Hi Ladies,

I've exclusively breastfed since Ollie was born and he is now 5 1/2 weeks old and now weighs over 10lb (he was 7lb 13oz when he was born). We've had a few problems recently with his latch and I'm not so sure he's getting a full enough tummy as he is waking every hour from 7am until 2pm wanting a feed, then we get about 2 hours between feeds until about 8pm until 11pm when he is wanting to be fed every hour again (which takes at least 20 minutes).

Its getting very stressful and we're both not really enjoying breastfeeding any more - poor Ollie gets stressed with me taking him on and off to try to improve the latch and to get him to open his mouth wide enough and I'm getting stressed because he is getting upset. I don't think he gets a full tummy although he does seem satisfied by falling asleep or stretching afterwards, but this only lasts for about 20 minutes.

Anyway, I've decided to have a go at expressing and to feed it to Ollie for the next few weeks at least. We have Doctor Brown bottles which were recommended to us as well, so they seem to be the ones to go for. I'm not ready to go onto formula just yet as I've been brainwashed by the health professionals into thinking I'll be a bad Mum if I do...which is adding to the stress somewhat.

If anyone has any advice on expressing, getting baby to use a bottle (I have no idea how that will go although as his latch isn't great I'm quietly hopeful) or moving to formula I would be very grateful.

Gem x

Get a medela swing is my only advice! Although just a warning at about 6 weeks every baby I've ever known has gone through a fussy phase.
But if you are going to express I really would go for the medela swing, its fantastic.

Actually I would go for a double electric pump!! That's the key to being able to express. I warn you, it's a lot of hard work. If you can get through this part of BF'ing, I think it would be worth it in the end. I exclusively express and it's not fun. It's so hard to keep milk supply up and so hard to keep motivated to pump. But if you are going to do it, get a good pump, or rent one. And do it as often as you can to increase your supply!
Good luck!

im so glad that im not the only one who thinks exclusivly expressing isnt fun! my LO Is In scbu and i feel my motivation withering as i dont have her at home crying for a feed all that awaits me is a friggin pump

xx

I was different - when Andrew was in NICU I was incredibly motivated to express, as it was the one thing I knew I could do 24/7 for my baby, even though I couldn't be with him and look after him. Since bringing him home it's been harder as there are so many other things to occupy my time, not least playing with him!

I would say, if you can afford it, then get a double pump. It's definitely better for exclusive expressing. I can't afford it (to buy or rent) and had to give back the hospital loaned pump in January, so I am using a Medela Swing that my DH has modified to work as a double.

Don't stress about switching to formula. You have given your baby an incredible start in his life by BF for this long, and he has benefitted from the nutrients and antibodies. Stress will affect your milk supply and your ability to BF (in terms of your patience), it's the main reason why I stopped trying. Andrew now has EBM almost all the time, but we have formula on standby if I haven't produced enough, and I've made up around 6 bottles in the last month.

Andrew took to a bottle immediately, after many unsuccessful attempts to BF.

Timewise, my suggestion is to involve your OH as much as possible - when he's home (if he works), get him to feed your baby (fantastic for bonding) while you sit there and pump.

hi, please excuse any dodgy typing as my lo is in a papoose and hangin over the keys! ive been mixed feeding for a couple of weeks now and have just arranged to hire a medela double pump, i want to increase my expressing and although my advent hand pump works well its pretty slow. we feed aptimal formula prob an average of 2 4oz bottles a day and i bf or feed ebm the rest of the time. im alot happier as i was getting stressed at the frequency of feeds and not being able to get anything else done.we find tomme tippee back to nature bottle work well, they mimic bfeeding action. our lo took to bottles very quickly. hope that helps
xx