Soon-to-be newbie with a question

swayze16

I have been reading this board for weeks now and you have all been SO helpful. Our first is due May 2nd and I am planning to breast feed. I just have one major question at this point...should I purchase some formula to have around in case it takes time for my milk to come in? I'm just not sure how much to prepare? Should I buy some formula and more bottles or wait and see???? Also, on another side note...I was planning to wait to buy a pump to see how it goes. Is this a wise move? TIA

ncbelle

I would say no on the formula.  It can take a few days or even a week for your milk to come in BUT you have colostrum in the meantime - that's more than enough for your baby.   Supplementing during that time can actually hamper your milk supply since you won't be putting enough demand on your body.  Nurse as much as you can in the early days and weeks - it will feel like that's all you are doing - but that's the best way to get your milk in and supply up.

I also think having formula on hand makes it easier to "give in" in the middle of the night when you are tired and frustrated.  Better to not have the temptation if you are committed to BFing.

I don't think it matters if you have a pump right away or not.  Unless you have a baby who can't latch for some reason, you really don't need to pump the first couple of weeks since you shouldn't start with bottles until 4 weeks at least.

Get a good BFing book now to have on hand - education is the best thing you can do right now!

beedale862003

I agree that you don't need formula, and using it could hurt your BF.

However, I found having a pump extremely helpful in the beginning, in fact I may not be BF now if I had not had the pump.  And if for some reason, you need to exclusively pump its a lot easier to have it than to run out and get one.  Unless you don't think you will need a pump at all (SAHM, etc), if you are planning on pumping when you go back to work I would go ahead and invest.

texmeg

I also agree it's not necessary to have formula around.  We ended up supplementing twice w/ formula, but it was easy for DH to just run out and grab some at that point.

However, I also used my pump A LOT in the beginning - during labor (to strengthen contractions), after when we had latching issues and he wouldn't nurse and I needed to do something to stimulate my milk to come in (and I was definitely pumping when we supplemented).  So that is something I would definitely have on hand.

Also it won't hurt to have bottles on hand since you'll probably use them at some point anyway, and if you need to supplement you'll already have those.