Should I buy bottles if planning on breastfeeding?

[careerandfam]

Hello, new mum to be here!

I am hoping to breastfeed and haven't got any bottles/steriliser as was hoping to do it exclusively. I'm now panicking what happens if I cannot do it, baby doesn't latch etc.

Should I go and buy all the equipment in case of?! If so what would you recommend I need?

Thank you!

Nope, I wouldn’t bother. I struggled to bf my first and eventually switched to bottles and we didn’t buy anything to start. Initially when we had to offer top ups, we used a cup anyway. After about 6 weeks when we did start offering full feeds of formula, we bought bottles then. Then amounts are so small to begin with that it’s easy to cup feed. If you do need bottles and formula, it’s just a quick trip to the store or you can order next day on Amazon. So I wouldn’t waste your money until you want/need them.

The only thing that is helpful to have to start is some miltons and a clean bucket or something in case you need to sterlise anything.

I mix fed with the intention of moving solely to formula feeding although I then went the opposite direction and ended up cutting out all formula. If you have it in the house and you really want to breastfeed it is tempting, I found establishing breastfeeding extremely hard and rather painful to be honest, and I wasn't even doing it for every feed!

If you are anxious, you could still buy the pre made and ask someone else to keep it in the house? If I wasn't very certain that I have enough milk for DC2 in a few weeks I'd probably do that as I'm planning on just breastfeeding this time.

I’d just get a couple of the little ready made ones. I ended up unconscious through and shortly after the birth and my husband was very grateful the staff provided milk and fed our daughter while I couldn’t. I then went to breastfeed for 14 months without any problems - despite the fact when I woke and heard they had bottle fed her I was distraught and thought it had ruined it all. Eventually having bottles to express milk in to was great but wouldn’t buy a load of stuff initially.

Thank you so much for all your advice - really helpful! I think I'll leave it for now, amazon prime can be with me pronto and I have a Mothercare 15 mins drive away so will send family if needs be! Thanks again, it's all so unknown and daunting, so many 'what if's'! Thank you xx

Yes.

But forget about the bottles for a second, absolutely buy Milton and a big bucket with a lid. You'll need it for all sorts of things.

I didn't buy bottles or any bottle feeding equipment until I needed it. I think it's better to wait. You can always pop to a pharmacy to get a bottle of you need it. I have a steriliser but found it just as easy to sterilise with boiling water and a Pan. Otherwise you might waste money on something you don't need.

I got a microwave steriliser and a couple of bottles just in case. Also got a few pre made cartons of formula for the cupboard when my son was born. Luckily managed to breastfeed for nearly a year but the steriliser was still useful and I did manage to express some milk sometimes after I had got the hang of it all so the bottles came in useful for storing it. I didnt use the ready made milk but was glad it was there in case of emergencies. You dont know whats going to happen so its always good to have backup plan. You dont want your baby to go hungry if for some reason you arent able to feed them.

I'm pregnant with our first and my ideal situation is to mix feed although I'm pretty sure the NHS recommends EBF for the first 6-8 weeks before introducing a bottle if you want to mix feed? However I have no idea how successful I will be . I have bought a set of little bottles but then I want to mix feed quickly anyway. We are getting a steriliser second-hand from a relative. I guess it's different if you're dead set on EBF for longer though.

@MeadowHay NHS do recommend that, but that's not because breastfeeding will fail if you want to mix feed. As I said above, I fully intended to move to formula so before he was 24 hours old we had already given DC1 a bottle as well as breastfeeding him. He didn't suddenly forget how to latch or get 'nipple confusion'.

As said above, I'm planning on just breast milk this time, but I'm still introducing a bottle within the first few days with expressed milk. It's nice for DH to be able to feed baby occasionally, and if I suddenly ended up in hospital it would be one less thing for me to worry about.

I don't see the harm in buying a couple of bottles (would recommend MAM as they are self-sterilising) and some sterilising tablets. Even if breastfeeding goes well chances are you will want some time away from your baby at some point (trust me, you will!) and so the bottles will get used. They aren't essential in the very early days though as you can always use a cup to feed the baby if need be.

I personally never bought in any formula and I think if I had had it in the house I would have given up breastfeeding in that first week. I'm not opposed to formula at all and DD had the odd bottle here and there, but breastfeeding was something I really wanted to do. Luckily it worked out for me.

I'd definitely have bottles ready. You may want to express or you may want to give a formula feed.

Giving one formula feed does not spell the end for BFing, and 2am with a baby that won't settle is exactly when you'll wish you had all options to hand.

