Feeding stories. Did you breast feed or formula?

[Firesidetreats1]

Anyone have any stories about feeding. I’m thinking of breastfeeding but I’m worried about doing it.

What are your worries about breast feeding? Everyone’s baby experience is different.

I formula feed.

I got sepsis during labour and my baby was born via forceps. My milk never came because my body was fighting an infection and my baby wouldn’t latch either (maybe because of forceps?).

I expressed etc but I got about 5 ml.

My baby ended up being tongue tied too. He had that snipped but still wouldn’t latch.
I think the lactation consultant gave up on me and I gave up on breastfeeding.

It took a while to get over as I always wanted to breastfeed. I didn’t buy any bottles or formula. I bought nursing bras, breast pads etc which obviously haven’t got used.

But my baby is fed and that is all that matters really.

I breastfed two to 18 months, both really special experiences and I enjoyed pretty much every feed. I had a few minor latch issues with #1 so had pain for the first week but then overnight it subsided, and #2 no real issues at all

I'd definitely recommend anyone try it as it is so cuddly, free, convenient in terms of spontaneously going out / staying out later, also good if you're a lazy slattern who can't be arsed to sterilise things when uber sleep deprived. But I completely understand and respect that a) it's every woman's decision and b) not every woman has it as easy as me

Bf was unbelievably painful and i came down with mastitis a few times. My babies weren't putting in weight and they were checked for tongue tie but didn't have it. After 5 weeks with ds1 and 3 days with ds2 i switched to ff. But if i had another id still give bf a go and get all the free help i could get. I'd also pay for a lactation consultant.

BFed, with one FF a day from 4/5 weeks. Carried on like that until DD quit at 12 months! I found BFing very painful for the first 3 months, and the abiding “it’s easy , it’s natural, breast is best” rhetoric didn’t help. But I sought advice on latch and glad I carried on, because it was massively convenient once established.

I'm currently BF 15 month old dd. She had a tongue tie when she was born which made it initially painful but honestly it's now brilliant and one of my favourite things about our relationship.

DS was formula fed for the first week of his life as I was ill following emergency section.
He was combo fed while I worked hard to get him back to breast and now at 9 months he only gets breast milk ( in addition to weaning).

What stories will help make your mind up?

I breastfed one for 3 years and another for 18months. About 1 year of that was both at the same time.

Noone challenged me in the street about it and I never got asked to leave anywhere. I did get asked if I wad breastfeeding by strangers and then congratulated and told Inwas doing the right thing - as though I needed support from strangers (but at least they were kind).

I have a friend who never even contemplated breastfeeding and had no worries about that (and a very happy healthy child.

I have another friend who struggled with breastfeeding and agonised over formula for so so long that i can see the impact of guilt chanelled through breastfeeding marketing. She refused to use formula. It became ridiculous.

My advice is at aged 1+ it doesn’t matter anymore as either way you’ll statistically more likely stop. Why spend so long agonising/ worrying over a decision that lasts 1 year out of the 16+ that you’re involved directly in their parenting.

I'm bfing my DS. We had a rocky start, he had a posterior tongue tie that was difficult to get diagnosed and released, but we coped by using nipple shields and getting support for the best/comfiest positions. Them after it was released it's been so easy/a lifesaver for tantrums 😂

Breastfed two babies exclusively, fed one until 2.5 and will feed the second until he wants to stop. A wonderful, fulfilling, super convenient thing. Baby #2 had a small mouth when born and I had sore nipples for a week, baby #1 was sleepy and I had to syringe feed colostrum, both obstacles overcome with support.

I FF my first two. Didn’t really want to bf as was going back to work at 3 months (SPL) so was best for us all.

I bf my third for a year (but supplemented with formula from 6 months as couldn’t express more than 30ml so combi fed)

Will bf my fourth and will probably do the same as with my 3rd unless I can express more than last time.

To begin with I couldn't get the latch right so hand expressed colostrum into a syringe for 2 days. After I end for a month and my daughter still hadn't regained her both weight (despite having not lost much). I expressed to top up after feeds and my DD threw up the whole two oz first time. After that I was struggling so we combination fed. She had one bottle of formula around midnight whilst I slept for a few hours until 4 months when everything went to shit . Combination feeding was the best.

