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breast feeding or formula?

DarkCherryMochaDarkCherryMocha
in My baby was born in Feb 2010
i was nt able to produce enough milk instantly.. Ended up with a crying baby n me struggling with bf. Thanks to previous experiences, i topped up every bf with a formula feed n baby is very happy now.. Sleeping for 3 hours n good wet nappies.. How r u all coping?

Xxx
Bubbly

Replies

  • gemm-42032gemm-42032
    Im BF and getting there now. My wee boy wasnt feeding too well last week when he was just new, he wasnt looking for food at all and i was strugglng to get him to feed more than 2 or 3 times in 24 hours. Once he got to about 3 days hes perked up is doing really well.

    Are you still topping up or are you keeping up now??

    Gemm x
  • DarkCherryMochaDarkCherryMocha
    hi gem

    My lil gal sleeps while being fed on breast n then wakes up hungry. However for past one day she has slept for 5 hrs wit 2oz milk i wondered why ... The midwife who visited us today says she has mild jaundice.... N i should wake her up every 3 hrs n force her a feed. Hmmmm how r u coping today

    Xxx
  • ImpatientUKImpatientUK
    i managed to bf for the first day but Evan started to get annoyed & upset when he couldnt get anymore & so we put him on the bottle on Sunday night. We continued on the bottle mon, tues, wed & then on thurs my milk started to come in so we tried bf again. He was on me constantly from 11.30am till 7pm and it was really sore. He started to get annoyed again and i realised that we should be enjoying this time not getting stressed and upset. So Thursday night we decided to stick to the bottle as he was much more content. On Friday i tried expressing & i managed to get a good 2oz on my first attempt. I was so happy i could give him some breast milk. So since yesterday i've been expressing every few hours and topping him up with formula milk. It's been a bit harder this afternoon and i noticed that one nipple started bleeding when i was expressing (not sure what to do about that), but im going to persevere with it.
    Well done to you all for bf'ing. xx
  • DarkCherryMochaDarkCherryMocha
    impatient.. I am the same like you... we both are still struggling from the feeding point of view... but I am expressing and then topping up with the formula and thats helping a lot unlike with my first baby we were so stressed as what to do... sometimes formula milk can be a boon... bleeding nipples ?? try Lansinoh cream .. u will get it in boots.. tesco... its magic... put it on after baby feeds or u have expressed.

    My baby continues to look pale yellow inspite of breast feeding every 3 hrs or so ... am getting a bit worried with her jaundice. She is having good bowel moments too...

    any suggestions??
    xxx
  • gemm-42032gemm-42032
    Does your area have a breastfeeding co-ordinator?? May be worth asking the midwife/health visitor. My area has one that will come out to my house to help if i need it which i thought was really good

    Im doing ok although im finding my ds is feeding every hour for a few hours then settling. Tonight is the first night that hes been settled since 7pm, long may it continue

    Gemm x
  • LisaLeighLisaLeigh
    Hi Gemm

    Cara was jaundiced when she was born, and she was only classed as a border line case, but it was enough to stop her feeding. Apparently, being jaundiced will make a baby not want to eat. she lost some weight, and was only better after 2 days under the UV lights. Although it was a mild case, her colour looked quite strong, so maybe this is not what is happening to you. Just giving you a warning as to why baby will not wake for food, or just not feed even when hungry. Good luck with the breast feeding xx
  • babs4babs4
    Both my midwife and HV gave me these tips to get babys feeding established......
    1/ if baby is a lazy feeder or sleeps alot strip baby off, no clothes, change nappy and then get baby dressed again, this should wake baby up, get it wiggling and then baby should feed well after.

    2/ never leave baby to sleep and miss a feed, even if you need to wake baby up, 9 times out of 10 baby will root automatically when stired from sleep.

    3/ drink a pint of water on the hour every hour to stop you getting dehydrated.

    4/ if milk is slow to come in try expressing after the morning feed to help increase your supply.

    5/ massage breast in downward strokes with warm face clothes to help stimulate the ducts in the breasts, this also helps prevents blockages/mastitis/tender patches.

    6/ if you are having increased sore nipples that the pain last longer than 5 seconds when baby latches on then it might need a tweek in the possition of baby.

    7/ make sure you are sitting comfortable, up right with a good posture, never "flop" over the baby to feed, always bring baby up to the breast ( tummy to mummy).

    not sure if this helps, just read off a little check list the main points that help successful feeding.

    My little man had mild jaudice too and didnt feed in the first 13hrs as he was so sleepy but now he feeds like a trooper and I cant give him enough boob lol!!!!!

    goodluck girls xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • DarkCherryMochaDarkCherryMocha
    Thank you babs3+bean... your advice is going to be helpful to all of this thread readers image

    xxx
    Bubbly
  • MrsV86MrsV86
    Im BF at the mo, I strted BF but then she wasn't getting enough so gave her some cow and gate breastmilk substitute thing (ready made stuff) and she guzzled it and both myself and OH was happy knowing she was feeding, when my milk come through we tried again but she just didnt have enough nipple to latch onto so i was getting more and more worked up. OH went to tescos and found some nipple protecters which have a long end for her to suck on and she is BF really well now, we are also going to express tonight and see how that goes but she never seems to get enough milk from me so we still top her up with 1 1/2 - 2oz of bottle and she settles for about 4-5 hours! Shes a week old now and it's passed in such a blur! xx
  • unhappy_EX_userunhappy_EX_user
    I am breast feeding mainly although I ended up in hospital on Friday night so OH formula fed him then and again last night so I could get some sleep after spending most of Friday night in A&E and then an awful night on Saturday. It also meant I could have some champers for Valentines he he.

