Printable View
Fletch - ahhh my feeding dramas! See me other post all about that. I have been expressing but am slowing that right down now. I have a freezer stocked with the stuff anyway - so combined with formula she should be getting some of the good stuff for a few more weeks now. I didn't ever think that getting a baby to eat would be so hard!
Opps! Sorry Fletch, I didn't realise! 8-[
Nell - thanks for your words of encouragement. I appreciate it. I am happy that I managed to get to the 6 month mark. Thankfully we are still getting some BM into her so hopefully we'll get to the 7 month mark and perhaps the 8 month mark. That would be nice. Still.... I have come to a place where I am happy if Gabby decides that she doesn't want the booby n e more.
That's great that Matty likes the Heinz formula. Do you use it to mix up cereal (if he has it) or do you use BM?
Soph - sorry to hear you have been having dramas. It's a lot more complicated than you think it's going to be, hey? Complicated, emotional, difficult - yet rewarding all the same. Ahhhh who'd have a baby, hey ;)
well poor Dommie is sick here,he refused to have his formula at his waking during the night,and only wanted BM so now i am expressing like crazy to get some more for him...i have about 20 ounces in the freezer,but he drank formula before he went to bed for his nap,so i guess it was just preference in the middle of the night....
Debbie its great you have gotten to the 6 months mark,and im sure you will continue for as long as you both want....i had no idea Dominic would still be having BM at 9 months (he is on tuesday) i was sure that i would end up giving up like i did with the others!!!
hope everyone is well and happy!!
Well... it's sad but true. Gabby had her very last BF yesterday morning. I cried because I am going to miss it so much. She just wasn't satisfied after a BF anymore. So, I have given up the ghost. She is now a FF baby.
I must say though, it came in handy this morning. Neil got up to her and gave her a bottle! Yay!
Well Congrats on making it this far Deb....You know you did the best you could for her anyway....(((hugs))) i know it is a hard decision....
Well Dominic doesnt BF here anymore either....But i am still expressing for him,so i guess we still do belong here.....
currently only managing anywhere from 5-8 ozs per day expressed,but hey anything is better than nothing i suppose!!!
Hope everyone else is well!!
That's right, Suzie. No matter how he is getting it, he's still getting some of that magical booby-juice and all it's anti-bodies.
I stole the "booby-juice" thing from Nell, hehehe.
LOL,my best friend Tam who hasnt even got kids calls it 'booby-juice' so it is nice to see some others using the expression!!!
Yup Deb,it isnt how they are getting it,it is the fact that they are getting it....
lol and I stole booby juice from my g/f - :)
Oh Deb - you have done so well, well done! Yay back to normal bras!! I'll be crying too, I know that for sure!
Suzie - you too sweetie, 9 months is great, I hope Dominic is better.
I just mix Matthew's Heinz forumla up like a bottle. I am going to get him to start drinking it out of a cup very soon, try and remove ourselves off the bottle... note I said try!
Hi ladies
As most of you know, I am a big fan of combining the booby juice with formula, so thought I'd share:
Charlie was breastfed for all feeds, but because I have our wedding coming up, I wanted him to start taking a bottle (so I can have a glass or 5 of champagne.)
When Charlie was a newborn he would happily take a bottle of EBM, but I got complacent, hadn't offered him the bottle for ages, so when we tried it again about 2 weeks ago he screamed the house down & would NOT take a bottle........arrrgggg!
Anyway, Andrew persevered, and we tried every combination of bottle, teat, temp, EBM, formula etc.
With a lot of persistence, Andrew cracked it last week, and now Charlie will happily take S26 formula from a Pigeon Perialistic (sp?) bottle. He will take it from ANdrew, me, and we will get my matron of honour to give him a bottle from THurday when she arrives.
So for the past week, for Charlie's afternoon feed, (about 4.30pm?) after he wakes from a nap (hungry but rested) he has a bottle. Then followed by bath, boob and bed at 7pm.
Eversince we have started this, CHARLIE HAS SLEPT THROUGH the night from 7pm to about 6.00am. Wooohoo!
AS you can imagine, I am pretty happy about this!
Olivia did exactly the same thing: as soon as we intorduced a bottle of forula for that afternoon feed, she started sleeping through. (She did it at 4 months).
Just thought I would share, so that if anyone else is thinking about combining boob and bottle they can see the benefits that I am enjoying.......I don't know if it works for all babies, but certainly in my experience, it is a really workable arrangement.......
