Can't deal with the constant formula making!

[anon1387]

My baby is nearly 2 weeks old and has been bf and ff due to jaundice (she's fine now). She favours the bottle so am making one every 2-3 hours as I need them like I was advised but it's killing me (am offering breast first but she usually has a meltdown)! I'm so tired and going up and down all night is even more exhausting, plus having to wait for the milk to cool down. I have tried her with refrigerated milk but she won't drink it. How can I make the constant feeds easier?

@MaleficentsCrow

Don't pressure yourself to BF OP. No point sitting all day with a screaming fussy hungry baby. I know others will say go to groups, find support groups, phone HV/Midwife and so on. But the reality is there's little support non pandemic let alone during a pandemic. This isn't right, there should be an abundance of it, but the reality is there isn't, and for both you and baby, honestly, fed is better.

For night formula feeds,

You could look at the perfect prep machine and make up your own decisions of it's safe or not. I used one with DS never had any problems.

You could do the old flask technique for fresh bottles, so one flask of cool/cold boiled water. One flask of boiled hot water. Add the powder to the bottle, then add the hot water 2oz, mix/shake with cap on to dissolve the powder and then 4oz of the cool water to bring to 6oz at appropriate temperature for baby. And shake bottle again before feeding.

The other option you have is to buy the little bottles of premade formula for night feeds. Then it's simply pour in to bottle and heat in boiled water/bottle warmer to feed.

OP you are doing fine, honestly, you've got this. I know it's hard, but you are doing well.

Thank you. My hv confirmed today that they are not currently holding any bf groups etc and I can't find much support except for the usual "skin to skin, keep at it etc" but that's not easy when you're making your baby frustrated by constantly trying to get her to latch and stay there...

I also find it even harder to to bf during the night because of the latching and the fact that she's not satisfied. Spend over and hour trying only to end up downstairs for ages making a bottle and then feeding it to her... Takes up my night and I get barely any sleep

Don't know your baby exactly, but BF in the early days is tough. There is latching and unlatching and crying and looking like unsatisfied.

I had this with all 3 of mine. Usually this is stimulating your supply to increase it. There are so many growth spurts in early weeks and cluster feeding can seem constant and like they aren't getting enough. So many mums top up with formula as they feel this is what baby needs.

It really is normal for BF to be like this. First 8 weeks are tough. Then it gets easier.

Also concerned about my milk supply stopping quickly. I have tried to pump but got hardly anything.

If you want to bf then the best advice is to keep going, and feed as much as possible for a few days to get your supply up. It really is supply and demand so the more you use formula the less breastmilk you will produce. If you have the mental strength to persevere bf will get "easy" around 6-8wks of age and in the long run is a timesaver and generally more convenient than making up bottles. But it does require you to be convinced you can do it and have the support to get latch technique correct in the early days, which is easier said than done during a pandemic! It was one of my non-negotiable things, that I was utterly determined to keep going with and fortunately was able to bf both my kids but the first 6 weeks with DC1 were a big learning process and there was a lot of frustration in the early days. Good luck whatever you choose and congratulations on your baby

Don't worry about pumping. I fed 3 babies fine but could never express more than a drop myself.

If you get yourself past 8 weeks it really does become so easy. On tap warm milk where ever you go. Before that though, definitely hard work.

Baby is better than any pump and what you express is no indication of supply.

If you want to breastfeed, give the NCT infant feeding line a ring (it's free) look on Facebook too for baby cafe. Many now run virtually. I know of one that runs today 1-3.

Perfect prep machine is a lifesaver

At this point I gave up on the nhs advice and just made bottles every 12 hours in advance and cooled in the fridge. It’s a small additional risk.

And yes the ready made stuff is expensive but it is only a temporarily awful period - and anything you can afford that makes your life easier at this stage and gives you more time to relax and enjoy your baby is really worth it. It’s hard to see yourself at the time.

Hi OP, congratulations on your lovely baby. If you would like to continue with breastfeeding (which will be hard in the short term but massively easier in a few weeks, especially when you can feed lying down) then I'd look up Lucy Ruddle IBCLC on Facebook. She's a lactation consultant specialising in increasing your supply and posts lots of information and advice online.

