breastfeeding questions

[redddssak]

so im due in June and thinking a lot about feeding I would 100
% love to breastfeed if I can but I have some questions and if anyone who's done it before please let me know if you can help me out !

first question, I dont know what you would do if you are out and baby needs feeding in the middle of the shop for example? I dot think I would feel comfortable breastfeeding like that in public walking around for example,

if I pump as well as breastfeed, how do you store the milk? I know you can freeze it right? in breast bags, then defrost under hot water but do you need to let it cool first as im assuming it will be warm or does this not matter?
can it go in the fridge in a bottle to be used within same day? and the remeasured out in a fresh one?

if pumping too did you have any issues baby using bottle and boob? I purchased ma'am starter bottles the small ones with slow flow teats ( have no idea if this is right im a ftm)

should I purchase a pump before shes born ? and start pumping straight away and collecting fall out while feeding with a Hakka pump?

sorry for a lot of questions it's just a lot to find out, know as I dont know any one who's had a baby so cant ask family etc
tia

Hi

Congratulations and good luck with breastfeeding.

After the first couple of week are over (when you don’t tend to go out too much anyway), usually you can predict when the baby might be hungry so can time shopping etc around their feeds. However, I have breastfed while on a country walk, on benches, sat on a random step, in the car… once you have been doing it a little while and feel more confident you can usually find somewhere to sit and discreetly give a quick feed.

We waited until 3 weeks before trying a bottle. I think health visitors advise 6 weeks but we wanted to make sure we hadn’t left it too late. Try not to pump too much in the first few weeks though as you’re trying to get your supply to establish and pumping may leave you with an oversupply. Using the hakaa initially is a great idea.

We used the MAM bottle with the slow teat and the baby took to them wonderfully.

You can warm milk slightly by standing it in a jug of hot water either in the storage bag, bottle or storage container, just test it on your hand to ensure it’s not too warm. If you Google warming breastmilk most of the advice is there.

I either stored in the milk bags or storage jars then put in bottles to warm or just poured the pumped milk straight in a bottle and put that in the fridge.

Have a look at La Leche League website if you haven’t already, there is loads of info about breastfeeding on there.

Good luck!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! It's completely normal to feel self-conscious, to put your mind at rest a little, learning to bf a newborn can be quite intense and you will find you will be trying to concentrate on getting a good latch which for the first week or two at least will probably be recovering at home in your own bed, or on your own sofa where you can use your feeding cushion, have your snacks and tea and hopefully someone bringing you food.

You are perfectly entitled and it's enshrined by law that you may breastfeed where you want to. If it makes you feel more in control of things in the first few days venturing out, you could scout out shops and places which are bf-friendly but eventually it can be something you can manage to do in cafes or train stations without anyone being any wiser.
This is the NHS guidance on storage of milk, could I also suggest that if you end up doing a lot of expressing that you label milk night expressed and day expressed, as night milk has hormones to make the baby sleepy and day milk the opposite.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding/expressing-breast-milk/

If you want be breastfeed the first couple of weeks are crucial in establishing supply so if you and baby are well, I would recommend if you can to exclusively breastfeed. Sometimes it can really help though if you have had a tough birth to get a full 4 hours sleep and let someone else like grandma or your partner to give a bottle of expressed milk/formula but usually feeding exclusively will get you both to an equilibrium of supply and demand much faster. Life can be something out of your control sometimes and whatever you decide to do at these difficult times remember birth and breastfeeding are just the beginning of parenting.

Rather than a pump I would suggest you try hand expressing instead, you could bank some colustrum just in case, although make sure you are medically okay to do so, expressing before birth is a very good method of induction so you don't want to do this before your baby is medically well enough to be delivered (usually 38 weeks) and you don't have anything like placenta previa ask your midwife for sure.

Lastly, we tend to want to know what is going in and out of baby and of primary concern when you are feeding is "is my baby getting enough?" When you are formula feeding it's great to be able to measure the "input" but with breastfed babies it's impossible to know, we only have "outputs". Watch for 2-3 poos a day and maybe 6 wees per day but most importantly follow your instinct. A baby crying loudly for milk is likely to be thriving more than one that seems tired and listless. Very best of luck to you.