Lucy - yay for Charlie finally taking the bottle AND sleeping through! That's fantastic! Now you will be well rested and stress free for your wedding ;) Well... maybe just a bit more than before.
It's interesting what you say about sleeping through. When Gabby was given formula top-ups at hospital and again once I was home for a few days, it was so that she would sleep! I too believed that the formula bottle at night helped her to sleep through. It helped me to establish a night time routine and the bottle was a cue for Gabby to say "Ok, it's night time now. Go to sleep".
I have a few friends that have said they will try the same thing when they have their second babies. While I tell them it took a while before Gabby was actually sleeping through and it may not work the same for them, they still feel it would be worth giving it a go as their first children didn't sleep through until well after 6 months. One of them still wakes during the night for a feed and she is 1.5!
Another friend who has a little boy and girl twins said that she went to a conference where an expert doctor (can't remember his name) said that he believes a formula bottle at night is a great way of establishing a night time routine and helping bubs and mums to get some much-needed sleep. It certainly save my sanity!
No Shannon, I don't bother expressing just for that one feed: my supply at that time of day of pretty low anyway, so I leave my boobs to get really nice and full for the bedtime boob, so Charlie gets a feast before bed! (Plus, I hate expressing!)
I used NanHa for Olivia as apparently it has the most calories? Not sure how true that is, but she is/was such a titch I wanted to beef her up a bit, and also it was the one that she took best. NanHa poos are reputed to be the WORST! LOL! I have found Charlie's S26 poos to be nowhere near as offensive as NanHa poos!
I reckon it is a case of trial and error. You can get stick packs of S26 from most chemists (for about $5 for 6 sachets) and also Karicare sell sample packs for about $1. So these would be the best options to try (otherwise you're spending around $20 a can, and Maya may not like it........)
*sticks head around the corner*
Hey everyone!
I have a question for you all. Forgive me if this is something that has already been discussed, as I haven't checked every post in this thread.
I'm wondering.....have any of you done a combination of BF and FF from birth? If so, what was the hospitals opinion on this - was it encouraged or frowned upon? Did any of you decide to do this from the very beginning (i.e. decide prior to birth), or was it something that just happened during your hospital stay or shortly after IYKWIM? Did your baby have any problems WRT to nipple/teat confusion as a result?
Sorry for all the questions, I'm just interested to see if anyone has been in this position and how they got on??
Hey Mel, I know Deb has been through this, in fact I think they did it?? Anyway I am sure that she'll give you more info.
Wow...thank you SO much for this thread ladies. As a soon to be mother, I've been trying to stay open-minded about breastfeeding vs bottlefeeding. Strangely it had never occurred to me that I might be able to combine both.
I'm hoping to breast feed of course, but I also feel very strongly about DH taking one of the night feeds (which thankfully he is happy to do) and bonding with his daughter.
This thread has definately got me thinking....now I'm hoping to use the breastfeeding throughout the day and formula feed right before bed (in the evening - say 10pm feed). I've heard in many places including BB the benefits sleepwise for bubs who are formula fed at night.
I also think that introducing a combination of both breast & bottle early might possibly avoid any issues later with trying to introduce the formula feed if for some reason I am unable to continue breastfeeding.
Mel, my experience with comp feeding with Olivia as a newborn is hospital was this:
Olivia had a very low body temp, and was a very sleepy newborn, spending a lot of time under the toaster in the special care nursery for the first 3 days of her little life. As such, she had no idea what to do with the boob and it took us 3 days to get any tyoe of attachement happening. As you know, I was pretty bloody determined to BF, so I persevered with her, but I had to hand express colostrum and then BM to help my milk come in. She was formula fed through the gavage (the mix was about 10ml of fomula mixed with whatever I had expressed, fed through the nose).
Andrew was horrified at this and suggested we bottle feed, but the midwives were REALLY determined not to let a bottle or teat near her!!!!! To the point where they told him "there are no bottles or teats sterilised" to put him off!! LOL!
I was OK in my head with them being so anti bottle/formula, because I knew in my heart Olivia would get the hang of the boob eventually.
My lovely midwife Jane told me afterwards (once Olivia has established breastfeeding really well) that they pretty much do anything to avoid FF/Bottles in the early days, as it is such a crucial time for the BM, and if they let tired emotional mothers "give in" to the bottle, sometimes the mothers are regretful.
However, she did say that if a new Mum had made the choice to comp feed or to FF from birth, they fully supported that. But that sometimes in the haze of tiredness and pain of the first few days after the birth, women can make the "wrong" decision for themselves, which they then regret, hence the midwives make it really tough to get hold of bottles!!
