The Breast Feeding Support Thread

My middle baby was 9 months when I went back, and he was grand on solids and water. Would never take a bottle anyhow.
My youngest boy was 10 months when I went back. I did send a bottle with him for a while, but he wasn’t that bothered either, so I stopped pumping. At home they would both feed to sleep, but the minder is magical and they go to sleep without for her

Lainey_b01 wrote: »

Ladies looking for your experiences of heading back to work and management of milk and if should consider formula feed.

Going back in 8weeks baby will be 9months and in upper end for weight. Plan in my head at mo is to feed morning and night with mix of express and water while at childminder. Expressing at work but only for comfort. At moment he mostly going to bed on boob.

Just wonder is der any argument for introducing a bottle of formula?

I don't think there's any point in bothering with the hassle of formula at this point. I assume he's well-established on solids at 9 months? I would just feed in the morning and evening and at night on demand, and give him solids and water through the day. You could express a bit for the first week or so for your own peace of mind. He will probably take it when offered, but likely will not actually need it.

Mystery egg , no advice or pearls of wisdom on increasing supply but want to say you're amazing and doing such a super job for your little one.

Mondo123 wrote: »

Hi ladies, 7 week old bf baby here. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control we need to end our bf journey. He's not fond of bottles an normally on breast every 2 hours for 30 to 40 min atleast .
Does anybody have any advice on weaning and how I should go about it?
Also ideas on how I can get him to buy in to the bottle

Phn advice at a bf meeting was: 1) get someone else to give bottle as they can smell the milk from mum 2) try skin to skin when giving bottle and 3) try giving it when hungry. It's tricky as they get so much more from boob vs. just milk. Also worth trying a few bottles and teats!

Well ladies, myself and my little girl finished our breastfeeding journey last Friday.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the advice and support over the last couple of years. It's been an amazing experience.

For those just starting out, best of luck! For those possibly considering going on into toddler hood, go for it!!

Hopefully I'll be back at some stage! Thank you all again!

All breastfeeding is good, whether its for a day, a week, a month a year or longer. I was so uninformed on my first, I really hadn't a clue and fell prey to the misconceptions. I'm due my third next month and I'll feed as long as it works for the baby/toddler/child and me. I'm hoping this time around to make expressing work if possible, so I've a hakaa pump and one bottle ready for the six week mark and money set aside for some nice new nursing bras.

Millem wrote: »

but apparently boobs are just magic and figure it out!!

They do! Im back at work since January and still feeding away. They are 20 months old now. :eek:

They totally figure it out, you’ll be fine. I’m quite keen to stop feeding now, I’m a bit over it. I’ve no idea how to manage it though, without introducing a bottle, which seems crazy at 14 months.

scarepanda wrote: »

At 14 months why would you need to introduce a bottle? I would just put all fluids in a beaker rather than a bottle. We've loved the 360 cups in this house if that's any help.

He won’t settle at night with anything less than a boob (or a bottle the odd time I’m not here). I don’t want to start giving him bottles all the time, but I don’t want to be pacing the floors every night with a screaming baby

jlm29 wrote: »

He won’t settle at night with anything less than a boob (or a bottle the odd time I’m not here). I don’t want to start giving him bottles all the time, but I don’t want to be pacing the floors every night with a screaming baby

Do you mean he won't go to bed without boob first, or that he won't settle after night time waking without boob?

jlm29 wrote: »

catrionanic wrote: »

jlm29 wrote: »

He won’t settle at night with anything less than a boob (or a bottle the odd time I’m not here). I don’t want to start giving him bottles all the time, but I don’t want to be pacing the floors every night with a screaming baby

Do you mean he won't go to bed without boob first, or that he won't settle after night time waking without boob?

Mainly night time waking. He has occasionally settled for the night with neither a bottle or boob, but during the night, he will not settle back to sleep if the goods are withheld!

We also had that problem with our little man. The best way to solve it was to get daddy to settle him. If he saw me, he was never going to go to sleep without boob.

You could also try a bottle for a little while. Milk for a week or two, then watered down milk, then just water - they soon stop waking when they're no longer getting the goods.

Best of luck.

Millem wrote: »

catrionanic wrote: »

jlm29 wrote: »

catrionanic wrote: »

jlm29 wrote: »

He won’t settle at night with anything less than a boob (or a bottle the odd time I’m not here). I don’t want to start giving him bottles all the time, but I don’t want to be pacing the floors every night with a screaming baby

Do you mean he won't go to bed without boob first, or that he won't settle after night time waking without boob?

Mainly night time waking. He has occasionally settled for the night with neither a bottle or boob, but during the night, he will not settle back to sleep if the goods are withheld!

We also had that problem with our little man. The best way to solve it was to get daddy to settle him. If he saw me, he was never going to go to sleep without boob.

You could also try a bottle for a little while. Milk for a week or two, then watered down milk, then just water - they soon stop waking when they're no longer getting the goods.

Best of luck.

catriona how long would let him cry for? We tried this but he just was hysterical so I ended up feeding:(
My breastfeeding group leader tells me he “just has a need for milk at night”

Last week he was feeding every 90 mins at night for maybe 20 mins this week we are back to 3-4 hours!! Going back to work properly in 2 weeks!!!

How old is he? Obviously as they get older they feed less. But if you're going back to work, he may feed more in the night to make up for reduced daytime feeds unfortunately.

We don't really do cry it out, because we live in a little terraced house with thin walls so don't think it's fair on the neighbours, so unfortunately I've no advice on that one.

Often with breastfeeding, it becomes a sleep association though- they don't know how to go back to sleep when they wake up unless they have boob. Have you tried googling this? Some mothers swear by introducing a wee comforter. You may also find that you need to change his bedtime routine, if you usually feed him to sleep. I had to stop this and start settling him by other means, and I think it helped night waking too.

Also, I can't emphasise enough how much better our boy settled for his dad than for me!!

I tried to settle him with no boobs a couple of weeks ago when he woke at 1am. He was having none of it!! I lasted an hour and a half, where I offered him a cup of milk, a bottle of water, a soother (he actually hurled that across the room in temper!). Eventually I gave in and gave him a boob.

Jlm, he knows your breaking point!

What I would say is firstly work on falling to sleep without boob at bedtime, get that sorted and it'll be easier to work on middle of the night wakes. You need to stick to your guns though!

What I did with my girl (although admittedly I did do it from an earlier age) was to slowly work towards getting baby into cot a little less sleepy each night. I think I broke it down to about 4 stages of sleepiness (fully asleep, just about to fall asleep, almost awake and fully awake) and waited until she was happy with each stage before moving on. At first, she did kick up stink, but it was a whinge as opposed to a cry and only lasted at most 10 mins for her on a bad night. If she was getting to the stage of crying I went up and calmed her down, rince and repeat untill there was no whinging (without really interacting with her and giving her the reward she was looking for). It's hard listening to them whinge, and my husband used to find it awful hard, but it worked and didn't take her too long to figure out the whole settling down business on her own. Now, if she wakes at night, I'll wait and see how she goes and give her a couple of minutes before going into her, she usually settles back down herself. The almost alseep stage is the hardest because they don't know how to fall asleep themselves and will try their hardest to get your attention and sympathy and boob! But once my girl started to figure it out, the last couple of stages were a lot easier and quicker.

At 14 months id probably introduce a book between boob and cot also, maybe a favourite toy or teddy? My girl has been going to bed with her book for a good few months now and loves going into the cot to 'read' to her two teddies.