I breastfeed in public all the time I’m 8 weeks post partum. You do get the hang of it and sometimes it’s the only way to calm a crying baby.

my little one feeds little and often so it’s hard for me to time bf. I just feed on demand and you get to learn their feeding cues.

bf is one of the best things I have done through my early baby journey. I love it. I also express for bottles so others can feed her (mam size 0 teats). She likes the expressed milk warmed up (Amazon bottle warmer) and it has taken a couple of weeks for her to get comfortable sucking the bottle.

bottle feeding is v different for me. Two hands required whereas you just need an arm for bf.

I fully breastfed three babies. Try and take each day as it comes. It’s impossible to foresee how things will go. In the end, I didn’t pump, despite buying endless kit. I found it fine to just crack on and feed on demand.

A massive advantage for me in the end, was breastfeeding didn’t require faffing about with bottles. Breastmilk is made automatically and you just need to feed your baby, job done.

The best tip I can give you is to breastfeed as soon as your baby is born, or as soon as you can. This gets everything off to a good start.

Good luck with everything.

Hi OP,

Mum of one and exclusively breastfed for nine months and then combi for ages after that. I was out and about constantly after six weeks and like you was so worried about feeding in public, but after a while, I forgot/didn’t care about anyone other than my boy and fed him. I was always discreet, lots of breastfeeding tops and bras to ensure as little exposure as possible, but I also bought a massive, light, muslin which I tied around my neck and covered him with when in very busy public areas. I never received any negativity from anywhere or anyone which was a blessing.

As others have said, establish your latch first for the first few weeks, get comfy whipping your baby on and off the boob and soon it’ll be second nature to you.

Also agree about not pumping for a while, establish your demand first. And I stored the milk in Nuliie breast milk storage bags that you can get from Amazon. I can’t remember how long it lasts in fridge or freezer but they were great.

Good luck with it all! And also don’t beat yourself up if you or your baby can’t do it 💕

Try not to worry too far ahead. You can take your time at home getting used to life with a newborn and then gradually get out and about at your own pace. You'll get the hang of breastfeeding quickly enough.

I breasted absolutely anywhere: swimming pool changing rooms, at the beach, sitting in an IKEA display chair. You'll get skilled at doing it so that people wouldn't even realise you're breastfeeding. It just looks like you're cradling a sleeping baby.

No advice for pumping. Tried a hand pump at the start to stave off mastitis but it made me feel sick so I massaged and hand expressed in the shower or bath for a few days til that passed. After that I had a very strong and fast let down so I just used haakas. I froze a lot of milk that way. Was useful in the early days so husband could give baby a couple of bottles to allow me some sleep. But baby was never really keen and it didn't last long. Was a lifesaver in the very early days though when I was exhausted.

I sat the bags in a bag of hot water to defrost. They were the right temperature when defrosted like that. You can test on the inside of your arm to make sure.

Most people don’t even notice a breastfeeding mum in public. Once you figure out how to do it, you’ll suddenly notice women who are feeding. Mostly it just looks like a woman with a small baby sleeping in her arms. You’ll figure out what clothes work for you and then it’ll be fine. Practicing in front of a mirror at home is helpful - gives you confidence that it’s unlikely anyone will see anything. Once they get a bit bigger it becomes less of a frequent thing in public because they go longer between feeds.
It is possible to walk around and feed but you’ll probably want a sling/carrier for that. Don’t spend time worrying about that - it’s not something you can do with a tiny newborn, they need some head control first.
You can keep breastmilk in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a few months. Breastmilk bags are good for the freezer. You can freeze them flat and then the don’t take up much space. Defrosting them under a hot tap/in a mug of warm water works well. They won’t be too hot - remember you’re going from frozen to liquid, it won’t jump to 40-50-60 degrees instantly.
I wouldn’t worry about pumping at all for the first 6-8 weeks. Get breastfeeding established first, then try a bottle with a small amount of expressed milk at the same time every day until you’re baby takes it. A little handpump is fine for this. If you want to go back to work and keep feeding then an electric pump will stop you getting repetitive strain injury from a handpump. Some people get good results collecting letdown from the other breast with a haaka, but ut I could never get it to work. Maybe I’m just awkwardly shaped but I couldn’t figure out how to hold the baby and the haaka at the same time.