I set up a bottle tray upstairs with a travel kettle. Kept it sane enough to cope. its worth persevering with cold bottles as well - although I felt it was mean when DD was v young so only really started with that once she was about 4 mths. I found the cartons of preprep great for days out and what not - couple of bottles couple of cartons and bobs your uncle

My other tip when out and they make a fuss about water to warm a bottle is get a cuppa tea and ask for an extra pot of water - they assue for tea, just stick your bottle in it. I found I could never trust them microwaving etc. But as I said if you get baby used to cold or room temp then it makes life easy

Have you tried breast feeding lying down? Sometimes it’s easier for baby to latch on and less tiring for you.

I used to make every bottle fresh. Like you it was killing me, especially at night! I think I lasted about a month. Then I switched to making 4 bottles st a time, blast cooking them and then storing them in the fridge. It was life changing. During the night, just grab a bottle and shove it in! No more setting my alarm for 30 mins before I thought baby would wake up so I could make a bottle!

OP DS1 had breastfeeding jaundice for months, it's totally normal. It did eventually go! I didn't bother with formula, just kept BFeeding to boost supply.

PS your baby is satisfied with your milk, babies feed when prolactin is highest - at night - in order to boost supply. Keep going!

I used to make it up beforehand and leave it in a bottle cooler at the bedside.
Probably not the done thing though these days.

I used to boil a kettle the fill a large thermos with the water and used that throughout the day. Saved having to boil a kettle each feed. Would then fill it up again with new water for the night feeds. Thermostat would keep water hot for 12 hours.

Thermos not thermostat

PP machines have had a tonne of bad press because they can get crap inside them, which you wouldn't be able to see. I also read something recently about them not sterilising the milk powder properly as they didn't get hot enough.

I cannot agree more with one of the first PP who advised to make bottles in advance. I understand that this might not be recommended now but it worked for me when I FF. I stayed 1 bottle ahead in the day and 2 ahead at night. Make them in advance and allow to cool (I used 100% boiling water so I didn't need boiled, cooled water and therefore another container to store cooled water) then allowed to cool. Reheated when needed. As soon as. that bottle was done, make another for next time. Rinse and repeat.

Early days are tough OP, have these

Are you drinking/eating and getting to lie down most of the day? If you want to increase your supply, make sure you are hydrated rested and fed and just stay on the sofa or in bed for a day or two. Supply increases when the baby sucks you dry so you need that over-feeding feeling to get it all to work. The first bit of bfing is draining BUT it gets much much easier

I had to top up with formula and then continued bf it is really hard as it’s the worst of both options.
I did them switch over to just bf which I found much easier.
It was a nurse on the children’s ward that sorted me out with a workable plan. Always offer the breast first and both sides. Demand feed from the breast. Offer formula to a schedule, we were on 30ml every 3 hours so it was 10pm, 1am, 4am, 7am, 10am 1pm 4pm 7pm. I did use ready made. As I produced more I reduced the amount and frequency of formula over a number of weeks. Before I bf at those times I either made the formula or poured it in the clean bottle.
I didn’t express as I don’t get anything out but I did lots of skin to skin.
Good luck

Perfect prep machines are brilliant. They received some bad press a few years ago - not from any fault of the machine but because people didn’t follow the instructions on how to clean and maintain it properly.

Op buy a perfect prep and keep it upstairs. It is worth its weight in gold. If you are really concerned you can fill it with cool boiled water to get around the fact the water isn’t pre boiled. With my first child I prob would have done the latter but with my second I just used it as it was and all was fine. I changed the filter and look after the machine very well.i wish I had have bought it with my first as it was much easier than faffing about measuring water and trying to replicate it almost scolding myself in the middle of severe sleep deprivation.

If you want to continue breastfeeding call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212, they will be able to talk you through getting your baby back to the breast and maximising your supply along woth the gradual reduction of formula.

Also op do what is easier for you because having a baby is hard enough and you have to do what makes you the happiest Mum possible so you can be the healthiest for your baby.