Formula feeding second child 'because it's easier'

[WiseSheep]

My mum and a few people of her generation that I know have said they formula fed their second child 'because it was easier'. I'm just wondering if anyone knows why it might be easier? Or if anyone did it and found it easier?

I'd rather not ask my mum as it'll turn into a 'thing' about breastfeeding but am really curious.

I'm looking for people's reasoning here however I'm really not looking to judge or start a breast v bottle debate.

It doesn’t matter what anybody else does it says, you feed your baby how YOU want and ignore. What’s best for your family isn’t what’s best for someone else.

you really don’t need to listen to anyone on here only you know what is right for you.

I’m not sure if it’s easier. When you have small kids every thing is exhausting. I have heard the argument that because other people can feed them but I had 3 kids and had expressed bottles for DH to do night feeds on Friday and Saturday.

edited to say: I think people should do what they think it’s best for them. Who am I to judge?

With Baby no 1 you have the time and energy to dedicate to breast feeding. With Baby no 2 you do not.

I stuck at breastfeeding even when baby had a bad tongue tie because I'm too lazy to make and wash bottles all the time. I'm not sure about easier. More shareable maybe.

I think formula feeding is easier than breastfeeding- as in the time you have to give breastfeeding in the initial weeks.

I'll put it this way: I know lots of people who say their child has been sleeping through the night since week 2, week 3. I immediately think "formula feeding" I haven't yet been wrong (though of course there are unicorn BF babies who sleep through the night from that sort of age).

I had to formula feed my 4th. It was definitely not easier. Thankfully I was able to breastfeed my 5th.

Personally, I found bottle feeding much more difficult than breast. With breast, you just feed. With bottle, you have to clean, sterilise, and make up formula. Then you have a screaming baby waiting for the bottle to heat up. I didn't use bottles for any of them in the first few months though as that would have tipped me over the edge. Ds1 started combi feeding around 4 months, dd at 6 months and ds2 at 9 months.

That said, my dh always did his share so I wasn't also trying to do housework, everything else with dc etc.

I found bf easy. And wonderfully free. FF would be easier for those who need to use childcare or had trouble bf. Only you can decide what is best for you really.

If you find breastfeeding easy then it is easier. I never formula fed and being able to shove a baby on my boob in the middle of the night was a lot easier (IMO) than having to warm stuff up. Never needed to buy stuff and never ran out! Could feed and push my toddler on the swing. But it was easy for me, my babies were natural feeders and I know it’s not easy for all.

do what is right for you

I suppose it probably depends on what support you have around you for your eldest child. I had DD2 last year - she was a dreadful feeder, bad tongue tie that wasn't found until 8w, losing loads of weight, ended up combifeeding / topping up to stop the weight loss but still every feed was taking around 80mins. In the meantime, my eldest found it a very challenging time, wanted to be with me all the time whilst I was trying to feed, caught 2 x D&V bugs from nursery which she gave to me and the baby 🤯, loads of tantrums triggered by me feeding the baby. I came so so close to stopping bf lots of times. It was only my very supportive DH, HV and a bit of bloody mindedness to give them both the same start in life that kept me going. If I had people around me saying to FF because it's easier, I probably would have done, because I was completely exhausted and mentally drained by it all.

Edit to add - once we realised we were topping up for the long term, we bought 8 bottles and DH just washed / sterilised them all each night. So i definitely don't subscribe to the view that FF is a faff, because it was actually very easy for us. But again, that's reliant on the support around us - if I didn't have that support, the washing / sterilising would have been a pain on top of everything else.

I found BF REALLY painful and physically draining, but I also found washing and steralising bottles and pumps very tiring too, so I'm not sure either was easy for me 😂

I can’t compare that much to breastfeeding as only managed a week with my first, then bottle fed my second from the start. But I found it helpful that my husband could share in the overnight feeds and I was never trapped on the sofa for hours breastfeeding. Had a cold water steriliser which is easy as you just dunk them in and leave them til you need one.

