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Breast and Bottle - Can you do both?
My son is 3 1/2 weeks and currently breastfed but I just can't keep up with him, he feeds every 90 mins at least and every 2 hours at night. He's on me all night from tea time onwards and sometimes he can only fall asleep with my nipple in his mouth :roll: This past week he's feeding all morning too and wakes up every time I put him down.My HV said he's having a growth spurt and might need to feed constantly for 24/48 hours until I can produce enough milk to meet his demands but ths has been going on for over 2 weeks now. I can feed him for 1 1/2 hours and then he'll still have 2 or 3 ozs of formula straight after. At the moment he's being topped up with just 1 bottle of formula although yesterday he had 3oz of breast milk from a bottle as well.
Sorry to go on a bit but has anyone managed to combine breast and bottle at this early stage??
How many breastfeeds can I replace before I get engorged boobs?
Is it possible to get it down to 1 or 2 breastfeeds a day and bottles in between?
Please someone give me some advice before I give up breastfeeding altogether, I'm sick of feeling guilty and miserable
Sorry to go on a bit but has anyone managed to combine breast and bottle at this early stage??
How many breastfeeds can I replace before I get engorged boobs?
Is it possible to get it down to 1 or 2 breastfeeds a day and bottles in between?
Please someone give me some advice before I give up breastfeeding altogether, I'm sick of feeling guilty and miserable
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Replies
I breast fed my youngest & plan to do the same when this little one arrives. I breast fed only until she was almost 3 months old then i went to a party and left her with my parents, as i couldnt leave my boobs behind i decided to mix her feeds. not only because i was off out for my sanity but because its exhausting and my nipples were killing me too lol.......about a week into mixed feeding my milk started to dry up, don't know if thats why but i'm guessing my boobs felt a bit redundant......lol.....you've got to weigh up the pro's and con's though, is it worth you being tired and unhappy, or do you mix feed so that someone else can take over while you have a break.....you've done a good job feeding him yourself for 3 and a half weeks, give yourself a feed or two off or you wont be fit for anything else.....And as for the guilt.....there's plenty more opportunity for feeling guilty as they get older for example leaving them with a sitter, going back to work, leaving them at school on their first day, the first time they fall over and you're not there to catch them.........so give yourself a pat on the back for doing so well now ;\)
is it not best to express evertime u give the baby formula so ur boobs dont get weaned off? sorry i dont know that much about this its just what my friend advised me to do as i have a hungry baby too...
gonna make my desicion today on what to do... after his weight is checked...i just feel ive let him down... bless him...
swxx
Ive found that getting out and about keeps him asleep that bit longer so i can get him as hungry as possible, then he'll have a really good feed. This means he will go another four hours til the next feed.
I also occassionally give him a dummy if he just needs to suck something or to send him off to sleep so i can delay the feed a bit.
We do have bad days where he goes back to his old habits but i put it down to a growth spurt.
I know they say to feed on demand but we have demands too!! Good luck