Bottle Feeding

Bitsy_Beans

susiesue wrote: »

goodness me can't belive any one bothers with all this faff! breast feeding is cheaper and easier. this country has a real problem with it, people can be so unsupportive but i really don't understand why bottle feed. not being funny or a troll but i honestly do not understand why bottle feed.
i understand some women really CAN'T not won't do it but for goodness sake can anyone tell me why you put up with all this faff? it would have drove me nuts.

my ds was an emergency c-section weight of 9lb 6oz, i was on a drip and morphine and had compications after birth so i had a rotten time. his first feed was formula, which he took very well. i felt like he had been poisioned! i was very emoitional though. lol

I didn't want to BF (and no I can't be @rsed to get into that debate sorry) but I don't find making bottles a faff.
But then I sterilise, add water, heat bottle in microwave and then add powder.

I don't think BF is necessarily less of a faff. Sure if you have a baby that latches on easily etc it's probably a breeze but not everyone experiences this. My one friend could only get her baby to latch in quite a difficult feeding position (for her not baby) and as such never BF outside of the house. That hardly smacks of not being a faff. Then there is mastitis, thrush etc etc. Again plenty of things to make feeding unpleasant and difficult.

Considering what you feed your kids DOESN'T end with milk (be it FF or BF) I really don't think it's worth taking much notice of what anyone else thinks. Happy mum = happy baby. I am pro choice.

jenhug

li'l_p wrote: »

This is something we have been told should not be done.

its funny how times change so quickly, it has been done this way for years, both my daughters bottles were prepared this way and neither have suffered ill effects from it. They are now 10 and 8. Its a new fad to be adding the formula powder later.

jinky67

emlou2009 wrote: »

lil p, ignore the hurtful comments. you have done the best you can for your baby whether it be expressed milk or formula milk, he needs to eat which is what you have done, nothing else matters honestly! and the worst thing you can do is stress yourself and your baby trying to do something which isnt working. thats exactly what i did for the first 3 weeks of my sons life, i am actually welling up as i write this lol, but i really regret that i spent those precious first weeks dreading every waking moment of his life, arguing with my OH as he fed him formula behind my back as he could see it wasnt working! and i have to admit that before i had him i was a one for "why would you not breastfeed, bottles are faff" etc myself.

dont worry about what these people say, its your baby, your life, your decision and come and join us on the parent thread for more straight talking, you dont get silly comments like that over there

Sorry, but i dont believe any of us have made hurtful comments. All we have said is why would anyone go through this faff?
I appreciate that some people cant or dont want to BF. But all we are saying is WE dont understand why anyone would WANT to mess around with bottles when they dont have to.
I certainly am not trying to upset anyone, merely offering an opinion, mine.

At the end of the everyone has to do what THEY think is best for their baby:cool:

li'l_p

jinky67 wrote: »

Sorry, but i dont believe any of us have made hurtful comments. All we have said is why would anyone go through this faff?
I appreciate that some people cant or dont want to BF. But all we are saying is WE dont understand why anyone would WANT to mess around with bottles when they dont have to.
I certainly am not trying to upset anyone, merely offering an opinion, mine.

At the end of the everyone has to do what THEY think is best for their baby:cool:

Yes, and if you read the whole thread, I do state that I CAN'T. It is not that I haven't tried my damnest to, as I did. I was so totally breastfeeding leading up to the birth of the baby and was adamant I would do nothing else. I have so many books and leaflets on the subject, I was boring everyone with the ins and outs as I was so set that this was what I wanted to do. Sadly this was not to be the case and I have has to resort to bottle feeding. It has been difficult and yes it is hurtful when people hark on as if you are doing someting wrong, without a consideration to individual circumstances. .

jinky67

li'l_p wrote: »

Yes, and if you read the whole thread, I do state that I CAN'T. It is not that I haven't tried my damnest to, as I did. I was so totally breastfeeding leading up to the birth of the baby and was adamant I would do nothing else. I have so many books and leaflets on the subject, I was boring everyone with the ins and outs as I was so set that this was what I wanted to do. Sadly this was not to be the case and I have has to resort to bottle feeding. It has been difficult and yes it is hurtful when people hark on as if you are doing someting wrong, without a consideration to individual circumstances. .

And I do appreciate that, but I certainly never said, or meant for you to think, that I thought you were doing something wrong.

x

feelinggood_2

li'l_p wrote: »

In the end I had to tell them to leave me alone is it was simply not helping me or the baby, and was in fact making us worse. Plus it was prolonging my stay in hospital as I was not 'ticking the boxes' as they want you to be.

I am still expressing as I still don't believe it is a lost cause. However, I have enough to be dealing with at the moment, in terms of my physical recovery so I am not prepared to add to the already existing stuff we are getting used to.

Hi Li'l P, congrats on the birth of your baby!