    I have been trying to express but not too successfully, I have been given some good tips so will be trying those. I don't want to feed in public, my boobs are mahoosive and the only position I can feed is the rugby ball style position which is not exactly conducive to public feeding so I want to express for when we are out. Luckily he has swapped from breast to bottle and back again with both formula and expressed milk without any problems.

    I have found when he falls asleep halfway through a feed changing his nappy ususally wakes him enough to get him feeding again and then he is fed and clean and ready to go down when he falls asleep on me again.

    He didn't feed well for the first few days, he was coughing up a lot of mucus and gunk from birth and had no appetite, he was going 6-8 hours between feeds and I couldn't force him, he just started at me refusing to open his mouth. Since day 3 though he has been feeding every 2-3 hours happily and has regained his birth weight and then some.
  • TheOriginalMonkeynutsTheOriginalMonkeynuts
    a mixture of the 2!

    I was always adamant that I would only BF if it worked for us a family and to be honest it mostly does but I just physically can't do every feed day and night without becoming super stressed and overtired which isn't good for my bonding with DD so we now give 1 bottle of formula at about midnight (while I sleep hubby does this and the nappy change that goes with it). We have also given the occasional bottle in the day when I have just been desperate for a nap.

    We actually started off with both these feeds being expressed but my milk has just come in and expressing is a bit of a false economy at the minute as half an hour later I'm in agony.

    xx
  • NYY1927NYY1927
    I started off breast feeding only from the minute my daughter was born. However, at night her feeds have been taking anything from 1 and a half to 2 hours to finish, as she keeps falling asleep whilst feeding. So unfortunately we have started giving her formula at night, as she drinks that much quicker and doesn't fall asleep until she's finished.
  • KirstyMaceyKirstyMacey
    Im breast feeding at the mo and havent given any formula yet and its going surprislingly well i just need to make sure i eat enough and drink enough as yesturday i felt empty on both sides but she still seemed fine so just eating loads now which i dont have a problem with lol!! NYY1927 my lo falls asleep whilst feeding aswell so i feed on one side and when she falls asleep i then change her nappy and this them wakes her again and then feed on the other side worth a try during the day if your lo does it again xx
  • MrsCalopaMrsCalopa
    I am trying to b/f but its not going brilliant. DD has trouble latching and my breastfeeding woman thinks she may be tounge tied. Also DD got jaundice when she was 1 day old and still has it now (though thankfully it is clearing up). We were in hospital for the first 9 days of her life and she was under photothearpy for most of this. Also she lost 12.5% of her birth weight and was deyhdrated!

    I went to a breast feeding support group on Tuesday and I was advised to express 10 times a day to increase my supply and try and have as much skin to skin with DD as possible. We are managing to give her 99% of her feeds as EBM in a bottle though we have also tried cup feeding her

    It is so tiring but I do feel proud that even though she has had to have some formula it was on the doctors say so (I call it medicine!) and she is getting breast milk regardless of how it gets in her. Can't wait until we have the latching on problem sorted though x
  • DarkCherryMochaDarkCherryMocha
    Oh... I so much can feel for you Mrs Calopa as I went through a similar stage with my elder DS. This time though I wanted to exclusively breast feed DD.. it was against some odds as she already was a small baby struggling with her weight at birth and if she would'nt have gained enough weight now ..she would have to be put in the incubator is wat the docs said to me.... and above all she had jaundice.... she did become too weak to suck on my breasts... finally I gave in and do feed her formula now and then so that she doesn't loose her weight image

    Sometimes I just am sad thinking am I doing wrong giving her FF.... but what else could I have done.... image it is a boon maybe...am I going wrong in doing this ??

    imageimage
  • MrsCalopaMrsCalopa
    The only way I coped with it was to call the formula medicine - after all I was doing it on the doctors say so.

    It is so hard and I am finding the constant expressing so hard - not sure how much longer I can last but each extra day is a bonus for us x
  • xxAdamsMumxxxxAdamsMumxx
    Hi everyone

    We are mix feeding (breast, ebm and formula), as Adam is such a hungry baby I can't cope with having him on my breast 22 hours out of 24! image

    He hated formula and bottles at first, but he has got used to them now and is fairly happy and I am relieved that using a bottle has not put him off breast feeding.

    We tend to use formula at night as he sleeps much better afterwards and I get a bit of sleep too!

    For those who are expressing - I have bought a Medela Swing breast pump and it is fab - much more efficient than the hand pump I had been using...

    Cath xxx
  • PelPel
    We have been breastfeeding right from the start, however my LO didnt want to close his mouth, he could latch on but then would re open his mouth, or do a few sucks and then let it flow out. He was also born with jaundice and lost 12percent of his birth weight, so we got told to wake him up every 3 hours, though you can try every trick in the book to wake him and it wouldnt work.
    I found that changing his position, made him latch on a lot better, though he is still quite lazy and do top him up with formula, or in the evening when he completely drains me (he feeds for nearly two hours solid with no sleeping on the boob, just constant suckling). I now feed him sitting on my thigh so his legs straddle it, he prefers sitting upright, he still wont feed in the "normal" horizontal position or the rugby ball position. At first i had to have a pillow for him to sit on as A) he was a bit short and B) i had an emergency c-section so was a bit sore on oneside.
    We use SMA hungry newborn milk.. he will only drink it warm, and if it gets too cool will sick that bit up.
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