Your questions on breast, bottle and mixed feeding have been answered by MAM's expert midwife, Katie Hilton

[BellaMumsnet]

Whether you’re a first time parent or have had babies before, feeding newborns and infants can raise a host of questions. Katie Hilton, MAM’s expert midwife and nurse, is here to help you find answers.

Katie is a dual qualified nurse, midwife and health visitor. Her experience has been mainly in labour delivery, postnatal and public/family health settings in hospitals and in the community. She has experience working with families in the UK, North America and Asia. Her specialist areas include infant feeding, sleep and child development. She currently practises independently as a midwife and health visitor and provides specialist advice to parents and families on behalf of the parenting press and nursery industry brands.

Here’s what MAM has to say: “Here at MAM we believe in supporting every mum on their feeding journey, whichever journey they choose. We want mums to join us in supporting each other, whether you opted for breast, bottle, or combination feeding, MAM has a solution to help parents feel confident and babies feel good. We know lots of parents end up opting for combination feeding - ie using a combination of breast and bottle feeding, whether with breastmilk or formula milk - and this can be a tricky thing to get good advice on, so if you've got any combi-feeding questions we'd love to hear them. Any question or experience shared could go on to help another mum out there.”

So whatever your question about feeding babies, if you'd like some advice please post your questions on this thread for Katie to answer. Katie will be back between the 25th January and the 5th February to answer your questions.

All who share a question on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky Mumsnet user will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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As a HV (who is on the NMC register) & an IBCLC, I wish I'd had the chance to do a Mumsnet Q&A, but obviously wouldn't be able to pay as much as MAM has 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's so heartening looking through to see mentions of First Steps Nutrition, UNICEF/WHO & Lucy Ruddle!

Hoping those reading have found all the other stuff linked more useful than Katie's advice which seemed less substantial than the others posting!

Since Lucy Ruddle has a book coming out later this year I am thinking of starting a thread to request her for a webchat closer to the time :o

Webchats are free to do - sponsored ones are generally a promo of some kind anyway.

What a joke. There are two adverts for Mam on this page!

I bottlefed exclusively all my four babies and always felt more confident that I knew exactly how much they were taking and all four babies were very content and satisfied which led to a very happy mammy and very relaxed newborns,i also loved the fact that my husband could feed too.I know some breastfeeding mums can be very uptight due to pressure about feeding,I honestly feel if everyone relaxed about which way a mum feeds their baby,there would be a lot less post natal stress. For some reason it seems that breastfeeding mums are concerned about how other mums are feeding whereas bottle feeding mums are quite content to feed their baby and get on happily with newborn life rather than thinking of anyone else's baby. Do you think that this rings through and maybe more education is needed to some mothers to spread awareness that happy mum equals happy baby,whether exclusively bottlefed,exclusively breastfed,combined fed by choice or by necessity..all my four are thankfully the most healthiest of children and I am thankful that they live in a part of the world where food is plentiful and hunger is not our concern

I don't think that's true @douliket - the number of times I've been told to get DS on a bottle by people who formula fed clearly means they're bothered about how I'm feeding him.

I can see as well that knowing how much your baby is taking can be reassuring, although from conversations with other mums this also appears to be a source of much stress when they suddenly take less for a few days, or they have more/less than next doors kid, or they're having double what the tin says they should at that age. Breastfeeding is just totally different in that respect as you just have to trust your baby to take what they need and rely on other physical indicators to be sure they're getting my enough (although whether that's easier or harder I don't know!).

Ok so very very stupid question but bearing in mind I've not had kids but hopefully soon as we are trying. So each time there is a feed do you use different breasts each time?

@BellaMumsnet hi - has the winner of the voucher been notified please - quite a volatile thread :)

Thanks to everyone who posted a question for Katie to answer. The winner of the prize draw is @RugsEverywhere - congratulations!

@midnight90 you start your baby off each feed on the one you didn’t start on the previous time, of that makes sense.

Eg if first feed in the morning you started on the left, when baby came off you would turn offer the right and so on until baby won’t take any more

Next feed, you start on the right and repeat!

When you are pg is a really good time to get a bf book. I recommend reading before the birth “the food of love”, which is great and the la ledge league book “the womanly art” is also excellent.

Really helps with niggling questions I had like this

Shocked to see this “unbiased” expert reeling off a list of “common” problems with breastfeeding- a surefire way to put people off. No you do not need to learn about how to deal with every possible breastfeeding problem before you start breastfeeding ffs. I’ve breastfed 2 babies and have never had mastitis, blocked ducts or engorgement.

@BellaMumsnet this is shocking. How much money did MAM pay you for this.

I hope all the people reading this realise this is essentially an advert for MAM and can’t be relied upon for advice.