Breast or Bottle?

How Strange

optogirl my son will be 7.5 momths when I'm going back to work. I intend to breastfeed him for a year so I intend to express in work 2 or 3 times day. I'll feed him before I leave in the morning at 7am and as soon as we get home at 6pm and another feed at bedtime 7.30pm. The milk I'll express will be given to the creche.

However I've noticed that my supply at 5.5months now follows my sons feeding patterns so if he goes 4 hours between feeds I'm not engorged. I presume this means that if I didn't want to express at work my supply would quickly adjust to morning and evening feeds. Nature really is amazing!

With breastfeeding just take it one day at a time to start. Don't worry about 6 months or next week. You'll figure out what suits you as you go along.

Hobbitfeet

Found this article about breastfeeding and going back to work

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/after_your_baby_is_born/breastfeeding.html

lonestargirl

How Strange wrote: »

I presume this means that if I didn't want to express at work my supply would quickly adjust to morning and evening feeds. Nature really is amazing!

This is exactly what happens. I went back to work last week, a few days before he turned 6 months. It was all very sudden as we moved home from the US 3 months ago and I got a call offering me a job and started 3 weeks later. My guy is a food guy during the day, it's very hard to get him to drink milk (either boob or bottle). He gets some formula and 3 meals in the creche and I feed him morning and evening. It settled down quickly and I don't get engorged or have any leakage. I would have liked to express but it's not practical in our situation.

How Strange

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

Found this article about breastfeeding and going back to work

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/after_your_baby_is_born/breastfeeding.html

But its important to note that this only applies to women who return to work within 6 months of giving birth so if you take your full 6 months maternity leave then your employer doesn't have to make any exceptions such as special facilities or time off work for breastfeeding mothers. Essentially the law was never updated when the maternity leave was increased from 4 to 6 months.

I didn't know this until a HR manager who was a breastfeeding mother pointed it out in a La Leche League meeting.

smileyeyes

Hi Girls, Apologies I am coming in to this conversation so late.....:rolleyes:

I began breastfeeding my 1st (he was born by emergency CS). On the 3rd day after his birth, he started taking seizures and had extremely low blood sugars. They called it Transient Hypoglycaemia and Hyper Insulinism. We are lucky that he survived unharmed T.G..... This might seem off the topic but I stopped breast feeding immediately as (1) he was too ill and (2) I blamed myself and part of me still does. I got it into my head that he wasn't getting enough milk from me so therefore, blood sugar levels dropped so low he started having seizures. He had every test under the sun including 2 lumbar punctures at 6 days old & MRI's etc. The docs did their best to reassure me that it wasn't my fault and it was 'just one of those things'!! They never found a reason for the seizures! But as I said he is a perfectly healthy 6 year old now!!

Because of this I didn't breastfeed my 2nd child (now 20mths old). I was petrified so bottle fed from the off.

I am now in the early stages (6wks) of pregnancy with our 3rd child and as this may be the last baby, part of me would love to have the courage to breastfeed but that fear is still there........

What would you do in my situation???

How Strange

smileyeyes, I'd advise getting inntouch with your nearest La Leche League and having a chat with them. They're a wonderful free source of information on all things breastfeeding and they should put your mind at ease. Also it will be a great benefit to have those contacts established when your baby is born as you can ring them up with queries, worries etc.

They should be able to give you the confidence to breastfeed your baby if that's what you want to do.

smileyeyes

How Strange wrote: »

smileyeyes, I'd advise getting inntouch with your nearest La Leche League and having a chat with them. They're a wonderful free source of information on all things breastfeeding and they should put your mind at ease. Also it will be a great benefit to have those contacts established when your baby is born as you can ring them up with queries, worries etc.

They should be able to give you the confidence to breastfeed your baby if that's what you want to do.

thank you very much for your reply How Strange!! That is a great idea! I was unaware that you can contact them prior to having a baby!:rolleyes:

Thanks again for your advice.....I feel I just need reassuring that I wasn't to blame and that there is no reason for me not to try breastfeeding this time round......

Cat Melodeon

smileyeyes wrote: »

thank you very much for your reply How Strange!! That is a great idea! I was unaware that you can contact them prior to having a baby!:rolleyes:

Thanks again for your advice.....I feel I just need reassuring that I wasn't to blame and that there is no reason for me not to try breastfeeding this time round......

I agree with How Strange, LLL are brilliant for helping with things like general confidence. What a frightening experience you had! It's very hard not to blame yourself even when it's clear it's nothing you did. If you had formula fed your first and the same thing had happened, I'm sure you'd be blaming yourself for not having breastfed. I think that as parents, no matter what goes wrong we find a way of blaming ourselves, even if it is something completely and utterly beyond our control. Good luck with breastfeeding this time round. Check through the other links on this and the other breastfeeding threads, there are some brilliant support networks out there.

smileyeyes

Cat Melodeon wrote: »

I agree with How Strange, LLL are brilliant for helping with things like general confidence. What a frightening experience you had! It's very hard not to blame yourself even when it's clear it's nothing you did. If you had formula fed your first and the same thing had happened, I'm sure you'd be blaming yourself for not having breastfed. I think that as parents, no matter what goes wrong we find a way of blaming ourselves, even if it is something completely and utterly beyond our control. Good luck with breastfeeding this time round. Check through the other links on this and the other breastfeeding threads, there are some brilliant support networks out there.