Just do whatever you feel is right for you. As long as you feed the baby in some shape or form that's all that matters!

ebf for a month

With my first I planned to try breastfeeding but switch to formula if it was hard. I’d had a horrible pregnancy and just couldn’t cope with fighting with my body any more. But breastfeeding turned out really straightforward for me, baby latched fine from the start and no pain or weight gain issues, so I just carried on with it.

My son breast fed for an hour after birth. Then he had to go to HDU as he was cold and had low blood sugar. I expressed some colostrum into a syringe for him too. However they suggested formula to give him a good feed and I agreed so ended up mixed feeding. I found breast feeding agony. I have small boobs and could never get him high enough to latch on easily without a huge pile of cushions. My nipples were raw but I carried on until 4 weeks mixed feeding. When expresssing I only ever got a max of 35ml out of both breasts. I gave up one night after he had apparently been feeding for an hour and then took a whole bottle of formula! He's now nearly 4 and fine. Out of the 8 of my NCT group, only two ended up breast feeding permanently.

Breastfeeding was easy at the start for three children and difficult with one. He had terrible reflux and would covet me and him in sick after every single feed so going out and about was difficult. He would only turn his head one way as well so would only feed on one side. I moved on to hungry baby formula on and the sickness stopped instantly.
I struggled with breastfeeding once mine were eating a decent amount of solids, they fussed and refused the breast so I moved on to formula.
Formula feeding was a faff compared to breast feeding, especially the powder. Ready made stuff was easier but the sterilising and heating etc I found a bind.

Why are you worrying? Are there any specific worries we could try to address/answer?

I am breastfeeding my 8m old. It was hard at first but a doddle after a few weeks. I did a lot of reading up on BF so wasn't going into it expecting it to be easy. We struggled with latch on one side for a few weeks but it was nothing we couldn't work out ourselves and for us was worth it.

For us the comfort aspect of BF has been good too. Happy to try to answer an Qs you have.

I'm currently BFing but we've combo fed breast and bottle (formula) from early on. Midwives and health visitors prophesied doom and gloom and nipple confusion and milk supply problems and so on but it was all completely fine, no issues at all. My supply was fine, she took both nipple and bottle happily and I'm still going at 8 months.

BFing was hard at first, they say if it hurts then you're doing it wrong but the reality is that I've never met someone it doesn't hurt for at first. I got through it with nipple shields and lots of lanolin and after a few weeks it was fine.

I'm glad I did it because it's convenient and quick compared to bottles and it's a nice bonding experience but I'm equally glad that we combo fed because being able to give her a bottle meant that I got a break and some sleep and she got some papa bonding time.

BFing is more of a challenge now because pumping at work is absolutely horrible and she has top and bottom teeth now and has started randomly biting chunks out of my nipple. She's a really enthusiastic (ie aggressive) feeder.

I've also found it impossible to lose any weight and I'm ravenously hungry all the time. The "breastfeeding makes the weight melt off" line doesn't apply to everyone - some women go the opposite way, I've actually put on weight since giving birth.

I'm winding down now and getting ready to stop BFing. It's probably the right time. She's on three square meals a day and I'm down to just the morning and night feeds which are mostly for comfort and snuggles. I'll miss it and I'm so glad we did it but it feels like time.

Whatever you decide to do is fine. Every family is different and it's about what works for you.

I formula feed.

Didn’t plan on it, but on the second night in hospital I gave dd a bottle as I was so desperate for sleep and it worked, so continued trying to combi feed.

This led to be having low supply so would bf dd then have to give her a bottle as she was still hungry. I tried using pumping to increase my supply, this led to barely being able to leave the house as I had to either bf or pump as often as possible and I was scared my supply would be ruined if I missed one session. I finally gave in at 8 weeks as it was absolute mental torture.

Oh and dd would fall asleep after 3 minutes breastfeeding so it was an extremely long and boring process feeding her.

