I'm now 15 weeks pregnant and I plan on bottle feeding my baby when he/she comes. I was just wondering if you chose to bottle feed only, did you do it from day one in the hospital or did you start after a few weeks?
***And yes, I've done my research on the breast vs the bottle. There is no need for criticism, that's not what I'm asking. Thanks!
2007-09-21 08:39:22 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Pregnancy
Duh, of course I'm not going to wait a few weeks to feed my baby at all. I'm not an idiot. I meant did you breastfeed for a few weeks and then switch?
2007-09-21 08:50:01 · update #1
I bottlefed both of my children from the very beginning. I, too, made the decision after doing my research. I started them both right away in the hospital, so they would be used to it and eating well by the time we went home. I do have some advice for you though -- make sure you have a birth plan where you state that you do not want a lactation consultant to visit you in the hospital. Some of them will try to make you feel like a horrible mother for bottlefeeding your baby, and they can make your stay at the hospital a nightmare. This happened to me with my first child. If you feel it is important for your child to get colostrum from you, you can simply express it into a bottle when you get home to give to them, for that extra first immunity boost.
2007-09-21 08:48:00 · answer #1 · answered by AnnaBanana 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I have 3 children, with the third I finally said okay I'll try to breast feed. I tried it for 3 days, he wasn't getting anything, and he was crying all night from being hungry. I couldn't take it.
I applaud anyone that has done it, but bottle feeding doesn't make you a bad mom. It also depends on your life style, if your a busy person, or a working mom. You do what you want to, nobody else has a say in this decision.
FYI: If you plan to bottle feed my husband and I discovered the Stanley Soup Thermos. It has a wide mouth, you boil water, fill it about 3rd full and when you go out (doctor, grocery etc..) you drop the bottle in forr a minute and it's ready. No looking fo hot water!
Good luck with your baby, you will be a great mom!
2007-09-21 09:07:11 · answer #2 · answered by 3030gal 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I bottle feed my daughter breast milk for 12 months. I planned on breast feeding but my milk didn't come in until 9 or 10 days after her birth. A few days after her birth she was latching on just fine, but I had to start bottle feeding her because she was losing way too much weight. By the time my milk came in she wanted nothing to do with my breast.
I would have loved to breast feed her, but since that wasn't an option exclusive pumping was the second best choice.
2007-09-21 13:13:35 · answer #3 · answered by Starsfan14 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with a previous poster - for whatever reasons you decided to bottlefeed, you should express colostrum into a bottle!
No, I'm not trying to preach or criticize. Colostrum is just the best immune booster ever because it has antibodies made just by you for baby!
How and what you feed your baby is your choice - if you are set on exclusive bottlefeeding then starting from the hospital would probably be best to keep baby from rejecting the bottle when you switch. Switching from breast to bottle will also make it more difficult to dry up your milk as you have already begun training your breasts to produce milk.
EDIT: Careful with wrapping your breast to dry up your milk! My sister ended up with a cyst from supressing a gland and it was apparently very painful!
2007-09-21 08:58:51 · answer #4 · answered by ilovejolie86 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When I brought my son home from the hospital I was bottle and breast feeding him. For some reason I decided to give up the breast feeding and just with the bottle feeding. I really wish that I would have stuck to the breast feeding, because of the health benefits from it. Who knows what they really put in the bottle formula. My son had a horrible time digesting the formula. Plus I was always having to clean the baby bottles all the time. I was always having to buy different bottles to see if my son could handle them better. It is your choice, but I recommend breast feeding all the way.
2007-09-21 08:47:05 · answer #5 · answered by Rosey55 D 5 · 7⤊ 0⤋
I had planned to breastfeed, but it didn't work out and my son ended up badly dehydrated by his first "well baby" visit. He was exclusively bottle-fed from about 5 days old.
Bottles were kind of a pain - lots of gear to lug, formula to measure and so on. I did pump breast milk for the first few months, too, so that made for even more equipment. (At least most of that was rented.)
The two upsides were:
a) My son and my husband really bonded during the middle of the night feedings that Dad took on. And, of course, I got a few more hours of sleep knowing that someone else was doing *exactly* what I'd be doing for my son.
b) I never had to guesstimate how much my son was eating. Had he been healthy from the first, I'd never have questioned it, but since we had such a scare early on, it was a relief to be able to know what he was taking in.
We're thinking about a second child and while I still love the idea of breastfeeding - it seems so much easier than our way - I rather imagine I'll do the same thing with baby #2 that I did with our first. He is happy, healthy and smart, and I really don't think that formula has hurt his chances of early admission to Harvard. ;)
2007-09-21 08:59:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Hi.
My son is a very healthy 17 month old child. I bottle fed him from day one in the hospital. Like you I had done my research regarding breast vs bottle. I did expect to be pressured into breast feeding at the hospital but this wasn't the case.I found the midwives quite supportive, after all it is a parents personal choice. I am now 22 weeks pregnant and plan to bottle feed this baby too. I struggled knowing which formula milk to start my son on as there seems to be so many.The midwives told me that its just personal choice as they all are made to a certain standard. I wish you well with your pregnancy.Take care x
2007-09-21 08:52:47 · answer #7 · answered by hycoupe001 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I always knew I would bottle feed...not everyone can handle the idea of breast feeding. This is not a bad thing...throughout history there have been women who chose not to. I never liked the idea though I thought I might wait till I had the baby to see if I still hated the idea....I did. So I just bottle fed...she's fine! Oh and in the end I couldn't have anyway as I had no milk at all!
2007-09-21 08:53:18 · answer #8 · answered by Daisyhill 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I knew right away that I wanted to bottle feed.
I think, in the controversy of bottle vs breast, it is up to the mother to decide that. These days, the infant formula is sooo close to breast feeding anyways, that health wise, there isnt much of a difference anyways. Plus, you dont have that stress of trying to make sure that YOU get enough nutrients to make sure your child is getting what it needs, you KNOW that the formula has that covered. Another good thing about the bottle that I liked, is that if I was sick, I could take the medications I needed without worrying if the medicine will go through the breastmilk. And, I wasnt always stuck with feeding the baby, my mom could watch him while I rested or went to work and I didnt have to worry about pumping enough milk for the baby.
Good luck with the baby! Having a baby is SOOOOOOOOO exciting! Congrats!
2007-09-21 08:48:08 · answer #9 · answered by Jennilicious 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Most people start bottle feeding the day they are born I did breast and bottle because I could not keep up with milk production I started bottle feeding her when she was two days old and that seemed to work for us. Good luck with your little one
2007-09-21 08:46:20 · answer #10 · answered by Courtney B 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