11 week old baby

Of course it's fine to offer! If you're happy to and your child wants to there's nothing quite like getting that special bonding only you two can have. You may notice he won't finish his normal bottles if he's getting milk from you but that's just a sign that he's getting milk

Hi! Idk if you are in the US but pumps are free through insurance! Check out medelas’s website. Thats the one i got. You can also hand express milk but that may be more work. I dont have personal experience with it but there are lots of people who combo feed formula and breastmilk

Thank you I was just worried it might cause him problems. He’s my third child but none of the others showed signs. I don’t think he will get a lot atm as I don’t think the supply is there for him as such but will start to offer it him again before his normal bottle :) And hopefully we can move over to exclusive breastfeeding in a little while like I wanted from the get go :) xx

i’m a bit confused as to why you started formula. Milk doesn’t come in till 3-5 days after birth so this sounds normal? Colostrum is enough at this point because their tummies are so so tiny. However it’s definitely okay to try and latch him instead. If you’re engorged and he’s latching ok you should be good to feed him then have formula on hand if he’s still hungry until your supply builds up a bit more. Feeding constantly and fussing at breast can be normal. it’s called cluster feeding and as long as baby is gaining weight and having plenty of wet nappies you don’t need to worry about supply so i’d deffo move to like latching first and when he’s done if he still feels hungry give him half a bottle or something. You can hand express too if you don’t have a pump just to get a bit extra out for him so you have an idea of some of the milk he’s getting x

I moved over to formula because I only had colostrum for 2 days (well one and a half days as he drank it all.) so had to move him onto formula so he didn’t get hungry till the milk came in. Then I become unwell so couldn’t feed him from breasts for 2 weeks as I was on antibiotics that aren’t safe for breastfeeding. After that I felt he would get confused but then I also suffered with PP but as I was already with mental health team I’m getting better. And as my breasts are still making milk I want to try again now I’m finally not poorly and getting mentally better x

Ailanit im in the uk so no free pumps here. Will offer him my breast first then the bottle and in between feeding will do hand expressing :) x

There are tons and tons of breastfeeding friendly antibiotics. What ones were you on? Doctors can be so uneducated on breastfeeding and cause a lot of breastfeeding journeys to end prematurely as they give incorrect information. I always check on the breastfeeding network for medication if a doctor says something isn’t safe cause more often than not it is. My adhd meds originally my psychiatrist told me he wasn’t comfortable prescribing it while breastfeeding but I sent him information from lactation consultants etc and he prescribed me it! It’s shocking that doctors will give this information without fully understanding and researching what is and isn’t safe so be aware of that for future. Also breastfeeding is amazing for PP depression can help with a lot of symptoms as long as you have the education to know what’s going on and what is normal and not normal for a babies behaviour when breastfeeding so you aren’t so stressed out. I’d deffo recommend a lactation consultant. Laleche -

- league is a good website to visit as they often do free local meet-ups and online support for mothers struggling with feeding!

Thank you so much for your help. I honestly can’t remember the name of them now. But I will remember for the future if our breastfeeding journey takes off again. I’m def going to look into a lactation consultation as I feel I may need some more help with this. But honestly thank you for being so helpful and understanding. The only reason I didn’t do it whilst I was really bad with PP is because it was so bad I couldn’t move or shower or do anything so my husband had to take care of three children by himself, I wasn’t even eating or drinking. But slowly getting there again now x