Newborn feeding / changing while in hospital

[Justagirll]

First baby on the way here, 28 weeks yesterday!

I wanted to ask about feeding and also changing my baby in the hospital straight after the birth.

I am planning to breastfeed, but should I still buy some formula and bottles and pack these in my hospital bag just in case? If so, do people prepare bottles of formula in advance, or would you just pack the formula and empty bottles and do it at the hospital if needed? How many bottles/how much milk would I need to pack? And do I need to pack a steriliser too?? Is there anything else I'd need to take in terms of feeding?

And changing - I haven't finished researching this yet but I'm planning to use cloth nappies rather than disposables. Would I need to pack a few disposables in case the cloth ones are too big? If so how many?? What else would I need to pack for changing?

Sorry if these are silly questions but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the information out there and there are just too many articles to read, all saying different things

Milk: most just take in the newborn ready made little bottles. You'll end up wasting lots of milk if you take powdered formula.

Nappies: I used disposable in hospital, the newborn poo is like tar and can ruin cloth.

You don’t need to take any milk if you’re planning on breastfeeding. Most hospitals will provide formula if necessary in an emergency and if they don’t then there are 24 hours shops available.

I wouldnt bother with formula if you intend to breastfeed. Most hospitals will provide formula if required if you are choosing to breastfeed but are having issues. For example I wanted to breastfeed but initially my lb couldnt latch because of a chest infection so they provided formula (via feeding tube) while we got bf established. If you decide its not for you your DP/DH can bring some in. If you decide to FF from the start or change your mind while in hospital you would need to bring your own. I had one MAM bottle I got free from a baby event and its still the only one we use at 9 months when he occasionally has expressed milk.

Sterilising wise my Trust provided cold water milton for the pump I was using and nipple shields (which they also provided) I bought an electric one but the milton was more than adequate. I expressed from birth on the advice of midwives to transition from the formula which he was being tube fed.

I didnt use cloth nappies but I would have thought just bring enough for a few days to seen you through hospital. 10-12 a day is probably average at the newborn stage. Same for cloth wipes and whatever you intend to keep the used nappies in. Hospital have towels for you to use.

Cloth nappies should be fine to use from newborn as long as the size is right - Do you know what size your baby was estimated at at your last scan and what size your cloth nappies say they will fit? their first poo should wash out of a cloth nappy fine, mine did with no issues.

Never taken formula . Cheap disposables in the early stages.

I wouldnt recommend taking formula in if you're hoping to breastfeed, as it just adds a temptation to use them and I'm sure I read somewhere that it decreases chance of breastfeeding successfully.
If you want to take some, you can buy kits with the formula in ready to feed bottles that you just warm up and use, so no need for sterelisers and all that.

I would also suggest getting some disposables to use in hospital, just for ease. It will only be a few days so a small pack of newborn size (costs about £2 should see you through).

and also changing my baby in the hospital straight after the birth.

I don't think you can change your baby, you have to keep the one you're given

I gave birth to my first DD 18 days ago and I took a box of the pre-made bottles of formula as a back up, even though I was planning to breastfeed.
Luckily DD latched straight on, no problem and fed fine, but I was exhausted (I'd been awake over 24 hrs) and 24 hours after she was born, I gave her one of the formula bottles. It filled her up so I could put her back in the crib and I wasn't worried about falling asleep while feeding her on me.
I've also been luckily that she is still happy feeding from both the breast and the formula so we use them if we go out anywhere (as I'm not fully comfortable breast feeding in public) or DH will give her a formula bottle during the night so I can get a good chunk of sleep

Don’t take formula into hospital. If there is an emergency they will provide formula if needed. They have starter bottles of formula, these are premade sterilised bottles of formula. You can buy them from supermarkets if you wanted.

Thanks for all the info! I don't think I'll bother taking any formula then as I really don't want to buy it if it's something the hospital will provide anyway in emergencies. And as people have said, if I do end up desperate DH can always pop out and get me some.

I am still undecided on the nappies but I think once I've done more research into how it all works with cloth ones and worked out what sizes I'll need then I should have a better idea. I've just read through my personal recommendation from the Nappy Lady and apparently there is a Hire Kit available for the newborn size so it sounds like this should see me through the early stage if the normal ones are too big.

Still lots to learn but really appreciate all the advice here!

