How to get out of the house with Formula-fed baby?

[Cinai2]

My DS is 11 days old and I’m getting ready to prepare for leaving the house with him beyond trips to the coffee shop next door. Unfortunately I have insufficient milk supply and need to feed Formula, midwives are not optimistic that I’ll ever be able to produce more than 25% although I currently do what I can to boost supply (at the moment he only gets a max of 10% from breastfeeding at each feed).

How do people manage to feed on the go if baby is formula-fed? Do I just take formula with me and ask coffee shops or pubs along the way for some boiled water when I need to prepare a bottle? Are they usually happy to help, and is it safe (at home I always fill the kettle with fresh water and avoid re-boiling). Or do I need to get ready-mixed bottles of formula?

I just took ready made it was so much easier. Mine all took it from the carton at room temp as well.

You can take out hot water in a flask and make on the go

To be honest I used the readymade when out. I also took a flask of hot water and a container and warmed the milk up a bit. The whole process took 2 minutes. They can take them at room temperature I just liked to offer warm milk.

The Nuby Rapid Cool is an absolute god send for fresh feeds at the perfect temperature on the go. They're about £35.

As pp, we have always just kept a small supply of the ready to drink bottles to take with us when we are out and about. Both mine have been happy to drink at room temperature, but if not, you can either take a thermos of hot water to warm or a cafe will usually do a bowl of hot water to warm in.

Three main options (I used all of them at one point or other):

1. make up the bottle before you go out if the feed is due in the next 1-2 hours
2. take the little ready made bottles with you, baby may drink it at room temp
3. Take out a flask of boiling water, and pre-measured cooled boiled water sort of how the perfect prep machines (which I know can be controversial) work.

Oh yes have heard amazing things about these - Aldi have them in the middle aisle at the moment too

Midwives aren't qualified in breastfeeding. It's very odd what they've said about 10% from each feed- how are they measuring this? Breastmilk works on a supply and demand basis so the more you top up with formula the more your supply will dip. Have you thought about seeking support from a lactation specialist?

You sound like you've had terrible advice on breastfeeding.

Ready made bottles all the way (as in: those little bottles you buy in the supermarkets with ready to feed formula). Life saver.

I currently pump every 3 hours with a hospital-grade pump in an attempt to increase supply, this also gives me an idea how much milk there is…usually after baby fed on breast, and I only get about 2ml. If I pump before baby feeds, it’s just under 10ml. Currently baby wants 60ml-90ml per feed. Sadly there wasn’t any increase since I started pumping (plus supplements) a week ago, that’s why my midwife said that I might never achieve sufficient supply. But I’m open to look into other options/seek further opinions.

I used to take a flask of boiled water out with me. I used a meat thermometer to check how long it stayed hot enough for... can't remember now but it was at least five hours.

I used a Prep machine at home so I just replicated that.

OP not everyone can pump so again the midwife sounds uneducated. I've never been able to pump much at all. Only a few drops. I EBF my baby.

If you put your baby to your breast for a few days every time they want to feed, before offering formula just lock into some Telly I would be surprised if you don't increase your supply significantly. Pumping does fuck all for lots of women.

When mine moved onto formula I just bought ready mixed, was so much easier!
Also, by number 3 I had learned not to worry about heating milk up, breast milk isn’t ’warm’ - I’d made a rod for my own back heating it up with the first 2.

Another vote for the nuby rapid cool! We often used the hot shot method so there was no worries about sterilising the rapid cool if we were out for longer.

I took the little bottles of ready-made stuff and asked for hot water or took a thermos of boiling water with me. I never had any problems, it was super easy and I feed mine everywhere - shops, restaurants, camping, theme parks, cars, everywhere!

How did you get to EBF? My baby lost almost 15% of birth weight within the first 5 days so I had to start formula top ups, and now he’s still hungry enough to drink up to 90ml from the bottle after a breastfeeding session.

Have you had input from a lactation consultant?

How do you know how much breast milk your baby wants or is getting?

It's not recommended to pump as it interferes with supply.
Pumping is totally different and isn't indicitive of supply.

Awful and incorrect advice from MW.

I exclusively bf ds3 until 6 months and I could never pump more than 10ml, even when he hadn't fed for hours. He put on plenty of weight and didn't starve so was clearly getting far more feeding than I could get pumping.

Please see a lactation consultant/specialist. Midwives usually lack much of the necessary knowledge around breastfeeding as they've proven by what they've told you. Go private if you can, it'll be worth every penny. I never pumped more than 8 or 9ml including with a rented hospital grade pump but I also exclusively fed both of my children through to preschool age. Please see someone who knows what they're talking about if you do want to breastfeed. Good luck with whatever you choose.

I was so confused about this too!

You need flask of boiling water, Nuby rapid cool, little containers for the formula

or as pp say to ready made :)

Triple feeding (pump, BF, bottle) is incredibly hard, I did it for 10 weeks and nearly killed me. Be kind to yourself and do what’s right for both of you, lactation consultants are brilliant. Look up mother Shaheda on Instagram too.

OP if you want to continue breastfeeding please see a specialist or speak la leche league!! There’s a really high chance you can increase your supply. Midwives aren’t trained in this.

also pre made cartons is what I used when I moved over to formula when bubs was older

he’s still hungry enough to drink up to 90ml from the bottle after a breastfeeding session

The thing is, at 11 days old the whole concept of a bf 'session' is backwards. In the very early days you can't just pop them on the boob for 10 minutes like you'd feed them with the bottle and then they're done.

At 11 days, ds3 was feeding every hour or so which is completely normal. It's regularity of feeding that builds supply.