Breast Feeding!

I combo feed breast and formula

@Moira was that purely just choice? x

I exclusively breastfed my baby for a year, and it has its ups and downs. Pros: convenience (didn't have to get up and make a bottle), cost, bonding, healthy, etc) Cons: You have to eat/drink enough to help with production, can be mentally/physically draining, hard to find babysitter (well it depends my baby didn't want to take a bottle or a pacifier), etc.

I breastfed both my babies. With my son he was born at 28 weeks. When he was allowed to start oral feedings. I requested that he tried breastfeeding before being given a bottle. He took well to breastfeeding but I was an oversupplier so I’d have to pump before feeding him so my let down didn’t drown him. He breastfed for 9months and then he took my frozen milk for 3montha. I got pregnant with my daughter when he was 9 months and it wiped my supply I planned to tandem feed them. But my supply came back just fine and she is ebf she’s 6 months and has had maybe 3 bottles. I’m still an over supplier but I don’t pump much now. I did in her first two months and got around 200 oz

I exclusively breastfed and I’m also a lactation consultant and my best advice would be skin to skin, and if you have issues with latch get a lactation consult even if you’re discharged from the hospital, watch out for signs of Jaundice, and count diapers should be a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio of wet/poop diapers per day for the first 4 days.

I was adamant I wanted to BF for me there is no other option as I wanted my body to do successfully what it was made to do. I sacrificed alot of sleep in those early weeks to build up my supply so I triple fed (pumping on top, to have a lil oversupply and a freezer stash coz I was scared of undersupply and I wanted breaks still, hubby can feed while I sleep in or go out etc)….I BF 2 babies until toddler lol. I did teach them to take both bottle and paci for if I didn’t feel like BF or if my nips are sore and needed a break then we feed ebm instead. When going out at 6w+ all day it’s super convenient to not have to bring or worry about bottles and formula I always have milk out and about. Yes the first couple weeks is always hard. But I have high expectations of myself and push through until it gets easier. Some mums combo feed and that’s okay too if that’s what works. I’m also scared of supply issues of formula and recalls so there’s that, also the reason behind me pushing myself.

I breastfed for the first month and then I had had enough!!! I know some people feel a wonderful connection to their baby via breastfeeding, and photos and breastfeeding info makes it seem like this wonderful magical experience (and I think for some people it really is!). But for me… I hated every minute of it. It was unpleasant. I felt miserable. It physically hurt, even after consulting a breastfeeding specialist, so I tried pumping in hopes that I could still give my baby breast milk without the pain. I dreaded pumping every several hours. It felt like someone was always wanting to take my baby away (grandparents) to try to “help” me so I could pump in another room. But that just felt isolating and I was missing out on time cuddling my baby. (Also…maybe TMI, but the whole boobs constantly leaking and getting sticky from milk was just NOT for me haha.) ….

After a month, we felt that switching solely to formula was best for my mental health, and my relationship/mood towards our baby… and it was!! 🥹 After we switched I felt a COMPLETE mood shift. I was 1000% happier being a mom. And I could finally actually ENJOY my baby. We stitched to formula and never looked back. It was definitely the right decision for our family. 🫶🏻

I combi fed my first because of lack of experience, my supply started to dry up as I was trying to triple feed and missing on lots of pumps and nursing sessions. With my second the plan is to combi feed but so far he’s latching well and I’m pumping too so haven’t needed any formula yet

My goal with both of my kids was to just try, but I kept in mind I should be open to all options. I did this so if one way did not work I had flexibility in my own plans. My first did not latch well so I pumped and my milk dried rather quickly so he was mostly formula fed. My second latches great but for medical reasons I Combi fed at birth or he would end up in nicu…I’m also a working mom so that helps too.

I breastfed all three of mine but the experience and length was different for each. With my first I had a hard time pumping when I went back to work so I only did it for a couple months. Second, I breastfed her for a year, third I did about ten months and hated it so much so for my mental health we switched to formula until we switched her to cows milk.

my biggest regret with BF was giving a bottle too early and too frequently. my baby developed a huge bottle preference and eventually refused the boob. it sucked for everyone and then trying to pump enough for her was extremely difficult and stressful. so my advice is keep baby on the boob as much as possible, and don’t introduce bottles for at least a month

We are still breastfeeding at 20 months. I had an earlier (37 weeks) csection and still was able to breastfeed. She had a lip and tongue tie. Find a La Leche League group near you and a good lactation consultant they will help immensely. If you can’t lots of chiropractors who adjust children are very pro breast feeding and will have resources. You’ve got this and any amount of time is beneficial to your baby 😊

I exclusively breastfed both my kids and it went well. The key is being educated. if you don’t know how to make the right decision, you’re set up for difficulty.