I'm currently bfing my 5 week old. He didn't latch at first so I've had to pump too. My advice:

I the first hours, days and week ficus on establishing breastfeeding with your baby. If you're struggling seek help from midwives in hospital and make sure you know sources if support where you are. Check out La Leche.

If your baby isn't latching and feeding you will have to pump to establish and maintain your supply- so I don't understand the comments saying avoid the former to do the latter. If I were you I wouldn't buy a pump yet unless money us no object. I'd hire a hospital grade pump eg medela symphony for a month ( next day delivery) if required and then work out what I needed. You might want to buy a hakkaa or manual pump for peace of mind.

I've kept expressed milk in the fridge. Have never heated it before giving it to my baby and he has never refused cold, breast-warm or room temperature milk.

It may come easily, it may not. Good luck!

Echoing the others I’m 10 weeks post partum and will happily breastfeed anywhere.

I really didn’t think I would (I’m usually very private) but I’ve gotten used to it very quickly. I don’t even bother with a cover most of the time now.

It’s crazy how quickly your view changes when you’re actually doing it

I gave my daughter a mix of boob, formula and expressed milk. If I went out I tried to take a bottle of expressed milk, if I didn’t have that I would give her pre mixed formula. I never expressed enough to make freezing worthwhile. There’s a lot of panic online about what you can and can’t do versus mixing it up a little but my kid handled everything just fine. In retrospect caring for a baby is a damn sight easier than what the internet would suggest.

When the baby gets hungry you do get a bit of warning, it's not just sudden out of nowhere. So you get to know different places in town etc you can feed. There are feeding rooms in a lot of shopping centres, often shops that sell baby stuff like Boots, John Lewis etc will have a feeding area, or you can look for a bench, or stop in a café, or go back to the car if you prefer. You also get to know what places you feel confident in so at first you might only want to go to a supermarket with a big café and then as time goes on you'll find you feel confident to go to more different places.

I’m another one who will happily feed anywhere and you might find that you don’t feel as self conscious as you expect.
But, if it helps to know, lots of shopping centres where I live will have designated rooms for feeding so you can find some privacy if you prefer.
Sometimes I would sit in my car to feed which I think makes it a bit harder for an onlooker to see anything in detail. I also purchased various items of breastfeeding clothing - I know many people say you don’t need specific items (just wear double layers and pull one layer up and then pull down vest below) BUT I just found this hard to get used to. I found breastfeeding clothing much easier when I prefer to be more discreet.
Finally… with my babies if they needed a feed while I was out I did tend to have time to find somewhere suitable. Often that would be to find a coffee shop so that I can be more relaxed and get a cuppa for myself too. Baby was ok to wait a few minutes/ 10 minutes or so for me to get settled somewhere. Perhaps that’s not always to case but I’m just saying you may not HAVE to just stop what your doing to feed immediately.

Oh - and I would suggest focusing your attention on videos etc re positioning and attachment now before delivery.

The NCT class I went to made it sound as though if I did skin to skin quickly after birth the baby would work out what to do. Mine didn't. He was very actively breast crawling and rooting but he couldn't have found my nipple if it were covered in lights.

And don't listen to "don't wake a sleeping baby" when it comes to getting feeling established - I fell foul of that and a mum friend even more so - she had to take her baby to a + e, it was dehydrated because it hadn't woken to feed enough.

@Happyinarcon caring for your baby was easier! They are all different!

I dont know what you would do if you are out and baby needs feeding in the middle of the shop for example? I dot think I would feel comfortable breastfeeding like that in public walking around
I wouldn't recommend walking around, it's a bit knackering. Some people feed in a sling, I never figured out how to get my clothes out of the way to do that. But you are never far from a seat. You can usually time a coffee for the time a feed will be needed. I've used a display chair in the furniture bit of Dunelm too. It's fine.

If I pump as well as breastfeed, how do you store the milk? I know you can freeze it right? in breast bags, then defrost under hot water but do you need to let it cool first as im assuming it will be warm or does this not matter?
Can it go in the fridge in a bottle to be used within same day? and the remeasured out in a fresh one?
Warm is fine. The few times I used pumped milk I warmed it up anyway

If pumping too did you have any issues baby using bottle and boob? I purchased ma'am starter bottles the small ones with slow flow teats ( have no idea if this is right im a ftm)
Yes, DC1 hated the bottle. Pumping was a colossal pain in the arse, bottles were unnecessary faff and I didn't bother at all with DC2, she never had a bottle at all. It was far easier.