Ultimately breastfeeding didn’t suit me. I read on here about EBF babies and mums get no break, no chance to go out without baby, no help at night. Being stuck on the sofa cluster feeding was awful, I am a fidgeter and can’t relax if I know something needs to be done. Formula feeding I can go to the gym, dp can feed dd and do night feeds, plus take her out for the day at weekends.

There is still some guilt there as I know I could’ve weaned her off bottles in the early days if I’d really tried hard, but the commitment just wasn’t there and I was exhausted. Ff has worked very well for our family, I am not sure if I would try to breastfeed if we had another baby.

Hi OP - what are your worries about breastfeeding?

I exclusively breastfed my DS then my DD until they were just under 2 years old. It didn't even occur to me not to breastfeed - I worried about all sorts of things, but for some reason not this. I didn't buy any bottles or formula or anything.

My breasts and nipples were painful at first but it all settled within a couple of weeks. I guess I was lucky.

Breastfeeding was tiring - especially being solely responsible for night feeds - but I am so so glad I did it. So convenient when out and about, no bottles to wash or sterilise and just the best feeling getting to weaning age and knowing that these chubby, healthy little people had been nourished completely by me.

I never received a negative comment when feeding in public, just the odd remark from my mum who didn't quite get the 'feed on demand' thing and thought I fed them too often.

Possibly not related and purely luck again, but my DC are aged 7 and 9 now and neither of them have ever needed antibiotics. They get the standard colds and other common viruses, but have never had ear or chest infections or anything.

bf mainly- added the odd bottle of formula after 6 weeks for when i was away from my baby- i hated expressing so this was easiest! Never any problems with latching or with my LO taking the bottle when i wasnt there. Had to give up bf around 9 months old once back at work but tbh with my DD then on solids I think she didnt really care. Every baby is different, do whats best for you both.

DS is four months, we’re EBF.

He was born by EMCS but had skin to skin in theatre and latched straight away. He fed 2-4 hourly from birth. My milk came in on day 3 and all of a sudden I had beach balls for boobs and it was agony to feed. DS had a slightly shallow latch due to having a tight jaw and a very minor posterior tongue tie and was finding it difficult to latch due to the engorgement, thus I was getting very sore. My letdown was also horrendously painful. It took a good week or two for my supply to sort itself out a bit and feeding to be reasonably comfortable. We used nipple shields in the interim as otherwise I would squeal and cry with every feed. By 3 weeks feeding was easy and so convenient and I totally loved it. I still had an oversupply until about 12 weeks though and DS would cough and splutter when he started to feed. Hand expressing a tiny bit before feeds if I was very full and block feeding have helped to alleviate this. DS is going through major sleep regression at the moment (sleeping in 2 hour chunks, rather than the nice 8 hour stretch I was getting before!) and I don’t think it’s helped by the fact that he’s really interested in the world around him and gets really distracted from feeds in the day and so feeds all night when there are no distractions. But i think it’s likely this would still be going on if he was bottle fed, and at least I can just pop a boob in his mouth and he goes back to sleep in 5 minutes.

Breastfeeding isn’t easy at all tbh. I’m a midwife, I teach a breastfeeding class and it hasn’t been straightforward. I’m very lucky I know what I know, and who I know. But my little boy is thriving on it and the research is fairly conclusive about the physical and psychological benefits.

I did combination feeding when DD was born as my milk didnt come in for ages and then i thought my supply wasnt enough and as a FTM i really didnt understand cluster feeding and it was needed to get my supply up ( one day i had DD attached to my boob for nearly 6 hours) and then i got a kidney infection and had to go on antibiotics and my dd wouldnt take breast milk after that, would spit up everytime so we stuck with FF.

I tried to ebf but I had a very large baby that no matter how many hours I fed for, would just scream and scream for more, it started to affect my mental health so I ended up combi feeding for both our sakes. I felt guilty at first but he's now nearly 8 months and I'm still bf, with the occasional bottle of formula. I love bf and don't plan on stopping any time soon, and I don't feel guilty anymore about giving him formula as well as it was what was right for us