My son is almost 12 weeks now. We had problems with breastfeeding, despite the help of 16 different midwives, lactation consulants and health visitors, we couldn't get it. My Mum (An NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor) stayed with me for a week to try and help, but still nothing.

I expressed for him, and kept trying him at the breast. I didn't try him that often, as it was so distressing when he got upset. I spent time just cuddling him and holding him near though.

When he was 8 weeks and 4 days old, he suddenly started sucking on my top. I took him to the sofa and stuck a boob in his mouth and he fed! Its been three weeks now without him having a bottle, and he is gaining weight and thriving.

I've known other ladies whose babies have latched on at 6 weeks, and one whose triplets got it a 4.5 months.

If you are keen on breastfeeding, it might be worth sticking with expressing and trying.

About bottles, I used cold water sterilizing. Wash with hot soapy water, rinse and soak in steriliser. After they'd been done, I'd take them out, screw them together wet (and empty) and leave them. From what I read and was told, they'd keep sterile for 24 hours this way. Like has been said, use a teat tong thing to avoid touching the teat. I'd pour expressed milk in and stick it in the fridge.

Expressed milk can be stored differently to formula. See:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html

Basically, it can be kept in the fridge for quite a while, then heated up and offered to baby. If it isn't eaten in one go, it can be put back in the fridge and offered at the next feed.

I always had 8 bottles made up the the fridge. When I expressed, it'd put the newest bottle at the back, and fed from the front. This was almost a days worth, so the milk was never more than 24 hours old. I froze anything I made above those 8 bottles.

If you want to talk, or have any questions or anything, I'm always around. I'm no expert but am more than happy to share my experience and try and help if I can.

RoxieW

I have the opposite problem lol - my 4 mth old loves the breast and wont take from a bottle. I have 2 other children and cant be attached to him 24/7 so the plan was to breast feed and bottle feed him expressed milk. However, he just chews on the bottle teat until he gets bored/too hungry - then screams for the breast. He refuses to suck a bottle teat although he'll suck on toys, fingers, my OH's nose lol! It's getting to the stage now where we need to do something about this but I'm at a loss! I've tried a whole range of bottles, plus cups and beakers with different teats - he just spits the milk out if it gets into his mouth in the first place! The only thing I can think is to completely bottle feed him so that he HAS to get used to it but that would mean formula as I can only express when feeding on the other side and it seems a shame to do this for the odd occassions when I cant be around.
Does anyone have any tips? I'm at a loss

milliebear00001

RoxieW wrote: »

I have the opposite problem lol - my 4 mth old loves the breast and wont take from a bottle. I have 2 other children and cant be attached to him 24/7 so the plan was to breast feed and bottle feed him expressed milk. However, he just chews on the bottle teat until he gets bored/too hungry - then screams for the breast. He refuses to suck a bottle teat although he'll suck on toys, fingers, my OH's nose lol! It's getting to the stage now where we need to do something about this but I'm at a loss! I've tried a whole range of bottles, plus cups and beakers with different teats - he just spits the milk out if it gets into his mouth in the first place! The only thing I can think is to completely bottle feed him so that he HAS to get used to it but that would mean formula as I can only express when feeding on the other side and it seems a shame to do this for the odd occassions when I cant be around.
Does anyone have any tips? I'm at a loss

Hi Roxie - I had the same issue. We gave my son a feeder cup (he preferred the ones with straws). Worked for us, but we did get some funny looks! They also need to be scrupulously cleaned and sterilised, which is a pain. Tried LOADS of bottles - wouldn't take any of them!

milliebear00001

jinky67 wrote: »

But all we are saying is WE dont understand why anyone would WANT to mess around with bottles when they dont have to.
I certainly am not trying to upset anyone, merely offering an opinion, mine.

But 'having to' is different for everyone because everyone's circumstances are different. I 'had' to stop breatsfeeding my first child because of a multitude of social pressures and physical factors. I COULD have continued to try - physically I was able and she was able, but the impact struggling was having on all our lives, meant (for me) that I 'had' to stop - the inconvenience of sterilising and preparing bottles didn't even come close!

Interestingly, I breastfed my second child until he was past two. Had few of the issues I'd had first time around. It astounded me that I could have two such different experiences! Much of this was down to the babies and their VERY different feeding habits - something people rarely take into account.

Slightly off topic - sorry! The bottle issue is a perenniel problem. The official advice seems impossible to follow to me. I made up bottles for my daughter using the older advice of prepared bottles stored in fridge and then reheated. It was hard enough waiting for bottles to heat with a screaming baby in my arms. If I'd had to do them from scratch, I'd have had a breakdown!

angelicmary85

I make up all bottles in one go and store them in the fridge. When we go out I put a small flask and platic jug in the bag so I can heat bubs bottle instead of buying ready made cartons. We just carry a spare bib to dry the bottle when it comes out of the water.