At the end of the day though, you’ve just got to do what works for you. Older generations in your family will tend to have a lot of opinions and generally I just smile and nod and then do it my way anyway 😂

I exclusively breastfed DC1 and 2. DC3 got expressed breast milk until it ran out (approx when he was 3 months old) and formula top ups and then just formula.

I’d say breastfeeding was the easiest. The first few weeks to establish supply were hellish but once it calmed down it was far easier. Didn’t have to take anything with me so could set off for the day with DC in a sling with a few spare nappies and some wipes and not much else. I co slept with both DC1 and 2 so although they didn’t sleep through it, it didn’t disturb my sleep much. DC1 wasn’t a good sleeper (and still isn’t) but DC2 slept through from about six months.

On the other hand DC3 was a nightmare sleeper and I was up every night making up formula. I had to carry bottles around with me so any trip out meant a massive bag with bottles and milk and there was always the risk of running out if we stayed out longer than intended. The only upside was that DH could share the pain but in reality it mostly fell on me as I was on maternity leave and he was at work.

Formula is probably easier in the first 2-3 weeks as you can hand the baby to someone else.
Once breastfeeding is established I'd say breastfeeding is quicker/easier and no prep or clean up.

I had never heard this before! All mine (3) were breast fed and slept through the night early. At 6 and 8 weeks. But I was so lucky. My mum kept telling me I was a nightmare as I didn’t sleep at all and I would know when I had my own (karma and all that) so I was very worried 😟

I bottle fed my eldest after 7miserable painful days, it was a relief to move to formula, but this was back when you could make up all the bottles for the day and stick them in the fridge for later.

I breastfed babies 2-5 for between 8m and 16m. They were born between 2009-2021, things definitely seemed more of a faff. If I gave them formula it was usually the carton stuff as I found waiting for a boiling bottle to cool with a screaming baby stressful and also sterilising, routines etc it was just usually easier to breastfeed…. For me!

For someone organised I can see how formula might be preferred.

Breastfeeding was so much easier than formula. For various reasons I had to use formula for one of my DC and it was much harder. Washing and sterilising bottles, making up the feeds, heating the milk, etc. I can't imagine why anyone would think that was easier than breastfeeding!

If you make bottles up and keep them in the fridge, and your baby will have them cold... And you cold water sterilise, in my opinion formula feeding is piss easy.

Once they are down to a few bottles a day, I can imagine FF being easier (I combination fed & now FF at 10m) but at the beginning when you're feeding on demand and have no predictable schedule? I'm not sure. I also think it's easier to BF when you're out and about (though not necessarily enjoyable). But I suppose every mother thinks her solution is the easiest.

My first was bf until 6 weeks and then ff and second was bf until 3 and 1/2 years. I biggests differences are your partner can ff and in theory they wake less often. DD1 still has sleep issues now so that’s on the case for all babies.

I’m not sure keeping bottles in the fridge is current guidelines, but I may be wrong.

I FF my first and BF my second. I had some real difficulties BFing in the early weeks but long term it was easier than FF as there was no washing bottles, sterilising and making feeds. I have an extremely supportive DH and although he couldn't help feeding the second he was happy to help in other areas and take the lead with our eldest. I'm expecting our third and planning to BF again

I have a small age gap and planned to formula feed my second baby however when she was born I thought I will just breastfeed here and there as I felt guilty by week six she was ebf as I became too lazy to make bottles and sterilise. My husband works very long hours and if often away, I imagine if you have help bottles would make life easier.
I managed to breastfeed with baby in the carrier and when doing most things, you will make it work however you decide to feed.

I have 3 dc, I’ve reduced the amount of bf with each dc. So I fed my first dc the longest. I find formula feeding so much better and more convenient. I knew how much the dc had had and it really doesn’t take much effort to wash a bottle. I didn’t ever have a ‘screaming baby’ whist I sorted the formula out because I know how often they fed and could look out for hunger cues. My mum is a midwife and my friend a lactation consultant, so it went against everything I was told - but I still prefer formula feeding. I know I’m not supposed to say that, but it’s true.