Breastfeeding

[Austin_1001]

Hello, I am currently in week 3 of postpartum and I would like to try breastfeeding again. What are peoples thoughts on this, is it a good idea and would it be best to carry on formula feeding as well as introducing breastfeeding?

[CuppaTea1]

Hello there – congratulations on the birth of your baby!

I have a few suggestions but it sounds like you could also do with some extra support from your health visiting team, so do give them a call. I have googled the Just One Number service for you to get through to them and it is 0300 300 0123. You could also call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212 for support.

You can restart breastfeeding - how long you did it for before you stopped does make a difference how quickly / how much your milk supply will return. Do not just stop giving formula milk at this stage – it’s really important that your baby has enough milk to grow and thrive. As your breastmilk supply increases, you can gradually decrease the amount of formula you give. This link has a leaflet about how to hold your baby when bottle feeding to make sure they don’t overfeed - unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/...

The first thing to start doing is lots of lovely skin to skin contact – this boosts the milk making hormones. You can even give your baby their bottle in skin to skin, and skin to skin is really good for bonding with your baby and for their immune system even if you don’t end up breastfeeding.

See if your baby will latch on to the breast and feed – fantastic if they do! Perhaps try this either when they are just starting to wake up and not too hungry (that eyes closed, gently stirring state), or even when they have had a bit of their bottle and that initial starving hungry phase has passed – if you try when they are hungry they will just want food straight away and won’t want to try something unfamiliar!

It's important when you are breastfeeding that feeds are comfortable – the better a baby is latched, the more milk they get too. This link has a leaflet which you can download which explains more: unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/...

The next thing to do to boost your milk supply is try to express your milk as often as you can. The way that breastfeeding works is that the more milk you remove from your breast, the more you will make. For parents who are not putting their baby to the breast at all and giving breast milk via a bottle, in the early weeks it is suggested they express 8 times a day – as much as a baby would feed (including at least once a night as milk making hormones are higher then). If you have a breast pump, then use this – but even hand expressing can be helpful (unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/....

There are other things that you can do but I don’t want to overwhelm you! Please remember that any amount of breastmilk is fantastic – so even if you give just a small amount and the rest is formula, you can be really proud of this. And do reach out to your health visiting team for more specialist support.

Good luck – whatever happens – enjoy these precious early days with your baby – they go so quickly.

[MrsHello Community Ambassador]

Hi, it sounds like you got some lovely advice from @cuppatea1🥰. Just wanted to say congratulations on your new baby, I breast fed and formula fed and mixed and matched based on what my hv recommended. I tried several combos including expressing and using different ways to help encourage latching on. I really wanted to breast feed myself and did persevere although I found it harder than I thought I would. Good luck with the feeding and keep us posted how you are getting on 🥰.

[MrsHello Community Ambassador]

Hi I just thought I’d check in and see how it’s going? I know the early days can be a bit of an endurance effort establishing feeding! Hope it’s gone ok and you have found some bits that have helped you / people to support, we are here if you need a chat xx