Milk options at birth

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I'm trying to get sorted for the birth before the late third trimester exhaustion kicks in (although I've just had a 3 hour nap )!

What do most people do about milk in hospital? Some of my friends have been unable to breastfeed and I've seen signs at the hospital saying if you want to FF that you bring milk in with you, although they have single use bottles.

I'm going to try and BF but I'm not sure what happens if there are problems. Obviously, a fed baby is more important than BF/FF debates.

Do people usually buy a few of the single portion infant milk or just buy a carton/packet of powder?

TIA!

Never took any just my boobs.

If you try to breast feed in hospital and it’s not working they will give you formula.

If you were taking formula into hospital you would need those pre sterilised feeding bottles of my milk as there will not be any where for you to wash and sterilise the bottles and make up the milk.

I took formula and bottles just in case. It was handy to have as when we got home we had problems and needed to top up. The midwives at the community hospital didn't have any formula on site (not allowed) but the children's ward just gave you the brand you wanted!

I'd give bf a go in hospital where, hopefully, you'll have support if you need it. If it doesn't work for you then you can always use one of the emergency bottles they supply and send someone out for formula etc.
Take a tube of lansinoh (nipple cream) in your hospital bag! (And snacks!)

Brilliant, thanks!

I've got the Lansinoh cream already and I've been compiling possible snacks from recommendations on here!

I want to try BF but first so all of your suggestions make sense! I won't get too bogged down in formula just yet!

I had difficulty bf dc3 (3rd cs but this time haemorrhaged), he was so hungry and my milk was refusing to come in, plus he had tongue tie. It was snipped on the day of delivery but seemed to take us longer to get the hang of it than with the others. Wasn't at all prepared for it but having passed out several times holding my baby, begged the mw to take him away and cup fed him formula. That staved off the hunger long enough to let me sleep and recover enough for my milk to come in!
If you struggle and still want to bf, they should be able to provide something in the interim to help.

We took pre made aptamil in the sterilized single used bottles. Our hospital didn't provide formula but gave us no grief about giving DD a little top up. In the end we used one bottle and gave the rest to a friend.

I took in the premade bottles of formula just in case I couldn't breastfeed. The hospital I was at would not provide formula for any reason so it's worth checking your hospital's policy. Personally I thought it was worth just taking a pack of 4 in my bag for peace of mind. If I'd needed more my OH could have then popped to the shop to buy some.

It might sound odd, but you could also have a go at expressing colostrum before the birth? Suck it up in a little 1ml syringe and pop in the freezer. I found that was really helpful for establishing bfing - it meant DS could learn how to latch while he wasn’t totally starving!

Some companies make individual ready made bottles with separate sterile lids. I got sma ones, and I'm so glad I did, as ds1 was born with tongue tie and couldn't feed properly. Ds2was born with no suckle reflex and fluctuating blood sugars, the support I got with bf was a midwife standing looking at us saying 'he's not sucking is he..." intermittently.

I froze colostrum in syringes just in case and will do the same this time.

I took a pack of ready made stage 1 formula bottles just in case, they came home again with us and sat in a cupboard for ‘just in case’ until they went out of date when I binned them. It made me feel better to know they were there as an option, especially as supermarkets round here are not 24 hour.

I trained as a bf peer supporter. The key thing to remember is that breast milk can take up to FIVE days to come in, it’s often cTHREE days but don’t be alarmed if it’s a bit longer.
People will ask or you’ll wonder if your milk is in and your answer will be ‘I don’t know’ until the day it is, then you’ll suddenly find you have had a rock hard boob job in the night.

In the mean time, The colostrum you’ll produce is barely noticeable as it’s very small very rich drops, if you do see it or your baby spits it up, it’s very yellow rather than creamy white like milk.

This in the vast vast majority of cases is enough for baby, who will want to be on the breast A LOT in order to a) get the rich fatty colostrum and b) stimulate your milk supply.

Also keep in mind that in your womb, baby has never known hunger. They e just had a constant supply of what they need.
Now their tummy’s are absolute tiny and just getting through five minutes takes all their energy so they feed a lot (true for bottle or boob fed, ff baby’s should still be fed on demand).

The best advice I can give is to ask for a midwife to sit with you for a feed, ask them to help make sure Baby is latched on properly and your feeding position is comfortable.
The biggest hindrance to successful bf is pain and this is often caused by tongue tie, so the quicker any such issue is spotted and corrected the better.

