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Pregnant after 35
I'm on the fence about BFing
I BF both of my boys so I feel like it's what I should do for this baby too.
I am not excited about it though and in fact, not looking forward to doing it at all.
Is that enough of a reason to just nix the idea or should I at least give it a try?
Opinions??
Thanks!
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Re: I'm on the fence about BFing
Hey Shannon,
I am a 1st time Mom as well so I have no experience from before. I am going to give it my best shot. I really want to do it if only for the 1st couple months.
I def'n have the viewpoint that each mom should do what works for her.
That being said, at the same time I do believe it is best for the baby to at least bf for a couple weeks for the immunity factors that are not present in formula.
Thanks ladies. I had pretty good success with my 1st child. It also helped that I only went back to work PT after 6 weeks. With my 2nd I wasn't so fortunate. I just wasn't producing enough so I had to stop after just a few weeks.
Maybe I'll plan to do it for at least 8 weeks while I'm home.
Would it be bad to supplement with a bottle a day though? I want DH to be as involved as he can be, plus he will be taking care of the baby during the day when I go back to work. I would think it would be best to get him used to feedings before I go back.
What do you think?
I BF my older three and plan on BFing this one. The benefit of the extra weight loss and I remember being very mellow while nursing. With teenage girls in the house, I need anything that may calm me down.
I sure don't look forward to nursing pads and leaking all the time. But then again this will the last time to BF so I plan to make the best of it. Hope this helps
Shelley, when did you first introduce a bottle? What kind of bottles did you find work the best with bfing?
Thanks!
We'll definitely make a serious attempt at BFing and pumping for bottle feeding. My crazy friend (the hypochondriac) ONLY BFs and she's so tied to the kid she feels trapped, so I will also use bottles of breast milk so hubby can share in the joy and I can get a break once in a while! HA.
And here's a simple observation I've made: My cousin's wife had a little girl in early Feb. and exclusively formula feeds. Compare her to crazy friend's little girl who was born about a month later has has been exclusively BFed. Crazy friend's kid is much healthier, bigger, weights a good 5 pounds more, at least. Both kids weighed about the same at birth, but the BF one is really thriving better, in my opinion. That observation alone makes me think BFing really does make a difference, even tho I know every kid is different, of course.
My favorite time of day is really early in the morning when I had a young baby, but have already gone back to work. I remember setting my alarm an extra 15 minutes early (so that makes it 4:45) so I can sit in my glider and hold that baby after I nursed him for a few extra minutes. We were always the only people awake in the house and it was such a peaceful way to start my day.
There are times when I am tired of people hanging all over me and expecting me to meet all of their needs, but when I remember those peaceful times, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!
I plan to give it a try. I'm planning to take a breastfeeding class in a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to breastfeeding and having something that only I can do for her. Soon enough she'll start preferring her daddy because he'll be the fun one and I'll be the one who takes care of all the boring stuff. I want my time with her while I can get it.
I'm not however looking forward to pumping-- but I will. I plan to introduce a bottle of pumped milk around 3-4 weeks- after bf'ing is firmly established but well before I return to work. I'm planning to use Breastflow bottles but have a few others on hand to adapt if those don't work.
Good luck with your decision. It, like everything else, is a decision only you can make.
I thought when Benjamin was born that we'd BF and all would be fine and dandy.
...then I had little supply and it took forever to come in. He was also a BIG, demanding boy (9lb13oz) from the start. We actually gave him some formula in the hospital because he was reaching to the border of weight loss that the pedis were comfortable with and he simply needed to eat.
When we got home, I continued working on BFing with limited success. I did, however, manage to BF at least a few feedings per day for about 5 months. The rest was formula. What started out as a 75-25 BF to FF ratio slowly changed over to a 25-75 as his daily intake went up, but I was glad to give him what I could. It DID also allow my husband to take part in feedings more, which for me was huge. I have a tendency to get really depressed when I lack sleep, so I can't tell you how important it was to be able to go to bed once every couple of weeks and hibernate while dad took over for an evening.
There are different solutions for everyone, but part time BF and part-time FF worked GREAT for us. We never had issues with preferring the bottle over the breast or any of that, either.
If you're torn on what to do, I'd say give it a shot at least part-time. You can always quit, but you can't always go back. Just remember to keep an open mind about it and don't let yourself fall into that guilt of "not giving your kids the best." The old adage couldn't be more true: Happy mom = happy baby
This is my first baby, so I am going to try BF. I also plan to pump b/c DH wants to feed the baby, too. I hope it all works out and that our baby takes to both BF and bottle-feeding!
I pumped & supplemented with formula for dh1. It worked well for us at the time cause i was a single mom that went back to work at 3 weeks. I will do the same this time around because i want dh to be able to feed as well. I will only pump for about a month or so...then purely ff.
(Lurking on the board because I'm not pg with no 2 but...)
I had a really bad first few weeks with DS (cracked, bleeding nipples). I stuck through it and wound up BF until 9 months then pumped until I switched him over to milk at 11 months. I think give it a try and if it's too much...you tried.
G/L!
I started out EBFing ds, and things went really well for about 3-4 mo. then I had supply issues (thanks, weightwatchers!) and had to supplement. When I started to supplement, dh commented on how much he preferred the bf/ff combination - it let him feed the baby, gave me 3+ hours of sleep at a time, and made us all more relaxed and happy.
For dd, I may not bf at all. I might be going away for 2 weeks when she's 6 weeks old, and I am a very poor pumper. If the trip is happening, then I'll take that as a sign to just go straight to formula. I'll probably start out planning to bf/ff, though. Formula is perfectly fine - it won't injure a LO, lets daddy be more involved in meals, and gives a certain flexibility for mom.
BFing #1 with 36DDs in public places was bad enough.. This time, "the girls" are already 36Gs and that's at 18 weeks. I can't imagine the horror when my milk comes in, let alone whipping those out in public to feed Libby...