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Hello all mums and bumps,  I have a friend who only bottle feed her little one expressed breast milk and didn't breastfeed at all, just wondering has anyone else tried this.  i bottle feed my two boys formula, but this time i want to breastfeed.  but now i'm having doubts and am not sure i'll be able to keep it up, family not that supportive and could be easier if i bottle feed.  i thought this way was a good idea, as it's the best of both ways. i might take to breastfeeding naturaly but would just like to know anyway, when can you start expressing.  i have bought an electric pump already.    Any thoughts grateful!  vikki 38+4week pink bump and 2 monkeys

hi

well i bottle feed my 1st 2 children as my first had tongue tie and couldnt breastfeed, but i thought it was me who couldnt breastfeed, so when i had my 2nd child i didnt even try again as i knew i would fail (didnt know till she was 4 months, that tongue tie children cant breastfeed and i could have breastfeed my daughter too late then though) my daughter hated formula and i went through all makes i think trying to get her happy on a milk product, anyways when i had my 3rd, he hated formula too and i thought sod this im gonna try breastfeeding and he latched on straightaway, bit shocked as he was 4 days old (but i suppose as milk was coming in i was full so that helped i guess lol) and when i was preggy with my 4th i thought i would leave it up to baby to decide, but he was 6 weeks early and ended on in scubu for 12 days and they encouraged breastfeeding/expressing so he automatically did this and he thrived on breast milk.

im now preggy with bubba number 5 and again im gonna leave it up to baby what its wants, but i must admit out or breastfeeding and bottle feeding, breastfeeding is easier and cheaper and much more conveninent as yo dont have to carry round hot water or find somewhere to heat up bottles.

i tried expressing as i didnt get support from my family, they said how selfish i was as they couldnt feed baby, but when i bottle feed my first 2 family they only feed them twice if i remember correctly anyways and when i expressed with my last 2 children they didnt want to bottle feed them either, they said it was disgusting like what!  

so my advice is YOU must do what you feel confortable, my hubbys family refuse to accomadate me when i wish to breastfeed, so i just go off to a room (if im round their house) and feed, but ive now vowed that with this baby if it want to breastfeed they are NOT kicking me out of the room, im not a mum who whips her breast out for all to see, im very descrete when i feed and ill feed baby where i want and when and if they dont like it we wont visit, they have to visit us and my hubby totally agrees with me.

so after this long post my love, have a go at breastfeeding and see how you and bubba feel,  and sod everyone else its not up to them as baby is yours NOT theirs.

i must say (but i shouldnt really but ) i bonded with my last 2 children better then first 2 as we had that special time together that was me and bubba and no one else could have that time (and i think thats where the lack of suport comes on JEALOUSY) youll also notice if you do decide to breast feed that how long did sterilsing take and you could have been doing something else.  

good luck my hunni and do what you wish to do, only you can really decide and if family and friends loved you they WOULD support you without doubt.

muumy to 4 fab children and preggy with no5 13 weeks and 4 days and counting!!

Hi, If you want your baby to have breastmilk I would try to breastfeed the traditional way and only express when you wanna go out or have a break so someone else can feed little one.

I expressed milk and bottle fed it to my little girl as she was tongue tied and couldnt latch on.  It was so hard.  You are essentially feeding the baby twice because you spend time getting the milk, then have to feed it to the baby, also sterilising all the equipment aswell.  Also, its not something you only do in the day, you have to do it at night too, so those night feeds actually take twice as long.  I think I got 4 hours sleep per night on average till she was 4 months old and I changed her onto formula.

A side from the time, it is really restrictive aswell, i found I was only able to go out for an hour because by the time you have gotten ready to go out there is only an hour till you need to express again, and then feed the baby, then you'll have another hour to do something, and it goes on an on like that.  There is no way I could have done it with children already running around. 

 I had one of the hospital pumps aswell that does both breast at the same time, this does make it quicker but it could still take upto 30 minutes to express 6-8ozs of milk every 3-4 hours.

In short, I would get down to your local childrens centre or play group and join a brestfeeding support group, sometimes called baby bistro, that way you will have the support you need to try and breastfeed.

Good luck, Natalie, baby and jellybean x

I would give breastfeeding a go myself the normal way and then if you need some time off then express some for someone else to give to baby. Myself I found i couldnt express loads and loads so i would have personally been worried that my baby wouldnt be getting enough whereas when you feed baby naturally at least you know when they have had enough so to speak. I can understand why you want to do it the way you do but in my honest opinion id say give breastfeeding 100% and then if it doesnt work then try expressing it and using bottles.