The type of birth you have can affect your milk or baby to feed, csec can sometimes delay milk coming in and certain pain relief can make baby sleepy and a bit sluggish.
I’m not saying this to say avoid both but sometimes people don’t realise the knock on effects and become disheartened when things aren’t completely text book.

Good luck, you got this

A third voice in support of expressing and freezer colostrum in the last couple of weeks of pregnancy. I found it really helped me get to know my breasts/nipples & came in very useful when bang unexpectedly had to spend first few hours of life on NICU.

^baby NOT bang!

Having gone through 24 hours with a hungry screaming newborn with DS1 when he couldn’t latch due to tongue tie I took in pre made single use bottles for DS2’s birth. He latched fine and we never used them but I preferred it that way round to hearing my poor starving baby scream. My hospital won’t provide formula but some will do worth checking. There is no harm in taking some in as a back up in case. You don’t need much- just enough to tide you over until someone can pop to the shop. I hope BF goes well, it’s a dream when it does.

What mimi said.

You hear a lot of people worrying that their milk didn't come in when in hospital. This is totally normal. Also totally normal for baby to want to latch on constantly. It doesn't necessarily mean they are hungry or you aren't producing enough - it's their way of putting their order in.

I didn't take any formula as I didn't want to be tempted by it. Wanting to look after your baby and make sure they are fed is such a strong and natural response, so I totally understand how people turn to a bottle quickly. If you are truly keen to give BFing a good go have a read about those first few days and you'll feel much more confident about everything that's happening :)

All the best

I've never took any milk in with either of my previous two.

If you need Milk for medical reasons of course they will provide ready made sterile small bottles to use to feed baby.

If your planning on breast feeding then personally I wouldn't waste a penny on having formula or feeding equipment in hosp bag or at home.

Once baby was born I expressed colostrum into small sterile syringes provided by the hospital which enabled me to 'top up' baby in those first couple of days until my milk came in. Especially as baby was having gluscose tolerance tests.

If you want to breastfeed make sure you ask for help / support. They should have a breast feeding co ordinator who can advise.

The first couple of weeks are so so tough BUT once you get through those its such a doddle.

And as you said lansinoh (hopefully spelt right) to use after every feed.
Best of luck.

If you end up needing formula due to medical reasons you can get it as and when. If you have a normal delivery or uneventful c section you are very unlikely to be in hospital for long enough , ie up to 5 days at least, to know whether breast feeding is going to be successful. I am not in the buy things just in case team but it depends I suppose on your personality type. If you are going to feel more relaxed with absolutely every eventuality covered then a few ready made cartons certainly won't break the bank. Establishing feeding when you are emontional, hormonal , a novice and exhausted can be very difficult in the first few weeks and leave you feeling very vulnerable. Many women lose heart when they are frazzled and in pain and the baby is constantly rooting and gnawing at the shredded nipples for hours without seeing to be satisfied. Give them a bottle and they guzzle it down making mother doubt herself even more as she 'can't 'provide the same instant comfort. This is , however, just an illustration of how the system works and that in the early days they are not comparable. The baby is learning to feed and establishing the supply they need by stimulating your breasts.hang on in there and in most cases the system gets going and breast feeding at that point is much easier , cheaper and without gaff than ff. neither is wrong or right but I think a lot of us are unprepared through lack of hive experience for what that first bit is like.
Sorry for the lecturing tone but I feel frustrated by the low rates of breast feeding in this country and for the fact that new mothers now seem no better prepared than I was 26 years ago despite regular lip service being paid to this topic.

Silly question in you express colostrum before the birth and freeze it in sterile syringes, do you take them in to hospital when you're in labour? Or does someone go get them or do you just use them at home?

They mentioned expressing colostrum in my NHS antenatal class and said you can bring it in with you in a coolbag and ask for it to be put in the fridge - but if you do that then obviously it needs to be labelled so you know what's yours. I was intending to do that but I'd only actually got round to doing one syringe worth when I went into labour and that got forgotten about and left at home! (and, thinking about it, may still be in our freezer...)

Keep in mind though that not everyone can express before baby is born. I couldn't get a drop out but could hand express like a pro once she was here and wouldn't latch.