Breast feeding, pros and cons

PeskyPenguin

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

The most important element of co-sleeping as far as my definition was concerned was not having to get out of bed at 4am :rotfl:

:rotfl:Don't blame you! Although I guess no BF baby ever has its nappy changed through the night :D.

neverdespairgirl

I'd love to agree with you - but it won't be entirely true (-:

I liked to minimise by 4am wandering-around-the-flat trips, though, as far as possible!

DS has never agreed to sleep in unknown cots / beds etc - so when we go on holiday, he does sleep between me and OH.

galvanizersbaby

PeskyPenguin wrote: »

:rotfl:Don't blame you! Although I guess no BF baby ever has its nappy changed through the night :D.

Oh dear - I used to have to change my son's nappy in the middle of the night when I was breastfeeding - was that not the norm then?

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

Oh dear - I used to have to change my son's nappy in the middle of the night when I was breastfeeding - was that not the norm then?

We had to as well - one of the pitfalls of co-sleeping was that she slept on her side and her nappies leaked everywhere. We tried all sorts of things. My god, the poos [sob]

siren13577

Congratulations!!!
I breast and bottled fed both of my children, I have a five year old and a nine week old, both are doing fine. With co-feeding I found it freed me up a bit, it can be really hard to breast feed at times and although it's the most natural thing in the world it's really intense and can be quite isolating, although with support and help it doesn't have to be. Please don't pressure your partner into breast feeding if she doesn't want to. If she chooses to breast feed, invest in a really good breast pump so that she can express and you and other family members can take turns. Also it's handy to have some milk expressed for out and about.

Breast milk is okay at room temperature for four hours, this will change if it's hot. It can keep in the fridge for 2 days but will need shaking as it can separate like normal milk and in the freezer for a month. You can get freezer bags for breast milk which are easy to use. Stand breast milk in hot water to heat up, don't microwave as it kills the healthy pre- and pro-biotics, or so my HV/MW told me.

On the flip side if it's not for her formula milk is very good nowadays and lots of people have used it and their babies are fine, yes it's expensive but it's all about personal choice. Try and buy it from your health centre or GP as it's generally cheaper.
Some other things you can use when the baby is born is your local surestart centre, it's fab, they have all sorts of activities on for your baby and is free! Try freecycle for baby stuff, it's amazing what people will give away. Good luck and congratulations once again!

daphne_descends

Great post Siren but I must point out, breast milk should be stirred rather than shaken - this can disrupt the composition of it

FWIW I would not have managed to establish breastfeeding if it wasn't for co-sleeping. It has been, and continues to be, a life saver. I get more sleep than if I had bottle-fed, that is for sure.

siren13577

daphne_descends wrote: »

Great post Siren but I must point out, breast milk should be stirred rather than shaken - this can disrupt the composition of it

FWIW I would not have managed to establish breastfeeding if it wasn't for co-sleeping. It has been, and continues to be, a life saver. I get more sleep than if I had bottle-fed, that is for sure.

Thanks for that, I think I did mean stirring, rather than shaking, thanks for reminding me!!!

PeskyPenguin

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

Oh dear - I used to have to change my son's nappy in the middle of the night when I was breastfeeding - was that not the norm then?

I'm sure neverespairgirl understoon what I meant (although tongue in check as per my choice of icons!). Some posters stated that a benefit of co-sleeping is not having to get out of bed - my point was nappy changes still have to be tackled .

galvanizersbaby

PeskyPenguin wrote: »

I'm sure neverespairgirl understoon what I meant (although tongue in check as per my choice of icons!). Some posters stated that a benefit of co-sleeping is not having to get out of bed - my point was nappy changes still have to be tackled .

Right, sorry I couldn't be bothered to go back and read the whole thing - I've been on hols for a week and this thread is still going.
Been out of the whole feeding/nappy thing for a while now but I guess it's kind of an emotive subject for those still there!

surreysaver

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I'm not at all wound up - for a start, you will notice I'm not flinging insults around or trying to denigrate other women.

What insult?