Will I need to pack formula in hospital bag if hoping to breastfeed?

[UserAlice]

Just that really.

Pregnant with first baby and really want to try and breastfeed but I am very aware it isn’t always smooth sailing at first. My friend was in hospital for 4 days getting feeding established.

What happens if you can’t feed the baby in those first few hours/overnight? Am I expected to have some emergency formula and bottles with me? I haven’t bought anything bottle-feeding related but it just occurred to me I might need to get some emergency stuff just in case.

If feeding proves a challenge they will help you hand express and syringe feed the baby. They don't need much at all.
I fed both of mine (with some issues after birth) and never took formula in.

I recommend having a read of 'The Food of Love' by Kate Evans for some extra bf info.

Best of luck!

Hospitals will provide formula to breastfeeding mums just not usually to those who are formula feeding.

Oh great! Thanks for the replies!

My hospital provides formula for anyone.

The slight issue with having formula available is bf is fucking hard sometimes, especially in the first weeks.

If I’d have had formula in the house I probably would have given it. As it was I made the decision to switch to formula the next day about 4 times. By the time the shops were open I’d got over the rough patch and was going to give it another week...i bf for 14 months.

Be warned though, m/w are usually very very busy, and very few are bf trained. I found help came in the form of “i’ll go and get you some formula if you’re struggling”. I must have been offered formula twice a day in hospital, when a m/w saw me “feeding again”.

Get your bf phone numbers lined up ready. Call them. Especially if you feel you are being pushed to ff.

No - if you want to BF they should support you to hand express and syringe or cup feed. If you or baby are struggling and the medical decision is that baby would benefit from formula topups, they will provide them and show you how to give them, as this would be classed as a medical need for baby.

What they won't do is supply formula for mums who choose to FF, for fairly obvious reasons.

I had a very sleepy first baby whose blood sugar started to dip as he kept falling asleep when latched - the hospital showed me how to hand express and gave me a huge pile of syringes, then provided formula for the topups they advised on day 2. We ditched the formula on day 3 and he was EBF from then.

Thanks @bluebluezoo ... that’s pretty much exactly why I haven’t and don’t want to buy anything formula related if I can avoid it.

Appreciate the warning about the midwives too!

In my experience the midwives and nursery nurses couldn't have been anymore desperate to give me formula if they'd tried! I was quite clearly trying to BF and they were still adamant my baby needed formula. I ended up giving formula to shut them up and allow us home and my baby has been BF ever since. It was clearly a lot easier and quicker for them to chuck bottles at us than give us the help we needed to get BF established.

Absolutely not. If you plan to bottle feed then you need to take it. If you plan to breastfeed, the hospital need to help you achieve that - if the baby won’t latch, they’ll help you express. If you have literally no milk to do that, they’ll give you formula.

I'm going to put forth a different perspective. I took in he ready made aptamil bottles, pre sterilized teats go from the pack on the bottle and you chuck away when done.

I used a tiny bit in hospital when I couldn't feed DD (there were medical issues complicating this, it wasn't "not trying hard enough" or "giving in"). I was hand expressing and that wasnt enough. It meant we both slept and I needed that.

One bottle got used by MIL rather than the ebf and the rest got given to a friend. Having formula doesn't make you quit, it doesn't make you less likely to succeed, it's a back up that you can choose not to use if you don't want to.

I'd only say don't make the choice to stop completely when you are tired. Like PP said sleep helps and tough times get easier. Good luck!

I found all medical staff very supportive of bf-ing when I had DS. We did take in formula and it was DS' first feed as I was under GA due to complications so I was relieved we took it - although the midwife did say they'd have supplied it in that instance. I will do the same with DC2 even though I plan to bf again, simply for peace of mind.

Someone else posted recently that their hospital only provides formula for those babies that are medically indicated to have it.

I BF. If you need it, someone can always bring it it later

I work in maternity - they will make out that they won’t provide formula (or nappies etc) because they don’t want people to abuse the system. But babies need to eat and they need nappies and if you’re unable to feed them and you’re there as an emergency and don’t have nappies, they will of course provide them - they will not let a baby go without milk because you can’t legitimately can’t bf for some reason and you don’t have any.

