Tips and advice for bottle from the off

[popps123]

I am pregnant with my second child and looking for advice from any mums who opted to giving newborn baby bottle from birth.

With my first, I had a pretty horrific time breastfeeding with severe mastitis twice which meant my mental health plummeted. I can't do that to this child and therefore will be giving formula.

What should you do about boobs once given birth? I imagine they will leak and want to prevent any infection... how will the milk dry up and what's the safest way?

I expressed for a few months with first but also reluctant to this time unless I need to.

Any advice for my boobs after birth and also for baby bottle feeding is so welcome!

Thank you.

I bf my first and ff my second, I didn't need to do anything with my boobs

Both of mine were FF from birth, I didn't need to do anything with a bottle, they knew what to do.
In terms of boobs I didn't do anything. I remember being in agony when my milk came in, and I was a lot more uncomfortable second time around. It was only for a couple of days though. With my first it took months to completely dry out, with my second I think I was dried up within a few weeks.

I was unable to breastfeed my child so he was fully on the bottle right away. Personally I used and preferred tommee tippee but there's other ranges. There's probably lots of deals on currently in the sales for various bottle feeding equipment, such as bottle sets, sterilisers, bottle prep machine. Start having a good look around and check reviews etc
I used tommee tippee prep machine, which was an absolute life saver especially when baby is screaming and crying for a bottle, it's prepped and ready in less than a couple of mins and no waiting around for kettle boiled water to cool...
With regards to breast milk, I didn't really get much so I didn't have to worry about how to handle/stop it. You may be different as you've breast fed before. But I think the less stimulation the breasts get, the more likely they will start drying up, so expressing may not be the best idea if you don't instead to breast feed, unless medically necessary..
Good luck 💕

I wouldn't bother with smaller bottles, they're a waste of money.

It's worth getting the tiny premade bottles for in hospital. They're expensive so definitely not for long term, especially as they're 2oz each.

I was hospitalised with mastitis with my son, suspected abscess and blue lighted to breast specialist - during that time I was given tablets (no idea what it was sorry, all a blur) to stop my milk, might be worth asking your midwife?

All of your replies have been so helpful, thank you very much!

I FF both of mine. Definitely get a prep machine they're amazing. I used the ready made bottles in the hospital. Unused ready made bottles from the hospital were handy for night feeds when we were home.
My boobs didn't leak, they just felt full but never sore. That was both times. I wore a really soft bra to bed the first few nights for support until I could feel they weren't full anymore.