When Bob was born I was very self conscious and I wouldn’t breastfeed when we were out and about. I expressed from the beginning and gave her breast milk in a bottle when I wasn’t at home. This meant that I never had a problem getting her to take a bottle but it did mean that I ended up having problems with my flow. I think I started expressing too early which meant my flow became too fast. Eventually I was only able to feed Bob whilst I was lying down which wasn’t very practical.
I spoke to the midwife about this when Bow was born and she said that it was best to wait until Bow was 4 weeks old before I started to express.
I started expressing when Bow was 4 weeks old but, as Bow was feeding so well, I didn’t give him a bottle straight away. He was very greedy though and he wanted to feed every 2 hours. He could feed for up to 30 minutes and then, by the time I had settled him, I would have an hours sleep at most before he wanted feeding again.
Michael said that he could give him a bottle of breast milk in the night so that I might manage to get 3 hours sleep. He tried this on several occasions but Bow was having none of it! We tried every bottle we could think of but he wasn’t interested.
We were told that when we were giving him a bottle for the first time I should not be there as he would associate me with breastfeeding. As this wasn’t working I decided to have a go. I tried everything and eventually I got him to take a bottle. Unfortunately, the only way I could do this was by putting my boob on his head. The health visitor was impressed when I told her and she said she was going to advise this if people were struggling. 🙂
As Bow would only take a bottle off me it didn’t help the sleep situation so we decided to supplement with formula. Unfortunately this didn’t help either. As the formula filled Bow more he then became hungrier even sooner after a breast feed. He started to only last 90 minutes between feeds and he was very unsettled.
The health visitor said I should switch to formula but I was reluctant to stop breast feeding. Eventually I knew that things couldn’t carry on the way they were. I was quite upset about this and I felt like I had failed. Bow was just under 4 months when I stopped feeding him and I felt awful as I hadn’t fed him for as long as I fed Bob. There was only a couple of weeks in it and Bow had been exclusively breastfed so I am sure he got his fair share but I couldn’t help feeling guilty. However, I soon saw a change in Bow and I knew it was for the best.
When I was feeding Bow we never had any happy awake time. He was either tired, asleep, hungry or feeding. When I switched to bottle feeding he soon managed to go 3 hours between feeds. He was much more settled and he would spend a lot of time awake and interacting with us. Seeing the change in him made me realise that I had made the right decision.
He will now happily take a bottle from anyone and Bob is thrilled! She is such a wonderful big sister!
* A few people have said they are going to try my method so I thought I’d add a bit more information about it. I started by pretending to put him on my breast and then swapping it for the bottle. (Mean mummy.) I then realised that he only settled when I left my boob on his head. Whatever works! 🙂
I only managed to breastfeed for a couple weeks so this was really interesting to read! I’m keen to try again when I have a second baby so it’s always really helpful to hear other people’s experiences. It’s funny how we’re all different! It would be ideal to be able to breastfeed but use a bottle if and when it’s needed #Love2Blog
Congrats for breastfeeding hun. I just went straight to the bottle from the off set so had no transition period like this. I can imagine it is hard though as I have friends who have been through this. my friend who is trying to go through this at the moment is finding it hard so I am going to direct her to your post. x
I had no luck with this – there weren’t many people around to help share the feeding though so may have been the reason why!
Ohhh I wish this had worked with Edith! Tried it, failed! Tried everything, failed! She’s far too attached to her boobie and I give in far too easily haha! Well done for managing the transition! H x
I breastfed for 2 weeks, a difficult yet beautiful time. Love reading peoples experiences. I look back now and wish I never stopped…
Great informative post. I’m not a mum, but someday I would like to be, and I would like to breastfeed at first and then move on to the bottle. So I am hoping I remember all of your tips!
I tried with bother mine to breastfeed but I never managed to go past the initial two weeks so four months has been very good, especially since he seems to be more settled now.xx