Should I purchase a pump before shes born? And start pumping straight away and collecting fall out while feeding with a Hakka pump?
I never had any leaking from the other side so a Hakka wouldn't have collected anything for me. I wouldn't get a pump right away. If you end up not using it it's an expensive thing.

Don't buy a pump straight off. They're expensive. The pumping "push" comes from the US where mothers are back to work 6 weeks PP. (Criminal!)

It's an extra hassle so if you don't need it , don't do it.

The breastfeeding part has a steep (ish) learning curve then is really manageable. No having to sterilize and wash and pack bottles when you go out. Just pop baby on boob.
And I've realized over time, nobody is really looking at you and nobody really disapproves of breastfeeding these days.

Best of luck

We did combo feeding. Started to use a bottle on day 3 to get them used to it. Found it very straightforward. I would make sure I had enough bottles for the day and would chuck them all in bowl of Milton after cleaning at night. Later we moved onto the Mam bottles and very were easy too.

You’ll soon get the hand of one handed bottle feeding! I never heated the milk, used to take the expressed milk straight from the fridge. Saved a lot of time not having to heat it up.

I got sick of pumping so moved on to combining with formula and that was even simpler. The ready made bottles were amazing out and about, I could get a bottle ready quicker than lifting my top and unclipping my bra! We sometimes used the pre made for night feeds, just had a bottle handy on the side, takes seconds and my husband used to do it so I could have some sleep.

Personally I found formula/expressing easier than breastfeeding and was more suited to our needs as my husband could help out more.

I used www.kellymom.com and it answered so many of these questions. I exclusively breastfed all three children for more than two years each, and this website helped me with milk blockages, how to express and pump and store milk after maternity leave when at work, how to increase supply, what to wear, it was so so useful!

wow thanks so much everyone ive read every comment super super useful I really appreciate it ! and will be referring back this thread when shes here im sure !

One thing that can greatly impact on a baby’s “ability” to breastfeed effectively is tongue tie. They can be posterior or anterior. If your baby cusses at the breast or so having difficulty latching on / it’s very painful for you then it could be that they have tongue tie. Your midwife / hv should be able to refer you to a specialist tongue tie nurse to have it snipped. If they are done very early sometimes they fuse again- as was the case in my third baby.

All three of mine had it and the difference in their feeding once they’d had the procedure was amazing.

Haven’t read all the posts but another thing is make sure to eat well and drink plenty of fluids too.

if you do express milk then prolactin levels are highest at around 2am I believe but I could be wrong. I also used to find looking at my baby used to make my milk come in really quickly when I was expressing!

I never breastfed my first in public 11 years ago I was only 21 and not very confident. I used to express bottles and give her those and feed on the boob at home. I managed 11 months like this. My second I've left too long and she refuses the bottle so I breastfeed when I'm out if I have to now. If baby wants feeding I find a cafe or somewhere quiet out the way. I'm not a fan of the feeding facilities in my local area tend to stink with some crap chair to sit on. A lot more confident second time around think it helps being that bit now older too. Practice being discreet at home and it's not as bad as you think and mines a noisy fussy feeder. I've done it in busy hairdressers, Asda cafes, IKEA, in the car. There would be no way I had the confidence to do that 11 years ago.

*fusses not cusses 🫣

Would also recommend sussing out any local breastfeeding support groups. It's a nice easy outing where you don't have to worry about finding somewhere to feed, you'll meet other mums with little babies and you can get loads of support and advice about breastfeeding.

I introduced a bottle from day one, as I wanted my husband to be able to feed. Never had a problem - I introduced around 5 different type of bottles and dummies, and the baby took all of them.

I also took the pump to the hospital - I pumped after every feeding- bottle or breastfeed.
I wasn't lucky enough to have a lot of breastmilk, so I was just keeping it in the fridge and used it in 48 hours. If you have more milk, just freeze and defrost when needed.

I never breastfed in public, I was always carrying breastmilk and give it in the bottle. Mostly becouse I only managed to breastfeed on a breastfeeding pillow (not sure why, baby wasn't comfortable to lach in any other way).
I did used electric pump on the go - I guess the winter time helped to hide it under the big coat- I probably won't to that now in the summer.