Feb 2024 thread 4

[Mummapenguin20]

Thought I’d start new one as old one was full and couldn’t see the next one x

@Meeting im planning to bottle feed my midwife is lovely told me a happy baby is a fed baby x

@Meeting I'm bottle feeding too 🙂
I've always said I would. Fair play to those who breastfeed but I want to share the load with my partner

When there’s discussion bottle versus breast feed, I don’t understand, what’s the concern with expressed milk in a bottle if that means partner can feed?

I tried to breast feed and pump with my first that failed 48 hours she went without food! Because I kept being told to just try! I vowed then never ever again I would always bottle feed than do that again x

Good discussion! I want to try and breastfeed but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’m on a medication that is a sedative
so my biggest fear would be feeding and falling asleep. My husbands going to help a lot too obviously but I don’t want to rely
on him for doing all night feeds. Idk whether expressing would be too much too. When is it they start talking to you about all these things?

Also bottle feeding! I did with my first and worked well for us.

I’ll be combi feeding, I exclusively breastfed last time and the couple of times I had to be away from home for more than 2 hours my baby refused a bottle because she’d never learned how to use one 😅 most stressful days ever

I've decided to bottle feed this time too. I breastfed my son for the first few weeks and really didn't get a long with it and struggled mentally as a result.
There should be no judgement either way you decide to feed your baby, do what's best for you and your family I say

I did forget to add I am going to express too but I'm not going to put pressure on myself if I don't produce enough or whatever. I'm just gonna buy a manual pump and see how I go.

Has anyone else noticed their breasts sagging already? I’m really shocked that they’ve changed so much already so early on 😣

@redxlondon mine are like bowling balls atm

I'm going to give breastfeeding a good go but I have 9 nieces and nephews who were all bottle fed and they all turned out perfectly healthy so I know my little boy will still do great if breastfeeding doesn't work out. I mostly want to breastfeed for the bonding but also not adding a load of extra dishes is a bonus. Partner and I both hate doing dishes and loading the dishwasher. 😆

Personally, I will breastfeed. For me, it is cheaper and (once you get the hang of it) so much easier in the middle of the night than having to get up for a bottle. My partner would like me to express at times so he can do some feeds too but I don’t think I’ll pressure myself to do that unless it’s really important to him.

Also love not having to pack anything in a baby bag or for going away 🙃

Super good discussion! This being my first I’m a bit overwhelmed with it all 🫣🫣
I’d like to breastfeed. I’m absolutely open to switching to bottle if it doesn’t work out though, im not going to let it become an issue.
but there’s all these adverts for “methods” to make it work out and a whole lot of pressure on the right or wrong way to do things 😵‍💫 like if you don’t subscribe to find out sone secret method you don’t be able to do it 😐 I mean, I get that it doesn’t work out for everyone and there are definitely tips and tricks to help but is it that much of a minefield??? 😳😳

This is my first and my aim is also to breastfeed. After baby and I know what we are doing, plan is to also express milk so husband and I can do shifts in feeding baby at night.

BUT! I know that breastfeeding may not work, and even if you want to, it does not work for everyone. There's just so much that can go wrong. And so, I'll give all a go, if I cannot feed baby, formula it is. As other mamas said: fed baby, happy baby.

Exactly the same as this!

I'm putting no pressure on myself it doesn't work - mental health is so important and we have so much to worry about as is without being so hard on ourselves x

I’m planning to breastfeed too as this is my first and want to try the experience for bonding but I’ve got 3 sisters who have had children, some of whom have been breastfed and some who haven’t for various reasons and they are all perfectly healthy. If I am able to breastfeed ok I don’t think I’ll express for a while as many people have said even though it’s still breast milk if the baby gets used to bottle, they can be put off latching on the breast for milk, but I don’t know.

Anyone else starting to feel quite heavy? Is 24 weeks 6 months? I never know how it works out in months but I definitely look and feel very pregnant now and it’s the first times I’ve started to feel excited and nervous about becoming someone’s mum 🙈

Loving everyone getting organized with bags…I’m about to start a house build/Reno so this third baby will be living on a building site. Hoping if we get to 38/39 weeks (previous bubba’s we’re born early) the loft may be done!!

I plan to EBF, know the first few days are chaos and painful but generally I’m not the most organized and I love the faff of not having to sterilize/worry about spacing of feeds. But as others have said, however it ends up being, as long as baby is doing ok I’ll be happy.

Feeling heavy and tired and finally down to only vomiting 1-3 times a day (I’ve HG so this is usually my most manageable period) but I’m shattered and more emotional than usual!! And feeling a bit guilty that being pregnant is so far down my to do list, with all that’s happening in family and life right now: that it’s barely getting a thought!

Regarding combifeeding there are some bottles better than others but I have no idea which ones yet - oh I have so much research to do!

@Ebonythoughts the way I always calculate months is 24 week x 7 days / 30 days, so that's already 5.6 months!

Oh absolutely, I must have got through at least five bottle brands and probably five more teat types before a bottle was accepted 😅

@User0224 My goodness - please do share what worked!!

It’s my first baby, so I’m aiming to breastfeed, and breast pump too at some point. But I’ll have bottles and formula ready in case in doesn’t work out. I always think a fed baby is the most important thing 💖💙

Planning to breastfeed again here hopefully 🤞We introduced bottles of expressed milk very early (within a couple of weeks), and we never got any nipple confusion. He took both for a year til I stopped EBF.

I also ended up in hospital 3 weeks after birth so it was amazing that he could already take a bottle. I just pumped in hospital and sent it home. Baby wasn't allowed in to join me (it was during Covid so baby couldn't come in til they'd cleared me/others for Covid) as they put me on the postnatal ward.

We also found it okay to start to routining while breastfeeding. Some of the breastfeeding advice is so dogmatic and a bit bonkers I think it puts people off as its not conducive to living normally

I’m 23+2 how tired is everyone atm? I seem to need a nap everyday 😅 anyone else this tired?