Advice on breastfeeding/breastpumping.

[shakey1]

First time willing to try combi feeding or pumping. Had 2 children before formal fed but this time I'm wanting too do something more easier on myself with night feeds and having to do school runs etc. how does it all work? I' don't want to EBF as I've seen how clingy and how much my niece will not take a bottle at 11 month old she bites with teeth now also she's up a lot through the night wanting to feed for comfort. I would rather combi feed but I don't know how all this works I've never had no insight on and breast or pumping. Any advice? How does it all work so my son will still take a bottle , I wanted to maybe breast feed on a night time so I don't have to go up and down stairs to make bottles and bottle feed and breast or pump through the day, it's all confusing lol any advice would be brilliant

Bump

im currently pregnant and about to start the whole combo feeding journey again but I tended to bottle feed first thing breast feed a couple of times throughout the day and alternate between breast and bottle … final formula bottle at night and breast feed through the night for ease …. I did it till baby was about 4.5 month and gradually swapped over to just formula …

As long as you give bottle early it's okay. My son took to it fine. I had a good Ebf with my son. Not at all clingy and stopped feeds during the night at 12 weeks.

I did combi feeding with breast feeding and formula. My DH gave one bottle of formula a night while I got some undisturbed sleep.

To get breastfeeding established maybe start with just one bottle a day. Once you’re happy with the breastfeeding you could gradually add in more bottle feeds.

Pumping is more work for you so it doesn’t really make things easier. Also some women get much less milk out from pumping compared to breastfeeding. I got barely anything. So the bottle feeds for us were formula.

I agree. Start with establishing bf with abouy 1 bottle of formula a day. I found a good time for a bottle was the evenings with cluster feeding, just to give me a little break. Then after a month or so start to increase the number of bottles you give. Just be aware when you start to drop bf do it slowly so that you dont get sore/enlarged.

Many of the immunity benefits of breastfeeding come from your body producing antibodies in response to pathogens it detects in the baby's saliva, so pumping is not as good for your baby as directly BFing. Many people find EBF easier than FF or pumping -- I certainly do. Given all the benefits of BF it's surely worth a try?

Yes that's sound better with BF and 1 bottle a day , I'm definitely going to give this a try I was always scared Incase I needed to go to the hospital or anything and baby wouldn't take a bottle as I've read with a lot of breastfed baby's. Thankyou everyone!

What do I do after giving birth? Do I breast feed and give 1 bottle straight away that day as I was told your supply doesn't come straight in or they don't get enough straight away , so sorry for all the questions I've never done this before

@L1sa1986 how many times did you bottle feed through the day? And how many ounces?

Colostrum is enough. No need for formula. My son took to a bottle just fine. Just don't leave it too late. Like most do

@blackpanth so what do I do pump to feed through a bottle and breast feed too? I want to used a bottle so he is used to it and it's not hard for me to get him onto them, I just see my friend struggle so much as her 10 month old will not take a bottle and she has teeth now so she's struggling , I don't want to get to that

When milk comes in pump. I never had issues really to breastfeed when son had teeth. You might not.

I did straight to breast and was led by him and supported by midwives but in fairness he seemed to know what to do much better than I did but I didn’t have an issue with milk supply it was ready and waiting - the hospital staff were lovely though and I know this time they’re offering classes so it may be worth seeing if your trust does

i bottle fed around 2 times a day ( but my milk was in and had no supply issue)so he was used to it as far as I can remember which let my partner help out and it was always formula just before bed … there was never any confusion though he didn’t have a problem going between the two … when it was time to stop I just gradually reduced and it went well - I’m just hoping this time is the same lol.

@shakey1 Put to the breast at first. Its hard to express in the first few days. I had babies in special care who were tube fed so had no choice but to express colostrum you have to do it by hand with a syringe initially and its not easy. Once your milk has come through you can use a pump (but needs to be a very good one). So I would say to put to the breast initally and then introduce a bottle when ready. If you introduce a bottle in the first month there shouldnt be too many issues.

@Donimo brilliant thankyou for that advice it helped a lot, I'm feeling more confident

@L1sa1986 so you did 2 bottles of formula a day and breast fed inbetween?

I think just focus on breastfeeding to start with - it's not super easy at the beginning and you may need help! And then once that's going well, then introduce a bottle at least once every couple of days, but you don't need to worry about doing this immediately as long as it's in the first couple of months. Bottle could be formula or pumped milk as you prefer. But the babies who get clingy and don't take a bottle usually aren't tried on one till after 4-6 months, then it's harder - so you have plenty of time! Might be easier if someone else does the bottle the first few times (so they don't smell your milk).