@Justagirll I am due in 5 weeks. My hospital bag is ready to go and I am planning on breastfeeding, but I’m looking to add a couple of those small bottles of ready to use Aptamil just in case.
We are also going to be using cloth nappies. I’ve bought a few already and will be completing the collection in a couple of days when it’s payday. (I have a variety as it’s worth noting that every baby is different so you will want to try a few different brands/designs to see what works best for you and baby). However I am going for the birth to potty sized ones, and people say these do not actually tend to fit newborns. So for this reason, and for the fact that it’s our first baby and everything is going to be new and possibly daunting and I would like to settle in without having to worry about washing enough nappies, we will be using disposables for a couple of weeks. Certainly for the hospital - it just takes off the pressure.
Good luck with everything

Just to let you know - you can’t prepare formula in advance like that. The minute you either open the carton of readymade formula or the powdered formula is mixed and starts to cool, it begins to gather bacteria so you can only serve formula that’s made/opened fresh.

The NHS hospital I was in definitely don't provide formula for healthy babies. I found out on their website. I took in ready made bottles with teats and never used them in hospital. I got absolutely no help breast feeding but was expected to breast feed and just get on with it.

Yes don't take formula.

I'd take some disposables.for hospital. I use cloth nappies but found even my newborn ones didn't fit my kids well at birth, and they were very average sized. Had big gaping leg gaps whatever system I used, even just a prefold and wrap.

As in the kids were averaged sized!

Formula isn't needed at all if you want to breastfeed - if you're having issues they'll provide it to you themselves so no point wasting space and weight in your bag.

Can't comment on the cloth nappying, but if, God forbid, you got kept in several days you'd go through an awful lot of cloth nappies without any ability to wash them. Your DP would presumably end up having to truck the dirty ones home. Your call really; I'm sure people have done it, but a first birth can be rough, many people end up staying 3+ days, and that seems to me like an awful lot of unwashed nappies piling up.

Fwiw, I didn't take anything for feeding either time. I had to supplement with formula briefly with DC1, hospital provided formula and bottles and also helped me express colostrum into syringes. For baby you need clothes (vests, sleepsuits, hats), nappies, cotton wool and vaseline or water wipes for changes. (Hot tip, coating baby's bum in vaseline preemptively for the first few days makes it muuuuuch easier to get the horrible first poos off their skin.) Everything else the hospital will pretty much provide if necessary.

Don't bother with cotton wool if you're using cloth wipes, the wipes are so much better

I took some formula after my 1st baby as I wanted to breastfeed but didn't want to put too much pressure on myself. I took the ready-made newborn one that you can get in the supermarket as my hospital didn't allow you to take tubs of formula. I didn't end up using it and enjoyed breastfeeding for the next 10 months but at the time I wasn't sure how I would take to it so took the formula to stop myself stressing about it. I also just took disposable nappies.

The hospital I was in didn’t provide formula and wouldn’t heat bottles either. Their definition of an emergency where formula is required may be very different to yours!
I brought the ready made bottles for my 2nd baby as I felt under so much pressure to get breast feeding established first time round.
In the end I didn’t need the formula but was so glad to know it was there if needed without having to battle the staff for it. Ironically having it just in case probably helped me relax and breast feeding went really smoothly.

Also ready made formula doesn’t have to be heated, can be used at room temperature.

Call your hospital and see if they provide formula. If not take ready made. For future reference, once a bottle of formula has been prepared it needs to be used within 2 hours. Use disposable nappies in the hospital. Best wishes and good luck!

You need to check the policy at your local hospital, ours is a 'breastfeeding' hospital and they will not provide formula, nor do they allow the ready made stuff to be stored in the fridge. Bottles need to be made fresh, they do provide sterilising equipment (cold water steriliser). However it will depend entirely on your local hospital.
You can send someone out to buy supplies if needs be, I didn't bother taking anything on the understanding that DH would get stuff if I needed him to.

DH was really keen to use cloth nappies - I was less keen and managed to persuade him that we should use disposables in the first few weeks while we got to grips with having a newborn. We were both very glad that we did!! So I would advise you to get a pack of disposable nappies to take with you. You could always have your cloth nappies at home ready to go. But keep the disposables as back up.

As for formula, I also intended to breastfeed and it didn't occur to me to take formula in my hospital bag. We bought one or two bottles (because I planned to express and let DH give the occasional bottle of ebm) but didn't take them to the hospital. DH also bought a tub of powder formula but that was a mistake because he only made one bottle and the rest was wasted We should have just got a few cartons of ready made formula as back-up. I advise you to do that but keep them at home, no need to take them to the hospital.

Worst case scenario if you and baby have to stay in hospital for any length of time your DH can get stuff from home or buy stuff you need.

PS I didn't buy a steriliser either, we just sterilised things in a pan of boiling water (alternatively you can use the Milton tablets). I think it's only worth getting a steriliser if you are using bottles all the time, for occasional use it seems unnecessary.