My hospital does not provide formula. It used to years ago when I had my first but it depends on budgets I think now. I've always taken the little glass bottles with the pre sterilised teats just incase x

I wouldn’t have formula back up. BFing isn’t easy at first, having formula in the house is just asking to fail imo. Buy lansinoh nipple cream and only get formula if you can’t deal with it anymore. 24 hour supermarkets exist so you will be fine.

They physically can’t allow a newborn to not eat though. Can you imagine what would happen if a hospital trust refused to give a baby milk because a mum planning to bf didn’t take any? They have to have it on site because some mums are unconscious, separated from their baby for medical reasons etc. The idea that they’d say to a new mum “sorry you’re not producing any milk at all, but it’s our policy not to provide formula”.

Worst case scenario, if you have a birth partner you can send them out for some, but I would be making a strongly worded complaint to the CCG if formula were refused in a situation where you’re unable to breastfeed or express.

I can't deal with these people saying you'll fail if you take formula. Combination feeding is a thing and it means that lots of babies get breast milk when their mothers otherwise wouldn't or couldn't ebf. Read into it.

I can't deal with these people saying you'll fail if you take formula. Combination feeding is a thing and it means that lots of babies get breast milk when their mothers otherwise wouldn't or couldn't ebf. Read into it

No, it doesn’t necessarily mean bf will fail.

However it can interfere with getting bf established, and if combination feeding doesn’t work for you, it is almost impossible to go back to fully bf. If the o/p is determined to bf, best way to to it is bf as much as possible.

If you are struggling to bf and combi feeding helps prolong bf, then that is fab, as you say. But for someone who does want to bf, there is a risk. It is up to that mother whether the risk to bf is worth it.

I am someone who learned the hard way- i was persuaded to give formula for the usual reasons, others wanted to feed, baby would sleep better, i’d get a break etc. But it developed into a cycle where baby would fight the breast more after each bottle, so we’d give formula to settle, they’d fight the breast, then i had less milk so increased formula. Slide to completely ff took about 2 weeks.

With my second i stuck to my guns and bf only. It was far far easier to ride out any rough patches and i bf long term.

So i would say if bf means a lot to you, stick with bf as much as possible. If you aren’t overly worried, give combi feeding a go. It might work, if it doesn’t, ff.

Obviously the hospital does have formula on site for certain cases but we are advised/asked to bring some regardless of if you are planning to breast feed or not.
The small bottles I used were around £7 for 12. It's not a huge expense to just take some just incase so you aren't relying on the hospital to provide it.

As for saying it's preparing you to fail, that's ridiculous in my opinion. There is no failing when feeding your baby, you do what's right for you and as long as that baby isn't going hungry that's all I would worry about.

I mix fed all of mine but went on to breast feed my daughter for 8 months. She had the odd bottle if I was physically too tired to get up again or if my partner said he'd like to feed her. Having that formula in the house did not make me a failure at breast feeding

Just bring those little pre-sterilised bottles, they're perfect for this.

I would say take formula just in case (and bottles). My hospital refused to give formula to NHS patients when I was there.

Also don’t stress yourself about bf and don’t let others stress you. Evidence for bf is weak and generally impossible to separate from correlation effect. Not worth pnd. Healthy baby needs a healthy mum.

Oh and don’t listen to the “they can’t allow a baby to starve”. I was refused formula after a heel prick test showed baby had low blood sugar and needed food but I wasn’t able to breastfeed. Pro bf dogma is strong in NHS. I only got it when I pointed out I was a private patient

No need to bring it. If something goes wrong and you are unable to breastfeed then the hospital should supply it, or else your partner or a friend should be able to pop out and buy some.

I was given formula in the hospital for both mine, I tried bf the first, didn't with the second 🤷‍♀️ they just gave me formula. Although they weren't very happy about it with my first. Lovely about it with my second though.

I'm taking some- I've got the smallest packet of the ready-made stuff, hoping not to need it but for peace of mind and ease I was happier knowing I'd got an option rather than feeling under pressure to 'perform' in an already stressful situation if things weren't going well.