Feeding

[Pickles31]

I’m still undecided whether to bottle feed or try breast feeding but I don’t know whether to try breast feeding for a week or two and if I don’t like it or it’s just not happening for me how easy is it to move onto the bottle? Or if I really don’t like it if I move onto bottle sooner than that?

Which one do you want to do?

If you aren't sure try breastfeeding first of all. You might be surprised how quickly you take to it. If you feel like it's not working out try a bottle within a week or two as some babies get really fussy and will refuse it. Midwives/health visitors may lecture about nipple confusion but this rarely happens. More often than not baby will refuse a bottle preferring breast if that's all they've had for more than 3/4 weeks. My milk supply started diminishing very quickly so I had to mix feed. Luckily DS drank from both no problem at all.

My cousin had a breast reduction and didnt know if she could BF her ds2 who's now 5 weeks. She BF 2 weeks but had a lot of blocked milk ducts and easily switched exclusively to bottle.

Why not give breastfeeding a go? If it's not for you then it's not for you but at least you'll know you have tried :)

Breastfeeding all the way! I'm so proud of myself for feeding both of my kids. They're 4 and 2 and have never needed antibiotics (could be a coincidence I know). It was a lovely lovely time and once I got the hang of it and learned more about the science my mind was blown.

Yeh I will give it a go and see how i do, my husband and his brother were both breastfed and both have eczema, asthma and nut allergies so think breast feeding and formula feeding can be different for each baby 👶🏼

It definitely is @Pickles31 I breastfed DS until 5 months but he had silent reflux regardless even though I got snide comments that a BF baby shouldn't have it! And DS has needed several antibiotics for ear infections and tonsillitis as a toddler but has now outgrown that.

The paediatrician told me I had to top up with formula when DS was dropping weight and I cried thinking id failed my son. But as DH said as long as baby's happy that's the main thing and it really is true. Do what works for you and your baby.

@angelmiracle yes i agree aslong as baby is happy and me too then all is good. I think another reason I’m undecided about breast feeding is that I unfortunately suffered some childhood abuse which made me very body conscious for along time, I had counselling etc years ago and I’m a lot better now but I think until I’ve tried it i won’t know so I’m going to be strong and give it a go atleast.

Op the important thing is that whatever you decide suits YOU. Don't feel pressured to go one way or the other. Also, consider combination feeding, it's what I ended up doing and it worked really well for me. Nipple confusion is very rare so don't listen to all the horror stories about it

@Pickles31 I'm so sorry to hear you had to go through that in your childhood and can understand that BF could make you feel anxious. Even if you suss out BF in bed for night and early morning feeds it's great not having to warm a bottle Good luck for the rest of your pregnancy and beyond!

Agree it's about what you want as well as what's best for the baby. I was so adamant I was going to breastfeed but once my dd was born I hated it, and she didn't latch properly anyway so I had to switch to formula. She had sepsis after she was born and in the hospital they wanted me to express breast milk which I did but as soon as we were discharged I switched to formula as it was making me miserable

@Pickles31 my brother was BF and I wasn't. Neither of us had any conditions or major health issues growing up. Both did well in school etc.

Really it doesn't matter overall, fed is best!

Even if you don’t buy all the FF paraphernalia before baby arrives, you can get next day delivery from amazon for bottles, sterilisers and perfect prep machines etc.

I intended on bf but when dd wouldn’t latch I ordered all the above from my hospital bed and made do with the pre-made bottles until they arrived.