I gave DS a formula feed at 2 days old but still predominantly BFed him for a year.

I found just boiling bottles in a pan more helpful when bf. We used the odd one a bit later on (I expressed). A steriliser was just more junk to me.

Shops are open after birth, just wait and see.

A couple of premade formula bottles were useful to have and our Nct teacher suggested having them. My son was iugr though and the hospital seemed to have some there for that situation (something to do with 'not tiring him out' which I'm still a bit about. I ended up expressing for top ups In Hospital, by hand then pump, then just bf in demand after a couple of days, after Which he finally put on weight and we got out on day 5. It was all provided by the hospital but I'm wondering if it was due to the iugr issue.

I don't think it matters either way if you've got shops/amazon prime at hand.

Gummy I've heard similar stores on MN about people introducing a bottle very early on and having no troubles but then I also know people IRL who say they stopped breastfeeding because once they introduced a bottle their baby wouldn't breastfeed anymore. If there's no truth to that then why do the NHS recommend waiting like a month or two before introducing a bottle? I mean I know all babies are different and just because one might get confused doesn't mean another will etc. I just don't know what to do for the best because on the flip side I've also heard about people EBF for a couple of months and then really struggling to get baby to take a bottle after that!

@MeadowHay indeed. With my eldest I had bottles and formula in “just in case”, panicked I wasn’t feeding him enough because he was crying (also not knowing babies cry for other reasons and may just need to feed much longer!). Introduced bottle VERY briefly and after that his latch was so painful it created a world of pain for me... it was miserable at first. However I never gave up and BF until he was 2.
Second time I just breastfed after knowing what to do and it was perfect, no bottles at all

I agree with the poster who said that giving up without planning to out of tiredness or frustration would not be the ideal scenario.

I have tried BF on 3 and succeeded with it only on 1 but I needed bottles/sterilising equipment for all of mine (as it turns out they all were tongue tied) but I would still recommend getting them when you need them and buy the first formula in those ready made bottles to get you over a hump if you need to for the early days. It is so convenient if you are having BF difficulties and the last thing you need with BF difficulties is to be figuring out the rudiments of BF at the same time.

Rudiments of FF even.

The issue with getting them in is when you are on a 6hr cluster feeding session and you are sleep deprived then a bottle is sooo tempting.

Research development leaps and find a support network (lots of Facebook groups). Breastfeeding women often get bad press for pushing it so much. Issue is it is hard and we have a society around us that women tell other women how well their baby sleeps or how much their baby drinks and all their baby did was want to breastfeed as supply wasn’t enough.

What we don’t tell each other a baby who breastfeeds constantly is NORMAL especially during some development stages. Best indicator that you have enough milk is wet and dirty nappies and biologically babies are designed to wake 2-3 hrs (or less) it is their own self defence against SIDS. But society tells use they should fall asleep 4 hrs plus after a bottle.

Formula is a substitute milk not an alternative and we must not bash each other as women about our feeding choices, but if you want breastfeed then you need to arm yourself, I feel, against comments from other women about if you are enough or not etc.

I bought bottles and a pump before having DC1 as I wanted to build up a stash of EBM, so someone could feed her apart from me. Imo that's essential - so you get a break, in case you want to go out once in a while, for when you go back to work, in case your supply drops for some reason (sick, overtired). I EBF'd DC1 til she was nearly 2, and I'm 8 months into EBFing DC2. Having bottles doesn't mean you'll end up FFing.

Yes a baby who BFs constantly at times is normal. It's also very very tough for a mother who might be massively sleep deprived, or have other children or worth or simply need to have time apart from the baby.

Most people I know have introduced a bottle - whether expressed milk or FF - without it affecting ongoing BFing.

If BFing wasn't presented as an all or nothing proposition, rates & duration might improve.

We've brought both because I plan on expressing after a couple months so my husband can feed. They're also there as a back up incase things don't work out. But we brought everything in one afternoon so it's not a big deal to just get some when you need them

The thing about BF constantly being normal is that goes on everywhere in the world. In other cultures women are supported through that phase of a child’s development better. Clothing and carrying of babies support BF. No one watches in judgement as the mother feeds yet again. No one comments on feeding in public. No one suggests separating mother and infant for night time sleep, cosleeping which supports BF is the norm etc, etc.

The problem is that the overall culture here does not support that so OP you need to set up a mini BF culture around you especially in the early weeks. Find people who view BF as absolutely the norm and people who don’t probably can’t help much through that early phase. It is so short though from 2 weeks to about 7 weeks and then it starts to become your normal too.