In my experience, I tried it, and it worked for me with both of my kids. I felt like most medical professionals tried to push formula down our throat to combo feed. Even if their heart could have been in the right place for both me as the mom and my babies not having gained weight the way they wanted to see, it seemed like more of a way to get me to stop breastfeeding for me. I wouldn't have been able to see it any other way at the time.

I combo fed until I was confident with her latch and she was feeding like crazy and then weaned her off the bottle

I said breastfed and worked for us but it should be noted that this was with some pretty big struggles! Have persisted through though

@Djena same. Breastfed twins for the first year, but the first 4 months required a lot of perseverance. Eventually it worked for us, but in the beginning it was challenging and stressful.

For me it didn't work. I never had much of a supply and couldn't get it back up. For a few days I used formula until I discovered donated breastmilk. My baby is now 8 months and has gotten breastmilk 95% of his life! Now I feel guilty but also happy about that because I don't have to breastfeed, hubby can help with feeding and it's so easy on me while he gets the benefits of breastmilk

EBF for 13 months - the first 4 weeks were tough whilst me and baby figured out what we were doing (buy nipple cream!) and then it was just so easy. Personally I loved it x

Only a small percentage of women can’t breastfeed. You may encounter problems such as poor latch, tongue tie etc in which case getting support from a lactation consultant or breastfeeding support worker asap is so important if you want to continue. Education is also key - it’s surprising how many women don’t realise that colostrum is all baby needs for the first few days until the milk starts to mature. Read up on cluster feeding, how to know if baby is getting enough etc. La Leche League is a great website. So many women give up breastfeeding early because they didn’t have enough information and support. Of course if you try it and decide it’s not for you then that’s fine but if you do want to give it a go then knowing where to seek support is so important

I’ve been breastfeeding for over 3 years continuously - I fed my eldest until he was 2.5 years old, shortly after his brother was born and my youngest is nearly 9 months. My first wouldn’t open his mouth wide enough to latch properly so it was painful. I thought I was doing everything right but thankfully a lovely midwife corrected my latch when we had to go back to hospital for jaundice a few days later. He also had trouble latching on one side which I see now was because of tension from an instrumental birth. But things improved and I loved our bond. My second baby latched perfectly right away, but it may also be easier because I’m more experienced too. Don’t get me wrong, it has been so hard at times when I’m the only one who can feed my babies and not get a break but it does get easier and I love the bond

I really wanted to breastfeed. When baby arrived I had been up for 48 hours and had just had an emergency c section. She latched in recovery on and off. But 3 hours later when the lactation consultant came she wouldn't latch. She was so sleepy she wouldn't wake either which didn't help. They got me nipple shields which helped and I hand expressed. But that was the last time they checked on me until 8 hours later. I felt like death because I hadn't eaten properly since 5pm the previous day so I was in and out of consciousness and baby never cried or woke the entire time (she was awake 30 minutes on average in 24 hours until 1 month old if that). They freaked out and forced formula on me. I started pumping on day 3 after they finally got me a pump as hand expressing wasn't working. I continued to try to breast feed until 9 weeks but it was a struggle due to her being sleepy & it hurt soooo much. I hated every second. Then around 5 months she was in bed with me & just watched onto me while I was asleep in bed.

Feeding her no longer hurt so now I feed her in bed in the morning and sometimes after she wakes up, I still pump after and I do offer her a top up bottle of 2 to 3 oz which 80% of the time she has none or 1oz of but occasionally she will want more and eat 4oz. It is a lot of effort to pump, but my plan it to get to a year now. It has meant my husband can help though which is nice

Try and find a breastfeeding support group in your area. Some people stop because they can't but the percentage is so low. More people stop because of lack of knowledge/ support. Look up positions to try and how to support baby to latch correctly etc

I didn’t breastfeed my first but I am breastfeeding my second. I gave it ago first time but my boy didn’t latch x

Breastfeeding is the hardest most beautiful thing I have ever done. It didn’t come easy, the first several weeks I was in pain and the physical, emotional, practical commitment is BIG. I breastfed on demand for 18 months and then with some boundaries for another year and we just stopped at 2 years 7 months. I personally wouldn’t have had it any other way and the suffering and pain that not BF would have caused me (given how important it was for me) would’ve been far worse than any pain and discomfort I went through while BF x

@Shelley this was me as well- 100%. I was miserable trying to make breastfeeding work and so so much happier being able to enjoy feeding my little girl.