Emergency baby milk

shell_girl

The best advice I ever had re breastfeeding was not to get any 'just in case' formula in.

I was determined to breastfeed, there was no way I wasn't going to do it. And on day 6 at about 4am I'd have sold my soul not to have to do one more feed. If the formula had been in the cupboard I'd have gone for it. It wasn't, so I didn't and managed to give my baby nothing but breast milk until he was 6 months old and ready to start solid food. At 15 months he's still a total boob hound and has never needed a drop of formula :-)

During those early days any supplementation will affect your milk supply, and possibly make baby a teeny bit lazy about breastfeeding - bottles just flow into baby's mouth, but breast milk takes some effort on their part.

There are very few emergencies that will mean you HAVE to use formula - in your cousin's case if she was the patient then the hospital should have admitted mother and baby in order to support the feeding.

silvercar

I am going to totally disagree with some others, I had a whole tin of formula in stock. I was much more relaxed about breast feeding knowing that if it all went wrong there was formula available.

Tenyearstogo

trudie15 wrote: »

If you are fully intending to breast feed please do not get formula in just incase, because when your baby is three days old and feeding around the clock, you will convince yourself you need to top him up with formula which will then result in your milk not been stimulated and your supply dipping and there begins the problem.

shell_girl wrote: »

The best advice I ever had re breastfeeding was not to get any 'just in case' formula in.

I was determined to breastfeed.

I think this says more about the mother than the baby.

I wanted to breast feed but my baby would not latch on. So I expressed. Despite being told by breast feeding advisors and midwives not to bottle feed EBM as I would not get enough milk.

This was far more tiring than breast feeding as I still had to do all the feeding and the expressing and the sterilising. Having a tub of formula didn't make me weak and 'give in'.

silvercar wrote: »

I am going to totally disagree with some others, I had a whole tin of formula in stock. I was much more relaxed about breast feeding knowing that if it all went wrong there was formula available.

This.

supersaver2

Freezing breast milk might be a idea for an emergency OP. This can be stored in the freezer for 6 months.

sweaty_betty

OP - we used aptimel in cartons.

I really wanted to breastfeed - for a start I didn't want to spend money on formula! But things didn't work out quite the way I'd hoped.

• I struggled to breastfeed and in the end had to take drugs to stimulate milk production.
• I had to have a CT scan while in hospital so wasn't allowed to breastfeed for a certain amount of time afterwards - when I tried to express beforehand I could get nothing out (not even with the help of the breastfeeding expert).
• I was only allowed home on the condition that I combination-fed my baby.
• We had to call into the shop on the way home from the hospital to buy formula - if I'm honest, it was the last thing I needed. I wouldn't hesitate to have some formula in reserve at home if I were to do it all again
• I persevered with breastfeeding and slowly managed to produce enough for about 80% of the feeds, the rest were formula.

Ultimately, it depends on the kind of person you are, but I like to be prepared! You can always pass it on/throw it away if you don't use it.

shell_girl

Tenyearstogo I'm not sure exactly what you mean about saying 'more about the mother than the baby' - some babies don't latch, this is true. Some Mums do have to go the extra miles to give breastmilk to their baby, as in your experience, and I have nothing but admiration for those Mums.

I don't think a Mum who uses formula is 'weak' and never said that. It's none of my business how anyone else feeds their baby - but as someone who has breastfed successfully 'long term' (according to our cultural norms!) I'm happy to share my experience with another woman who has said she fully intends to breastfeed as my experience may be useful to her.

My post was intended to reflect the fact that even when breastfeeding is going well that during the early days it's possible to have a crisis of confidence/ feel exhausted/ be all touched out and be desperate for an alternative. No shame in that, we're all human. For a Mum who wants to breastfeed, I think it's important to know that supplementing with formula early on is likely to lead to a decrease in supply.

Corelli

I'd go along with the 'don't have any in the house' group - having seen a couple of mothers get prepared 'in case' and going along the mixed feeding route. Which of course leads to the whole supply and demand system going wrong. Which then is likely to lead to not enough milk, more bottles and eventualy bottles not breast

I'd just like to say, although some NHS breatfeeding advisors are brilliant some are not. A friend was helped with her daughter who had a tongue tie by the NHS breast feeding clinic but I would always trust the advice of ome one from the La Leche league, the Breastfeeding Network or an NT breast feeding counsellor.

neverdespairgirl

I'd agree with the majority - when my son was about a week old, I'd have used formula in the middle of the night if we'd had any. We didn't, and I breastfed him only until he was 6 months old.

notanewuser

sweaty_betty wrote: »

.
[*]I was only allowed home on the condition that I combination-fed my baby.
.

:huh:

Unless you'd been sectioned there was no way they could have stopped you leaving whatever!!

rpc

trudie15 wrote: »

If you are fully intending to breast feed please do not get formula in just incase, because when your baby is three days old and feeding around the clock, you will convince yourself you need to top him up with formula which will then result in your milk not been stimulated and your supply dipping and there begins the problem

For all three of our children (one singleton, then twins), their appetites kicked in about a day before my wife's milk came in. If we hadn't been able to fill their tummies when the tap ran dry, I don't think we'd have persevered.

If baby screams after a few minutes on the breast and the breast is empty, do you just leave them screaming until there is something more available? That's the choice we had. None of ours were patient enough to quietly suckle until they were satisfied.

The books all say you can go without, but none of our babies had read them. Our son was almost exclusively breastfed until 4 months and combination fed until 9. The girls were primarily breast fed until 3 months and then formula fed - there simply wasn't enough milk available at each feed so we called quits.

If having a few cartons stashed in a cupboard makes OP more relaxed, get some. You don't have to use them. Just keep in mind that you want to bf and they are only there for emergencies or for that one night when you just need some sleep or you are going to kill someone.

We used dummies too. What **** parents we must be!