How does it work if you don't want to breastfeed?

[Fjbfuud133]

Hi,

I don't want to breastfeed. How does it work? Should I say it to the midwife? Should I bring formula to the hospital when I give birth? I'm confused.

Hi OP, it’s totally your choice. Your midwife will probably ask you towards the end of pregnancy if you’ve thought about it because they can offer breastfeeding advice and can give you syringes for colostrum to use before birth but you can absolutely just say no. Yes you will need to take formula to the hospital, I’d recommend buying the little 6 packs that come with teets to pop straight on the bottle for ease for while in the hospital after delivery so there’s no sterilising required x

They’ll probably encourage you to give colostrum, and give you the stuff to harvest it. I never got a drop that way though. But you can just take the pre-made formula bottles into the hospital and off you go! They’ll see it all the time. I breastfed DS2 for 3 days so he’d get the colostrum but no idea if that was worth it.

The midwife will ask you at the hospital. My community midwife also asked when I was pregnant.

I'd also second the advice given above about the pre-made newborn bottles. I packed these in my hospital bag. They're really good to take in with you so you don't have to make up bottles yourself.

The midwife's job is to make sure you've had access to all the information you need to make an informed decision so she may raise it with you and ask you your feelings. If you say your want to bottle feed she may ask you about that and your experiences of feeding etc. There should be no pressure, it is just about the informed decision and letting you know what support is out there. She may encourage you to keep an open mind and remind you that you don't need to make a decision until baby is there is your arms.

Many women who want to bottle feed do collect some colostrum for baby's first feed so she may ask you if you've considered doing this.

If you are choosing to bottle feed from birth most hospitals now will ask you to provide your own milk. Starter packs can be useful with ready made bottles and teats but are expensive if having a longer hospital stay. You'll need to ask what facilities there are at your hospital. Not many have the facilities to make powdered milk up safely but they may have a fridge where you can store bigger bottles of ready made milk and a steriliser for your own bottles.

I'm a breastfeeding counsellor. We don't call it liquid gold for no reason. It's a fantastic start and there are loads of benefits to the first ever substance passing through their digestive system being colostrum.

Just say due to your own reasons you are bottle feeding. Both of mine were formula fed and I literally got some pre made bottles. Put 8 in my hospital bag and had more at home which was lucky as I was kept in hospital but DH just brought plenty more when ge visited. Nobody hassled me to do anything and I was left to it.

Your midwife will ask. Yes, take formula with you.

You just say ‘I’m formula feeding’ when they ask the question. Take some pre made formulas into hospital with you. I just did immunisation feeding with my second so put her on the breast as soon as she was born but also gave her some formula a few hours later before we left the hospital

I bottle fed but wasn't planning to. I remember feeling quite overwhelmed with sterilising and making up the bottles as I wasn't at my best post birth. Have a little practice beforehand with the steriliser and making up the bottles. You are supposed to pull the teats through with plastic tweezers ( also sterilised) so you don't touch them with your fingers. Storing made up bottles for 4 hours in fridge is fine. You need to warm the milk slightly so it is body temperature before giving it to baby. ( can be done with putting in jug of hot water) Yes good idea to take ready bottles to hospital. At my hospital they didn't support with bottle feeding at all so that's why you need to be well prepared xx

I took formula with me and fortunately had a brilliant experience with zero pressure.
If anyone tries to convince you otherwise a firm hand needs to go up. You don’t want to, that’s that and there is no negotiation. Your choice is valid.

I chose to bottle feed from day 1. I can't remember being asked how I was thinking about feeding baby by the community midwife. Birth was a shit show with ds in the nicu and me upstairs for a couple of days. A midwife came up and said Did you want to breast feed. I said no, so they started him on formula, which I was happy with. DS is now 11 and suffered next to no illness as a child. He's never had a day off school or contracted a stomach bug! Whatever you choose, it's the right decision for you.

As others have said, take formula with you. Have a look at colostrum and the information around what it does. Some women do decide to give that before moving to formula.

In terms of breast health. Once the placenta is birthed, your body will produce prolactin. This will start the transition of your colostrum into mature milk. This process happens regardless of whether you want to breastfeed or not.

The change happens around day 3-5 after birth and is often called your milk coming in. The change in hormones can make women feel very teary / emotional. Very normal. The breasts may feel larger and tender.

If breastmilk isn’t removed then further hormones tell your body to stop making it. The build up of milk can cause inflammation like mastitis. So, it’s worth taking some ibuprofen for the discomfort, and you can hand express / massage the breasts in the shower just to relieve the discomfort. Try not to remove too much as it could stimulate more to be made. Cabbage leaves in the bra are also said to help.

When the body stops making milk it can also make women feel very emotional. Very normal but can take you by surprise if you’re not expecting it.

Oh yeah and too add, have a look at the website first steps nutrition. It’s a great non commercial, evidenced based source of information for all things bottle feeding. It includes information of choosing formula and making up bottles.

Another good read (and short) is a book called Why Formula Feeding Matters by Shell Banks. Fantastic book that goes through the evidence of why the guidelines around preparation of formula are what they are.

I always took the ready made bottles of formula to hospital. Then you don't need to leave the room to make up the formula.

I didn't even try to breast feed my second due to having a nightmare with it with my first.

I told them I wasn't doing it and they said fine.

I took the ready made bottles in with me.

as above you can buy premade formula to pack in your hospital bag they come with teats so easy to use, i planned to bf but took some anyway just incase it didn’t go to plan, but the hospital will have some formula too- my OH bought the wrong formula-came without the teats so we asked for some teats to use and she brought in a few bottles of premade with the teats as baby was bf but needed top ups until my milk came in xx

Thank you ladies 🙏 my plan is to give colostrum the natural way (seems easy) and than switch to formula. I've also thought to pump my milk and give it to the the baby as well until my body stop producing it, but I don't know if is it going to work.

Both my live births resulted in babies that just weren't interested in the boob. Both times the hospital supplied pre made formula bottles. I was told, at the time 4 years ago, it was pretty standard for all mums to have access to this. A bit like the maternity pads etc they provide to you, part of the care. Ask your midwife if the hospital provides pre made formula or if you need to take your own.

Simply because it could save you money and bag space.

In terms of telling them, tell your midwife and pop it on your birth plan. They shouldn't be/aren't too pushy around mothers choice how to feed.

I was told that the hospital had formula if you planned to breastfeed but there was a problem. If you plan to use formula they expected you to bring it in with you.

If you want to pump you can. Just remember that the more milk you remove from your breast, the more the breast will make.

If you don’t want to breastfeed then pumping will keep your milk around for longer. Hand express for comfort is enough if you want to safely reduce your supply.

Have a look at the NCT’s website for information on infant feeding. Lots of evidence based info that you can use to make a plan.

If you start off feeding colostrum directly, you'll need to learn to latch the baby. You might as well just do that for as long as you want to, then stop and go on to formula. Which is what most women do tbh.

Depending on your reason for not wanting to bf, you might change your mind if the baby latches on and you find it easy.

I was asked by my midwife what method I was planning on using I said FF she marked it down, I was asked what brand I was using of the brands they held they gave me a bottle and that was it