Thank you so much Cat Melodeon for your lovely words!:);) I am definitely going to do some research into the other groups and will contact LLL also. xxx

Cat Melodeon

Just had a really nice experience this morning! I was at the shops and I ran into a girl I used to work with. She's about 22 and just had her first baby (6 weeks old now). We were chatting and I was asking her how she was getting on and she told me with a huge grin on her face that she's breastfeeding. I said that's great and she told me it's my fault! We had run in to each other once at the GP's when my lad was about 3 months old and I was feeding him - we'd been chatting for about 15 mins before she realised that's what I was doing. At the time she had been initially mortified and then kind of fascinated (did it not hurt, was it weird etc). I thought no more about it, but then this morning she told me she would never have considered it if we hadn't met that one time, it was the only time she had ever seen anyone breastfeed. Well I'm totally chuffed, determined I'll be getting the boobs out at every opportunity next time round if it can make that sort of a difference to even one person!

Lola92

Cat Melodeon, that is such a nice story!

After about 3 months I started combined feeding my daughter (previously had been exclusively BF) so that went well until she was about 5 and a half months and she just lost intrest in BF and wouldn't latch on anymore. Biggest regret ever. She is almost 8 months now and I really miss breastfeeding, which is something I never expected to feel! it really is just such an incredible bond. Honestly I would advise everybody to give it a go. The first few weeks can be tough but it really does pay off, I wish I had kept it up!

Hobbitfeet

Lola92 wrote: »

Cat Melodeon, that is such a nice story!

After about 3 months I started combined feeding my daughter (previously had been exclusively BF) so that went well until she was about 5 and a half months and she just lost intrest in BF and wouldn't latch on anymore. Biggest regret ever. She is almost 8 months now and I really miss breastfeeding, which is something I never expected to feel! it really is just such an incredible bond. Honestly I would advise everybody to give it a go. The first few weeks can be tough but it really does pay off, I wish I had kept it up!

Did you combine feed with formula or breastmilk from a bottle? I will be breastfeeding but would like to be able to express and have the opportunity to go out for a couple of hours and have someone feed the baby. But worried about rejecting breast after bottle too. Any advice?

Lola92

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

Did you combine feed with formula or breastmilk from a bottle? I will be breastfeeding but would like to be able to express and have the opportunity to go out for a couple of hours and have someone feed the baby. But worried about rejecting breast after bottle too. Any advice?

I used both, mostly expressed breast milk at first and then more formula as time went on. To be honest it was probably due to laziness and lack of sleep that I was cutting down on the expressing. I was at a stage where I just wanted to relax or sleep after she went down I the evening when I should have been pumping milk for her.

A big part of it is getting the right pump to suit you. I had 3 different ones an avent manual, avert electric and a tommie tippee manual pump. I preferred the TT most out of them all, (the avent didnt suit me) but I have heard very good things about the medela pumps, were just out my price range tbh after spending so much on pumps already.

I also used the tommie tippee closer to nature bottles which are round shaped like a boob (supposed to minimise nipple confusion). I thought they were great, a little tricky to put together at first but you soon get used to it.

I don't think it was the bottles that really affected her stopping, I had cut down to just 2 BF a day, morning and evening. I think it was the weaning that made her really lose interest.

From about 3/4 weeks I gave her a bottle of expressed milk maybe once a week just so she would take a bottle if I ever need her too ( the occasional trip out etc like yourself). This was on the reccomendation of my PHN and my cousin who BF all 3 of her kids. If this is the only time you plan on using a bottle I wouldn't worry too much about it her refusing the breast afterwards.

Anyway that was a bit longer than planned. Sorry if I sound like an advert anywhere there If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

laughingtoaster

re. expense of pumps. the local phn have breast pumps to loan to mothers. they are in high demand so talk to the phn before the baby is born and see if you can book one in advance the plastic attatchments are new for each mother, its the pump part which is reused - so there should be no worries about contamination

Lola92

That is really good to know! I am surprised to hear it though, it had never been mentioned to me by any of the 4 PHN's I have seen! It sounds like a very good service, more mums should know about it!

Eoineo

I breastfed for the first month on my first child but I won't breastfeed at all this time around. It's not that I'm against breastfeeding, if I could, I would as I really believe in the benefits for both the mother and baby.

As I had SPD/PGP on my last pregnancy and have it again, the levels of the hormone relaxin in my body will not normalise until I stop breastfeeding. I only found this out after I saw a non-maternity physiotherapist who informed me of this side effect. It seems that midwives & doctors do know about the issue of SPD/PGP & breastfeeding but are not obliged to inform you of it because of the pro-breastfeeding rules in hospital. When I had my booking in appointment for this pregnancy I was asked would I bottle or breastfeed and I explained that if the pain was bad again I wouldn't. The senior midwife & doctor both nodded and said that was the best choice and that I was well informed.

Cunning Stunt

am living abroad and breastfeeding seems to be the norm here. I am definitely gonna do it. If I was living in Ireland I have to say I think I would be a bit more reluctant to breast feed but here nobody bats an eyelid at people breastfeeding in public etc.

milkandsugar

What a great thread. I have 2 girls and both have been/ are being breast fed. I still find aspects of it hard. The fact that most of the other mothers i know have bottle fed there children and think I'm stupid /strange/ a hippy or whatever. And feel the need to let me know this. Also I do find that I get a lot of strange looks when feeding in public or even at our local playgroup. But I am a BIG fan of bf. Think it is the most natural thing in the world and best for baby and what other people think or say isn't a bf mothers problem.