Bottle feeds

[AmyG87]

Hi ladies.

I'm currently 39+2 weeks pregnant & wanting some advice on bottle feeding.

I decided long ago that I will be bottle feeding so please no judgement or questioning why I'm not breast feeding!

I have been told by the midwife that you have to make each bottle fresh & that you can't pre-make the bottles & store in the fridge until needed... I think that this is a new 'recommendation.'

I just wondered what you ladies actually do about this?? I can't see this working in the middle of the night whilst baby is screaming for a feed! My plan was to make some bottles up before I go to bed, store in the fridge, then when baby is due a feed, warm the bottle up - I have a Tommee Tippee bottle warmer that came with the steriliser.

My view is that if you aren't allowed to warm bottles up, then surely they wouldn't be able to sell a bottle warmer??

Thanks in advance x

boobs returning to normal more quickly - its pregnancy which ruins your breasts, not breastfeeding

not having to worry about bfing clothes - you don't, when I was bfing I didn't own a single item of bfing clothing

being able to have someone else feed the baby - you can if you express

not having to avoid alcohol - it's fine to drink while breastfeeding unless you're in such a stupor you can't actually look after the baby. A glass of wine is absolutely fine.

But don't feel guilty btw!!! Bfeeding can be very hard.

Actually you don't even have to express for someone else to feed the baby, I was quite happy for my DS to have a bottle of formula after my supply had settled

Homity

It wasn't the sagging I was worried about, they turned into giant medieval tavern wench monstrosities that I wanted to go!

Expressing is a pain though. I did it for a bit and it hurt.

I didn't know that about drinking, I figured it'd have to be avoided or I'd have had to express the milk and throw it away.

I think I'd give it a go again. I found it very painful and DS used to struggle to latch which further put me off, but I'd now know to expect that and try to prepare how to avoid it if that makes sense? I wish there was better support. The midwives just used to shove my boob in his mouth when I asked for help, within 10 seconds hed come off screaming.

Just off on a slight tangent....

Does anyone know how nurseries deal with the new guidelines? Do they make every bottle fresh now?

I only ask as I worked in the baby room of a nursery a few years back and it was the job of the 7am early shift to make up every bottle for all the babies that day (babies had named bottles and we had a fridge full of them). We'd then warm them as needed through the day. That was probably about 40+ bottles. Just wondering how they manage these days when half the babies all want feeding at the same time!

Homity: I don't see why it needs to be more faffy. Making up bottles will take, what, 20 minutes every day I expect. Then heating one is merely taking it from the fridge, and microwaving for 20 seconds before shaking.

Anyone can do it without additional faff of expressing. If I really wanted, I don't even need to make up bottles, I can just buy single use ready made ones. Again, if i wanted, and gave the baby it at room temperature from the off, then there's no faff of heating either.

If I want a night off, I can. If I want to split the nights with my partner, I can. Yes you can do that with expressing, but you have both the faff of extracting the milk and then of getting it ready to drink later.

Apart from getting over the initial engorgement/drying up milk, it won't hurt. There won't be bleeding sore nipples. There won't be leaking all over things. There won't be worry about any embarrasment (for the shy).

There's also often less cluster feeding, and more predictive feeding, which can make planning life a little easier.

You don't have to express. After your supply has settled, you can give formula instead of expressed milk. I often did.

And I had no pain, leakage or embarrassment. And my baby didn't cluster feed.

I just would hate women to be put off breastfeeding by expecting certain things which might never happen.

Perfect Prep machine. I thought t would be a waste of money but it wasn't!

*Homity
*
Not really a faff.

10 minutes a day to prepare all the bottles in one go.

A couple of minutes to warm up a bottle.

They get washed with all the other dishes as they get used, then put inside the steriliser.

People often say it's a faff, and takes ages, but it really doesn't.

Travel kettle in the bedroom that you fill from bathroom tap?

Permanent marker to draw on the bottles how much boiling water to pour in from the travel kettle, and how much cooled boiled water that you keep in a thermos or two in your room?

Think that's how my friend did it, she didn't like the idea of the perfect prep machine being a trap for mould so replicated it manually IYSWIM.

honey

I've done it, exactly as you describe, and it still seems a huge faff compared to breastfeeding which I've also done.

I couldn't breastfeed due to medication passing into my milk it's not as much as a faff as you would think I make bottles second nature now

Enterobacter sakazakii, the bug everyone worries about, flourishes between 6 and 46 degrees, if I remember correctly. As long as the bottles are kept below five degrees it will be safe. The WHO would prefer all bottles to be made up from scratch presumably because you can't always guarantee a fridge is cold enough, but if you're careful and monitor the temp it should be safe.

It's a bit of a faff to bottle feed but I would prefer to wash bottles every so often than to sit crying while I massage Lansinoh into my cracked and bleeding nipples as my good friend is currently doing.

I'm bottle and breast feeding but I was told not to make up bottles in advance and to only leave the bottle out for an hour - two at most - before chucking it. That's what my midwife, health visitor and doctor said as well as my auntie who works in baby clinic. It might not be as easy as pre making them, but making it when the baby is crying for a feed is just what you have to do. It's safer for your baby.

Our nursery made up bottles fresh for each feed. Not sure they could get away with doing otherwise given the NHS guidelines.

Agree with everything homity says about BF though, especially about alcohol. My midwife was quick to point out that I could drink as much if BF as FF, the limiting factor is being sober enough to look after a baby, nothing to do with your milk.

but I would prefer to wash bottles every so often than to sit crying while I massage Lansinoh into my cracked and bleeding nipples as my good friend is currently doing.

Absolutely but that's not really what I was talking about - I was talking about women not starting in the first place because they fear a bunch of things which may either be untrue or may never happen.

but I would prefer to wash bottles every so often than to sit crying while I massage Lansinoh into my cracked and bleeding nipples as my good friend is currently doing.

the cracked nipple phase usually lasts for first few weeks max. I'm 4 weeks in and haven't needed lansinoh for last 2 weeks. the faff if sterilising bottles and making up formula will last until baby is fully weaned off formula.

I'd rather a year of faff than a couple of weeks of bleeding painful nipples.

But not everyone has bleeding painful nipples, that's my point. I had zero pain. None.

It's not that much of a faff to clean a few bottles every day.

I don't see how it's more difficult than dealing with the downsides of breastfeeding in the first few weeks, expressing, and being solely responsible for the child's nutrition. I don't want to get into a debate on bf, I'm sure there are all sorts of lovely advantages to it as well, but I always find the 'bf is easier' argument to be a fatuous one. It doesn't sound easier - it sounds much, much harder. Surely that's why so many women stop doing it in the first place.

Grayelephant Exactly. And HomityBabbityPie, I'm glad it was that way for you but I think you're very much in the minority.

Surely that's why so many women stop doing it in the first place.

I would say that's actually largely down to 1) unrealistic expectations and 2) lack of proper support.

What cherries said. Except I never warmed bottled milk up. Best tip ever from anyone! Mine always had room temp milk so it meant they never had to wait for food = no screaming. It also stays fresh longer. I believe guidelines have changed since then though and you need to add the powder to hot water rather than room temp water then leave to cool. But I am pretty sure it would be fine if you left it made up at say 11pm when you went to bed, and then used it at say 2am.

Bottle feeding was pretty easy and not a faff if you just have a session in the evening sterilising. I just used to wash bottles straight away and had a big bowl of sterilised water to soak them in so we always had clean bottles.