This was just my experience in Darwin. Looking back, I am glad they were this determined on my behalf, because Olivia then went on to BF really well for 6 months........
My milk was delayed coming through due to me having pre-eclampsia AFTER the birth! Dylan was losing too much weight so they gave him formula at night in the hospital. We have given him one also on each of the 2 night he's been home and it seems to settle him nicely. Don't know if we'll continue to do it now my milk is in properly, but it's great to feel comfortable about doing it if we decide to!
Thanks so much for this thread!!
I second what Shannon said. Definitely build your supply up before introducing a comp feed. It's a hard slog but it's well worth it in the long run.
I also want to stress that a formula feed before bed does not guarantee a sleep-through straight away. Newborns are soooooo windy and still require feeding over night. I think Gabby was about 8 weeks (can't remember) before she slept longer than 5-6 hours. Even then, it wasn't consistent.
It's like anything tho, you need to persevere and it will work out in the long run.
How is everyone going?
Well, if she was gonna choose one, best that she chose the bb, hey?
Gosh I miss BFing sooooo much :( It's almost making me want to have another baby sooner...... naaaah! ;)
Woo hoo! Congratulations!
I am going through dramas at the moment: emotional ones and physical ones. Charlie has no preference for either boobs or bottle: he is so placid and will happily take either.
But I have, yet again, a case of nipple thrush and a cracked nipple on my right boob, so it is killing me to BF at the moment.
And becasue Charlie is so happy with the bottle, on the one hand I think maybe I should just give up the BF and go with bottle becasue then I can get my body back.
He is 5 months old, & we'll be starting him on solids in a month, so it will make no odds anyway.
But then I know I will miss the BF, and maybe I should just persevere for at least another month?
But then he may have changed his mind, and it might not be as easy to wean him.
He is sleeping through every single night from 7pm to at least 7am, so it is not like the convenience of BF is winning over.
So I am in a quandry........and there is no easy or right answer.....I don't really even expect any responses, I am just writing it all down to try & get it straight in my head!!!!
PS I also have a noice case of mouth trush. Revolting. SO I have it in my gob and on my nips, but not, luckily, up my hooha. Thank god.
Aint that the truth.:
be nice to have my body back.....
I asked Andrew what he thought, and typical non-committal bloke, he just said "Whatever makes you happiest my love". BUT, this morning, first thing, he said "Just think, when Charlie is off the boob, your boobs go back to being my funbags instead of udders"!!!
PMSL!
aahhh yes, nothing as erotic as sitting there slumped over on the couch anywhere between 2-5 am with one or both boobs hanging out ...
You don't have to give up breastfeeding 'cold turkey' - I'm sure I used to still BF Cait in the morning even though she had bottles and solids during the day.
I think I was more sniffly when I stopped giving her a bottle and she used a cup full time.
Alex had 100ml of formula on Monday night when I was out - I bought a new breast pump, but I've been a bit lazy with it :-/
Barb.
OMG Lucy! I can't believe Andrew refers to your boobs as "funbags" too! That's Neil's name for my boobs!! PMSL! What a crack-up.
I must admit, the nicest thing about giving up the BFing was feeling half human again. Wearing normal bras is wonderful (my big pendulums never really liked the maternity bras).
Neil is FAR more affectionate now too! It was almost like he was afraid of me when I was BFing (though he vehmently denies that!).
Ouchies @ the thrush. I've never had it (let alone in my mouth aswell) so you can tell me to shove-off... but, do you reckon you could get Charlie to 6 months then revise it? I only say this because I think it was the best thing I ever did to at least get to that 6 month mark. Maybe it's just something in my head (it's a very odd place to be, LOL) but it just felt like such a milestone. I guess, too, Gab just seemed more "ready". I'm probably just talking about my arse here tho.... LOL
Anyway... hope you can come to a decision that you feel comfy with. Either way, you've done a magnificent job... and YAY @ having such a placid and cruisey baby!
Shannon - uno how the docs were saying that because Jess didn't have thrush, it meant you didn't have it? I always wondered... we get told how magical BM is (uno.. it's ability to help bub's immune system, clear up conjuctivitis etc. etc.). What if the BM was what helped Jessalyn to not get thrush? I reckon that would be a good argument! So neeerrrr to the Drs!! ;)
LOL Barb... such a good look, isn't it? ;):
aahhh yes, nothing as erotic as sitting there slumped over on the couch anywhere between 2-5 am with one or both boobs hanging out ...
