Breastfeeding and bottle

It’s normal for newborns to breastfeed often as they are regulating your supply and breastmilk is digested quicker than formula, which is why it seems they need feeding again so soon after.
Is there a reason you are expressing? It’s recommended to wait 6 weeks to allow your supply to regulate. Also pumping isn’t an indicator of supply as babies are more efficient at removing milk from the breast than a pump.
It is exhausting at first but it should get easier.

It's perfectly normal for a newborn (and older) to feed every hour and half. formula takes longer to digest than breastmilk and that's why he will go longer. However just to make you aware, research suggests that giving formula does not have any impact on the length of sleep or number of wakes. It may seem it for some people, but as a whole, there's no research to support that, and infact research does say that Breastfeeding mums get more sleep than formula feeding mums! Again, doesn't feel like it, but that's what the research shows.
The trouble at 2 weeks, is if you start giving formula over night and aren't breastfeeding or expressing, your supply will drop massively. The first 6-12 weeks are vital in stabilising your supply and missing feeds, particularly over night, can effect that.
Also it's very easy to over feed with formula. A breastfed baby cannot over feed.

It is normal for them to clusterfeed at 2 weeks. It helps your body build up the supply they need. It sucks, I planned for it and just listened to some audio books during it

Bottle is easier for baby and probably getting a higher volume of milk, breastmilks fat content changes to suit babies needs so they don't need as much, be careful introducing bottles this early it could cause baby to prefer bottles and make breastfeeding harder for you both

so I’ve had 2 babies in a space of 16 months so my partner and I went for a meal so both babies were at his mums that’s why i was expressing as he needed milk while I was away, yes I’ve done some reasearch and I understand now that’s it’s normal 🥰 I never breastfed my daughter so she use to have a bottle every 3-4 hours so I was use to the 1.5 hours between feeds x

thank you for your response 🥰 I have made sure that if he is having expressed milk from the bottle I do express too, I don’t think I would get away with not doing so as it becomes painful 🫣 I just wasn’t use to it like I said above my daughter was bottle fed and went 3-4 hours and sometimes had to be woke so 1.5 hours between was very interesting and I wasn’t expecting it! 🥰. X

honestly I never planned for it at all! If anything I said I wasn’t even going to try because I didn’t wanna pressure myself but he just latched on with no issue, my daughter on the other hand I really tried and she just lost weight and was diagnosed with FTT she’s still only small now! It’s just hard being awake all day with my 17 month old and then all night while my boy is on my boob 😂😂xx

oh when I mean plan I mean mine always clustered between 7-10 so I tried to get everything I needed done before 7 so I wasn't stressing while we was clustering about everything I still had to do. I just did what was priority and left everything for another time. At 2 weeks it lasted about a week where he was feeding every hour for about 30-40 mins from 7-10.

oh wow that’s a good idea doing it that way! Would be perfect really because my eldest goes to bed around that time actually 🥰 I might try and do that! How would I get started on that? Just put him on at that time and when he fusses put him on again? X

yes I feel as though bottle was easier as he would drink it within like 10 minutes and was back down were as on my breast it could be up to an hour at 3 in the morning and it’s exhausting! To be very honest though he’s doing well with both bottle and breast I haven’t had an issue yet but I will keep that in mind 🥰 thank you for your advice xx

I fed him everyday at the daytime at the same time. 7am 10 am 1 pm 4 pm 7pm and 10 pm. So I naturally started feeding him at 7pm, he would nurse for about 30-40 mins then be a bit milk drunk. I would hold him for a bit or my husband would and I would get some stuff done. Then when he started to fuss I would put him back on. It is really important to let him cluster on you to build up your supply. I find if I feed him more during the day he sleeps longer at night, I don't wake him for feeds at night, he will go 4-6 hour stretches between feeds at night at 3 weeks.

After 4 weeks I started pumping at night when he woke up and my husband would give him a bottle. I would be careful about feeding a bottle so quickly, they can get frustrated at the boob if you make it too easy on the bottle. Look up pace feeding. Mine takes 20 mins for 4oz. Recommend waiting till 4 weeks to introduce bottle and start pumping as breastfeeding should be established and supply is regulated at least based on what I read.

would you not feed him if he was crying though before the 3 hour mark? Or try to soothe him in other ways?? That’s a really good idea though I will try this myself, seems like a very good routine too! 🥰 ah okay then that makes sense I think I just became overwhelmed with how much he was feeding compared to my daughter and that’s why I introduced the bottle so early to be honest, but that’s very good advice and handy to know! Thank you x

usually he is pretty good, here and there he might be 15 mins early in which I will soothe him. If he is more than an hour early and showing hunger cues I will top him up but not a full feed unless I know he is clustering which is usually in the evenings