Switching to formula

[Al991]

Has anyone got experience of switching to formula feeding and how this was for them - emotionally & practically?

I am breastfeeding at the moment almost exclusively. For a while we were bf with top ups of formula.

Baby is putting on weight, albeit the bare minimum to stay on her centile, but I feel like I just hardly make any milk. Feeds take hours - literally - and she will fuss on the breast the whole time. She never seems full and I think she would feed all day every day if she could.

I know that some cluster feeding can be normal but I hate never seeing my baby satisfied! She’s 2 months and it’s been like this for the whole time.

I feel like if I decide to change to formula it will be emotionally challenging as I will lose that nice feeling of connection when I bf. But at the same time I will hopefully have a much more relaxed baby who isn’t constantly starving and not have the constant feeding anxiety.

Would love to hear people’s experiences.

Like you, I always felt like my LO was hungry. After a morning feed, he was still fussing so I made an 8oz bottle of formula and he sucked it down immediately, and I felt guilty that he had been breast feeding for half an hour before that and was clearly still hungry. So we just switched that day and never looked back. We were both fine and I didn’t have any bonding issues. We still sat quietly and cuddled while he took his bottles. And he did do better with settling after that.

It sounds like there may be an issue at play - if you want to keep breastfeeding you could ask your HV what specialist support there is in your area or look up a private IBCLC. However, I think it's pretty unlikely you'll have bonding issues if you switch, and you and baby may well be more relaxed with formula which will be nice, plus it can be shared more if you want to.

You could try combi feeding so that you don’t lose the connection that you’re feeling :)
I felt the same as you - like DD wasn’t getting enough milk and I really really struggled to BF for the first 3 months so combi-fed until that point then went to just BF. Many times I wish I’d thrown in the towel and if I had a second child I don’t know whether I would BF! I found a local NHS group ran by BF specialists who were so helpful. It might be worth speaking to a BF specialist before switching to formula just to check there’s nothing else going on but ultimately whatever you chose, a fed baby is a happy baby and whatever decision you make is the right one for you both :)

Thank you all. I have received lots of breastfeeding support from professionals and we have come so far - we went from completely unable to bf to being able to bf exclusively but just with a lot of hard work and crying as well as constant feeding and anxiety on my part about her getting enough. I am glad we went on this journey together but I also feel like it might be time to move on as both of us are experiencing distress and lack of sleep because of it.

I think I may see about combination feeding and keeping a few breastfeeds as well as doing some pumping. Hopefully if I can find a balance it will be best of both worlds.