Breastfeeding

[Kellie22]

Just wondering if anyone had the same experience. My baby is 2 weeks old, I'm breast feeding. I really want to give up and introduce formula now and do half and half. My baby seems to be constantly on the boob throughput the day only feeding 5 to 10 minutes here and there, not sure if that is normal? I feel like I can't get anything done or even get out the door. My LC told me he should be emptying the breast at each feed which he doesn't do all the time. Also my nipple is still quite tender not sure if this settles down after a while?
Night time is the worst, he wakes between 1am-3am and is on the breast for nearly 2 hours and then when I put him down he looks for the breast again 🙈 I have started to use a dummy now. Has anyone had similar experience? Also has anyone done half and half at this age?

They're 2 weeks old. What you're describing is completely normal nursing behaviour. Their stomach is still small and so they don't need to take in lots. I must have spent hours just lying around with my boobs out for the first few months. Netflix was made for this! Introducing formula so soon will disrupt your supply.

As pp said it’s normal at this age. It’s 6-12 weeks before it becomes a walk in the park.
If you’re sore put lansinoh on constantly.
The night time feeding is about increasing the supply
It does get easier honestly

Honestly, they’re two weeks. Don’t worry about doing anything else, just nurture your babe!

BFing is the most amazing thing after a couple more weeks, if it clicks (which I know it doesn’t for everyone.

I’m so glad I stuck with it.

This is completely normal. With my babies they settled into an easier routine around 8 weeks. Until then it's just feeding on the couch an awful lot. Loads of Netflix.

Stick with it if you can. The first few weeks are tough and tiring. The regular feeds are normal and exhausting. Try to rest at every opportunity and enjoy the closeness of the feeds. As others have said after about 3 months (which seems forever) it becomes so much easier and such a pleasure. Ive experience of bottle and breastfeeding and breastfeeding one established was definitely the easiest and best option.

Its very very normal, but equally, is perfectly fine to mix feed, and it's perfectly fine to funny formula feed, just as much as it's perfectly fine to persevere

Your baby will thrive regardless.

I've done both, and personally I found formula feeding easier because I shared the nights etc, but equally having instant fresh milk was awesome.

Just to warn you though, whilst you can share formula feeding, there are no guarantees it will be more predictable. Bottle fed babies can still cluster feed, and they can be grazers. In the early weeks, my breastfed baby spaced out her feeds much more than my bottle fed grazing baby. Both had a cluster feeding time - virtue fed baby it was in the morning and my breastfed baby it was in the evening.

Yes I did 50/50, worked really well for us. Did breast/expressing/formula combos, with all of them. My preference was breast and formula combined as I found it the best for all of us (I hated pumping!).

Another vote for completely and utterly normal (albeit really hard and exhausting) at 2 weeks PP. At this stage, 50:50 has the potential to tank your supply. I don’t want to be pessimistic and combination feeding is a great option…but I’d start with one bottle a day tops at this stage (if you want to keep breastfeeding, of course).

As PP have said it's normal cluster feeding behaviour. It settles down by about 6 weeks. I remember wanting to give up as I just found it so claustrophobic and exhausting. Breastfeeding in the early days is brutal!

Imo bottle feeding isn't the easier option! Selecting /buying milk. Choosing bottles and teat size /shape. Having boiled water /reheating facilities ways in hand. Cleaning bottles and teats. Cleaning equipment.. Visiting people and taking bottles /teats /sterilise equipment /milk..
Imagine a few months down the line op...
Bf =more freedom ime!
Hang on there. Find a new series in Netflix. And relax.
This early in all you need is a comfy sofa and your baby with you.

I think it’s completely up to you, but having done all feeding versions, I don’t think ff is a faff at all. I took the same size bag out bf or ff. I only cleaned and sterilised the bottles once a day (well mostly my husband did it, took him minutes) and did it whilst making a cup of tea, and got a perfect prep and use ready made when out (which you can buy pretty much everywhere anyway if you forget). I once forgot my whole changing bag whilst out for a day and had no problems! I’ve experienced the benefits of both, but personally I preferred mixed feeding as is meant I could get a decent chunk of sleep and felt refreshed and much happier snuggling with my babies rather than petrified I would fall asleep on the sofa. But again, just a completely personal preference and whatever you (or anyone does), is absolutely fine and normal - fed and loved babies are the aim no matter how you do it!!

Oh and I never heated the milk at all!! Used room temp and even expressed milk straight from the fridge - definitely make it easy for yourself!! Also only used one teat size until they were old enough for cups.

7 hours unbroken sleep 3 or 4 nights a week certainly made it easier for me. I had a full night sleep on night 2 with my formula feed baby. I had to wait over 2 years for this with my breast fed one.

As for the bottle admin, I spent maybe 30m choosing and buying bottles on Amazon. Washing and putting into the steriliser was my husbands job, and it took him 5-10m a day. I took them out, made up half a dozen bottles, flash cooled them and put them in the fridge. Again 5-10m a day.

Did i find just putting baby to breast easier than heating up and giving a bottle: absolutely. Was it harder doing ,100% rather than 50% of the work. Also yes.

Saying that, I loved having instant milk to hand, never running out, and having to carry less. I loved how my baby loved it, and that it was fresh human milk. I prefer fresh milk over milk powder, so I imagine a baby would too.

Tbh, some people find boobs easier, others bottles easier. There really is no right and wrong here OP. Choose the path that is right for you and your family.

PS: there are a lot of lazy men out there who think women should do so the night feeds regardless. If you decide to mix/go formula so he can do feeds, please make sure if his commitment to this before hand! We have always treated carrying for the children as retreat, day and night, irrespective of working, as some sort is a basic need.

If this is your first baby I would try to enjoy doing nothing other than looking after the baby. I remember so well the feeling of not being able to get anything done and being so upset about having achieved nothing by 7pm but I look back and wish I'd just enjoyed cuddles and Netflix more. If you want to combi feed, do it but it won't definitely be easier. I did one bottle a day of expressed milk from birth and I found even the bottle cleaning / sterilising for that tedious and more work than it should be. Breastfeeding was great in my experience after 6 weeks.

I was in your position a few weeks ago... I felt i just couldn't do it anymore as I have a toddler to look after and wasn't feasible to be on sofa all day. I'm not sure what your situation is but do try to persevere if you can, and are keen to establish bf. The advice is generally to only start combo dealing after bf is established (around 6 weeks plus I think).
Despite continuing to bf fairly regularly throughout day, few weeks my milk supply has dwindled and its really hard to keep up the supply now.
Also using formula has made no difference to my baby's sleep..at 6 weeks he's now doing some stretches of around 4 hours at night but that's the longest...
Good luck with whatever you decide and I hope it works out.
And my experience is that bottles are a faff!