Well, I have resisted temptation to just give it all up, and I have done 3 x BF & only one bottle today. My right boob is still a bit sore, but it is better.....thank Christ for that lanolin stuff. My gob is still sore, and it means I don't fancy eating anything at all, cos it hurts, but I have been drinking loads of Jalna drinking yogurt, which is great for BM, but shocking for Charlies poos and he has now got his first case of nappy rash, poor little sprout......arrhhhhgg!
So my next goal is simply to get to New Year.....my pride insists on that, cos Andrew's mum is here over the duration of Christmas and she is passionate about BF, so I don't want her to think I have "given up" IYKWIM? (She is a lovely MIL, but it is more my pride!)
Then I'll review...........so Debbie, you're right....it is all about milestones that you feel comfy with......if I can get to 5 months, then getting to 6 months will seem close, and I kind of think I will be able to make it.
I know what you mean about non-maternity bras........I look lovingly at my nice white lacy sexy non udder bras quite whilstfully....they are there, waiting for me.......along with my clicky heals, my teeny tiny handbags & my fags!!
That's great, Lucy! I am glad you are feeling a little better. Not good about Charlie's poos tho! It's always something, hey? Good luck with getting to New Year and then to 6 months.
What's the bet we'll hear that at 12 months you are still going?? ;)
Awwww Shannon!! Sorry to hear your nipples are all cracked again. That sux! I hope Jessalyn takes the arvo bottle with no hassles to give you some relief. Ouchies! :hugs:
LOL... I had a little giggle at breast cancer info. If I am only going to have 2 babies, I have to feed the next one for 12 months to qualify! If that's not inspiration for it to work out better next time, I dunno what is!
Shannon, I find that is the best time to give a bottle (from my experience with Olivia and Charlie at any rate).......after a big afternoon nap when they are happy but hungry then tend to take it really well, and then it keeps them happy all afternoon/early evening before their bath, then they can have a lovely snuggly long boob feed before bed........:
Maybe I'll have to bring back the bottle maybe in the afternoon rather than the last feed of the day
I am at the moment going through the do i start weaning already question. I idealy would like to feed to 6 months but unfortunately need to go back into work more than I have been and she is getting more mobile etc and I dont have room for a porta cot or anything to contain Victoria better than the rocker which she is happy in at the moment but i cant see her being so for much longer. THerefore I think we are going to have to look at childcare for 2 days a week that the other half cant have her.
I have given her little bits of formula with some EBM in it too but we are stuggling to find teats that she loves too.
What teats are you all using? She hates the Avent ones, she gags on them coz they are so hard so we tried the 0-3month pur teat and that was a bit better but she hasnt got the hang of having a bit of a breather and ends up just chewing on the teat not getting enything.
Anyone got any ideas for me?
Cindy, we tried Emma on the medium flow avent ones last night. She has avent when she has a bottle, but often does what you said & just chews it. But she had nearly the whole bottle in about 5 minutes last night (probably a little bit too fast) - it normally takes her about 20 minutes normally. They were just the 3+ months ones. Maybe you could try faster flowing ones in the pur brand?
I can't help you there, Cindy. Gab has only ever had avent bottles (apart from in hospital) and we haven't had any major issues with them.
I would agree with Linda tho - maybe the teats she is having aren't fast enough for her?
It can take a bit of practice with something new, too. Maybe try to avoid chopping and changing too much for about a week. Offer the teat that she has drunk the best out of so far and see how she goes. Maybe even offer it after a BF so that you know it's ok if she doesn't get much in (so it doesn't constitute her actual feed - just practice?).
Good thinking with the bottle after the breast idea! I had a look at the medium flow ones today but thought i would give her till the end of the week with the slow flow at first and do it only after her actual feed.
Let us know how you go, Cindy!
Matthew loves the PUR ones, the ones with the 'Y' slit in the top?
The Pigeon Periliastic (sp?) ones have a little y shape hole too.......these are the only ones Charlie will take.
Olivia hated Avent too, & would only take the cheapo "Happy Baby" orthodontic teats from Coles....so she was as cheap as chips!
Come to think of it - I think the ones Matty had were the Pigeon ones Lucy has mentioned. Whoops - least they started with a 'P'!
Question for you all - Matty is one month away from 12 months, once he is there, should I not buy formula for him at all and give hims cows milk for his formula feeds? He'll still be getting some booby juice but its ok to give cows milk as well?