January and these things are usually on sale then. I just used a cheap microwave steriliser and bought a single bottle.

Good luck with bf, it is absolutely fantastic once you have it cracked

Skye I would check out where your local breastfeeding groups were (time, place etc) so if you run into any issues you can get yourself there for help.

In regards to having stuff in case I always did {{ducks before the snowballs start flying}}.

If I hadn't, I would have had to send out DH in the middle of the night to take a 20min drive each way to the closest 24 hour shop to pick up everything (pump, bottles, steriliser etc). In fact, when I had problems getting DS1 to latch (just plain refused) I called an NCT bf helpline and they advised to express every 2-3 hours round the clock and syringe feed him the milk until I could get to a group. I am glad I already had my electric pump especially as at the time the nearest group was not for days. In the end I had to get a private lactation consultant out to my home as I couldn't wait a week.

I disagree that you will reach for the pump to bottle feed ebm all the time just because you had it. But maybe that is just me. I don't do that just because I have my pump (and I a still bf my 27 week old).

Ditto everyone recommending kellymom to get a better understanding of bf and maybe visit a group before you give birth.

Best of luck.

I would like to point out that a lot of breastfeeders on this thread appear to think that people will be 'tempted over to the dark side' if they have bottles and formula in the house. Giving bottles (either of formula or of expressed breast milk) is not about being weak minded.

Wanting time away from your baby (either through choice or necessity) does not make you a bad mother either. I was unable to express and felt a little suffocated for the first few weeks, unable to even have an hour to myself.

Whether you want to have bottles/pumps/formula/sterilisers in advance probably comes down to how prepared you want to be or whether you feel that you'll be okay sending DP out to the shops if needed.

I'd be more worried about dads and grandmas being tempted over to the 'darkside'.

"Oh, let Mum sleep for a bit, she's exhausted. Here, I'll do a bottle."

I bought all the kit and barely used it.

Like others have said all this stuff is on the high street/supermarkets/internet it's easy to get hold of if and when you need it.

The one thing I would receoomend is lansinoh lanolin you can get it from boots.

Havent read whole thread but i remember reading somewhere that you should ONLY buy formula and bottles before the birth if you would have to travel more than 2 hours by car, round trip, to buy them afterwards if breastfeeding was unsuccessfull.

Good luck with the breastfeeding!

I wouldn't. But I'm bloody minded. The time I did send DH out to buy stuff (howling postnatal witch screaming "THE BLUE PACKET. AND BOTTLES. ALL THE DIFFERENT ONES. AND DUMMIES. AND SOME INFACOL." He's a lucky man.) by the time he arrived back, I had got over the blip and we didn't use them. DD was 3 weeks at this point, and I was shattered - we had a poor latch and an idiot MW. A BFC helped us through that.

One thing I would have prepared is the numbers for ALL the helplines - NCT, LLL, BFN as they are not all always available. I have used BFN with all my kids and they have always been fab.

Get everyone on side to support you. I have made a point with my second two kids to make sure that the MIL people most likely to offer well-meaning "give it a bottle" advice are aware in advance that a bottle is not an option, and that if they want to help they can hoover or make tea or otherwise be practical.

WRT pumps, they are all hateful objects in my eyes (had to pump at work) but the Lasinoh was the least evil of them for me. It's a very personal preference I think.

If you don't get on with BF, or even just need a break, you don't actually need bottles anyway - a baby can feed from a cup or spoon for the odd time.