Hospital bag / milk options !

[Soph88888]

Hi all

I’m hoping to breastfeed but just in case it doesn’t go to plan for some reason I’ve got some of the SMA ready made bottles for peace of mind.

I was also going to take my Haakaa pump with me so if I do feed in the hospital I can catch any letdown from my other breast. However just wondering would this be a sensible thing to do? And if so should I bring a sterile bottle to put any milk in it?

My milk took a few days to come in so I didn't have any extra until I was back home. Depends how long you'll be in but I don't think you'll need it.

I really wouldn't bother taking a pump unless you're expecting an extended hospital stay or poorly baby etc. How will you wash and sterilise it between use. Plus in the first few days I wouldn't have thought you'd produce enough milk to catch anyway.

As for the milk, again I'd probably not bother taking it with me if I was planning to breastfeed. If BF really isn't working out the hospital won't let your baby starve and will provide you with milk for a few feeds.

OP, you can get packs of ready made milk on already sterilised bottles (individually packed teats that screw into the pre-made milk bottles). It's what they use at the hospital. I haven't seen them in supermarkets but you can definitely get them form Boots.
Good luck!

I planned to EBF (and now do), but my daughter needed one bottle of formula in hospital while I was taken for a procedure. The hospital gave us this - I'm glad we didn't take our own because it meant that I really focused on getting feeding established, not going with the flow once she'd had one bottle.

Like PP I'd have found a haaka pump useless in hospital. I use one now (5 months in) and get a few oz if I'm lucky

OP, worth checking what your hospital offers. Where I gave birth both times, the policy was that if you were planning to formula feed, you needed to bring your own, but if you were planning to breastfeed, and ran into any difficulties, they could provide formula and cups or bottles as needed. They sometimes have pumps too, which you can rent or borrow if you need to. If you're planning to breastfeed, you may not need to take anything else.

I was struggling to get DS to latch on and the midwife on the ward was great. She provided syringes & helped me hand express and collect colostrum to feed to baby. As I had quite a good supply, in the end we bypassed the syringes and they let me use their breast pump. It was a proper hospital grade Medela one. They let me keep it the whole time I was in overnight.

I wouldn't bother packing a pump myself.

Ok. Thanks all.
Sounds like I’m overthinking it and probably should just go in with the intention to breastfeed. I may take the small formula bottles just in case.
It’s so hard to prepare not knowing whether breastfeeding will work out or not so the only thing I’ve bought is the Hakka pump and a set of bottles...

OP I am breastfeeding but still took some of the pre made formula just in case. I didn't use it didn't even touch it but for me just in case it was good for my peace of mind.

The only other thing I will say is don't put too much pressure on yourself to breastfeed, take each day as it comes and be kind to yourself (said as someone who 3 weeks in still finds it tough breastfeeding and has given herself a horrid time and beaten herself up!)

Check with your midwife, my hospital had the little starter bottles just in case I needed. Agree with OP, don't put too much pressure on yourself. We didn't figure out how to breastfeed and I beat myself up over it a lot.