I BF Libby for 13 months, this wasnt through choice she wouldnt take a bottle (even with expressed milk). Although I enjoyed the bond I had with her and when I did stop I was quite sad - I also hated being the only one to be able to feed her, I couldn't nip out for an hour or so etc etc.

I always said if I had another baby I would do combined feeding, we've tried it with Dexter and already he wont have anything but breast milk. I already feel like all I do is feed him, I cant have a shower without worrying if he wants feeding, I've got a stack of ironing/housework to do but know if I start I wont be able to finish and worst of all I feel like I'm missing out on time with Libby

I've tried to tell Simon about it but he just says formula is too expensive and he cant be arsed with sterilising etc (which if I'm honest I cant either)..

Oh I dont know, there's probably no point to this post as I cant change it now.

Of course you can change it hunni.

Ok, so, what are the options... you can continue bf, you can express or you can find a formula that he likes.

If you are concerned about the cost (we didnt buy Aimee's milk, and at £10 per week, Lily's food is expensive in my opinion), then I would look at expressing.

Have you tried it for him yet? Sterilising really isnt that bad. I just make all of our bottles up at once for the day and it takes about 5 minutes. You could also look at getting the breast feeding freezer bags that you can get, so you can store it for ages.

x

Firstly you are doing amazing, he is only 2 weeks old. IF you decided to quit BF in the next few weeks you have already given him an amazing start.

Right, as for him only taking breastmilk.... has he had ebm in a btl or always straight from you? He still is so teeny and if you do want to do combined feeding there is lots of time to introduce it.

I only BF Caitlin for 8 wks and she was maybe 3-4 wks before she took ebm from a btl. Introducing formula took a few attempts (but that could have been her allergy, nature protecting her), in saying that once her allergy was diagnosed at 8 weeks she went to bottles 100% of the time and it was easier than I thought it would be - for her anyway! What im trying to say is just because he wont take a btl now doesnt mean he wont in 3 weeks. Dont be panicking yourself that this is it for 13 months.

Yes formula is expensive, but if you combine feed it would only be 50% of the price. Sterilising is a faff but after a while you get into a routine... eg wash btls at night, switch steriliser on in morning - job done! At the start I faffed about more with btls than I needed to, boiling kettle fresh everytime, cooling btls in a jug, turning steriliser back on after 3 hrs .... then I caught myself on and started microwaving btls (bad mum!), and accepting that the steriliser ran once or twice a day was enough - I didnt need to keep redoing things. Its easy for Simon to bring up the cons when its not him experiencing the physical exhaustion of BF and the guilt of missing out on libby.

Do what makes you happy, I can remember with Caitlin being so sore and tired at times I was in tears when she cried for a feed. I totally understand the frustration of being the ONLY one that can do something (its still a lovely feeling too though).

Just dont rule anything out yet. If I was you id keep trying with a btl of formula every few days until he takes a bit. Dont rush him/yourself but im sure he will eventually take it.

I have similar concerns as you have mentioned, I think BF with a toddler must be so so hard. I really admire you for doing it. I hope to do it again with this one but I have promised myself if I start to feel my mood going down Im getting out the bottle and doing what makes me happy - sod Stuart and my mum (the most pro BF person in the world!).

You will all be ok, you are doing a fantastic job!

you definitely still have an option to change! he is only very little, he might just not quite 'get' the bottle yet, but even in a week or two he might.

we did combined feeding for a couple of months but only one bottle a day in the evening, it gave me a break and best of all i felt that i knew he would/could take a bottle if necessary, so if i was going out to somewhere i didn't feel i could bf, or if i needed a break, i knew we could take a bottle with us and not worry. we rarely used it but it was a great piece of mind. i found expressing took longer than the feeding itself, plus i combined fed because feeding was so painful at the time.

as far as cost was concerned, elijah took maybe 3oz a night, so one carton of ready made hipp lasted two feeds (65p). that isn't massively expensive really, in relation to the convenience and the absolute bliss of having a shower/walk/meal all to myself.

i would really recommend trying again in a little while if you still feel this way, that way everything is open to you - you can go back to exclusive bf (i did and it was fine - milk supply was still ok), or go onto formula full time knowing he will take a bottle.

plus, if it's just one or two feeds a day, that's only one or two bottles - bottles remain sterile for 24 hours so you are only doing one load of 4 every 1.5 days - no problem

as for libby...there isn't much you can do really, as i said in the other post we still have a babasling that you are welcome to (you could always post it back once you are finished - i found by 4-5 months eli was too big for it to be comfy). that way you might get some hands free time. we also have some mam bottles which i found amazing (and they are very umm nipply in the teat area ) i can send a couple down if you want to try them. i definitely think there is a line between bottle feeding so early it damages latch, and so late they won't take it, it would be great if you could find it!

christ, that's far too long if you got time to read that.....well........you coulda done your ironing

Thanks so much ladies.

I havent tried EBM with him yet but I think I will, I've just been looking at electric pumps (had a manual with Libby and it was pants!) and you can pick up some bargains on Ebay for a brand new one.

I do feel bad for complaining and I know I should count myself lucky that I can do it but he is constantly feeding and I am absolutely exhausted (poor little man has got a cold so isn't sleeping very well, bless him).

xxx

Aw suse, i defo feel your pain and we moved to combined feeding at 2 weeks for the same reason, from 5pm she was just attached to me constantly, i would say the same, try a little bit maybe once a day and see if her gets used to it, while expressing and building up a supply.

Good luck hun,

You are doing amazingly well dont beat yourself up xxx

I can understand where you coming from as Jamie fed little and often and still feeds every two hours or less at times and I haven't got another child to worry about.

My friend had a problem getting her baby to take a bottle when she started to combine feed. In the end she just tried every night and eventually she did so it might just be a case of keep trying. She also found she would only take it if oh did it and she wasn't in the room initially.
Hope you manage to work it out and can get a break

I combined fed both of mine. I had to try different bottles till I found one that suited H which was the mam ones and used Aptamil. I found the 10.30pm feed the easiest to start with as baby was sleepy. As for sterilising it doesn't take that long to do. I found combined feeding gave me a bit of flexibility to go out or sleep and oh could help out as well x