Breastfeeding

Currently breastfeeding my nearly 4 week old baby boy, any advice on expressing and trying the bottle please. Much appreciated. I’m a new mum and have no idea where to start.

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It’s recommended to wait until 6 weeks to ensure feeding is established and your body understands how much to supply for your baby. Do you then plan to only pump and give via bottle or just the option to give a bottle a day?

Just have the option to give a bottle as well as breast just to take down pressure of me xxxxx

When you pump, at first you’ll not express much and that’s completely normal. The more you do it, the more you’ll make, but pumping too much can lead to an oversupply which you don’t want.
I would recommend a hakkaa and putting it on your breast when feeding. It will catch your letdown and excess milk. X

The midwives gave me a pump in hospital when my milk came in as I was in so much pain and it caused me a massive over supply so try not pump too much, maybe just pump on one side when baby is feeding or use a hakaa xx

As long as you’re not having engorgement, it would be reasonable to start pumping once per day whenever you feel ready - try to pump just a few oz and keep the amount you pump consistent each day to lower your risk of clogged ducts. I would start with small (like maybe 1oz) bottles so baby can learn the bottle, and nurse afterwards to finish the nursing session. Any time you give a bottle, be sure to pump that day to replace the volume given, or supply will drop.

This is just my personal experience and doesn't negate anyone else's.

Pumping is awful. You see all.tjese women online who pump and have freezers full of stock... and yet when I pump I get about an ounce. Two first thing in the morning. This is considered normal yet.
I feel like a bloody cow with the pump on. And more than likely I've got the wrong flange size cause the cracked nipples... it also doesn't give me any time back to reduce pressure as I'd still have to find the time to pump!! I'm so frustrated by pumping but I really hope you find it much better.

Good luck with your pumping journey and make sure you do a day time or tea time feed until 13ish weeks as supply is created by night time demand til then.

I just don’t know what is best to do, he drinks so fast because of my flow and I just want to try and help him so I thought if I tried a bottle it would help reduce the gas. At the moment I am still just breastfeeding, I have been told Hakkas are good rather than pumps xxxx

in our community

Over supply of milk

I am nearly 5weeks postpartum and I have such a big over supply of BM.
Has anyone donated / sold their supply, if so where do you recommend for this?

AITA

In the uk there is an outbreak of meningitis, in a specific area mainly. My BD has family from that area and decided to go and meet up with them, I said if he does then he cannot have contact with the kids for 7-10 days after incase he picks anything up. Am I being over dramatic? I reallyyy don’t want my young kids getting anything serious

I think its fair

Me and my partner agreed to sleep in 1 day of the weekend.
He doesn't find it fair to look after both kids (my 4 year old isnt his) while i sleep so he looks after the baby while i sleep and my toddlers at his dads and ill look after both the next day.
Straightaway it was pretty unfair as i let him sleep in until he wakes up 10-12
He wakes me up when baby starts fussing because he wants milk (doesnt need it)
I cant pump as i dont supply enough.
So i get woken at 9/9:30 to feed baby then i get him sleep then theres no point sleeping in as my toddlers being dropped off.
I also find it unfair that i get both kids to sleep most night, i get my toddler to sleep everyday hes home (4/5days) and i get my baby to sleep most nights with the exception of maybe twice a month as his dad struggless then about 95% of his thru the day naps.
I have also been unwell for a few months (tumor scare) and am waiting 18 weeks to see a specialist so im obviously petrified for that, so unbelievably tired and alot of aches and pains, specifically these pounding headaches ive been having.
After i had been up til 11:30 getting both kids to sleep lastnight and my partner falling asleep at 10 then him ignoring the baby cries all morning until my toddler woke up im fed up slammed to door and rold him not to expect to sleep in unless he gets the baby to sleep the night b4.
I keep having issues with him not feeling the wet from baby being sick or weeing himself or being able to smell it do about 98% of the time hes given to me i have to clean him up n change him.
Including at night, we agreed my partner would change nappies (1 a night at 5am) while i feed (2,4,5,6:30) but every night when i get him hes pissed through and my partner gets annoyed when i wake him up n moan about it.
Then the morning after hes annoyed at how much washing there is (thats his job) and moans about how often i change myself (baby constantly shits thru and sicks on me) and baby
Honestly im just so tired all the time

Baby clothes

Just out of curiosity, why do parents love zipper onesies?

Don’t get me wrong, I tried zipper ones it’s easy to zip in and out when putting it on the first time and taking it out, but I find it difficult when changing diapers especially when baby is asleep.

I prefer those kimono style buttons where it’s easy to button or too down button with crotch snaps.

Is everyone thinking the same or different? Lol

Car seat

No idea which car seat to get next. Please hit me with your recommendations, 1year+ (preferably rear facing or 360). Thank you 🫶🏻

This might rattle some people

Ok, this might get a bit long, and a bit bumpy, so get comfy and buckle up.

So about a week or 2 ago, there was a post on here regarding sleepovers. Not letting their child go to them as you can't trust who'll be at the house etc.

Now, given recent incidents in nurseries and schools, plus my own experience back in the 90s, I am more concerned about sending my child to nursery and later school than I am to a friend's house for a sleep over.

The other day a man was jailed for abusing children at the nursery he worked at. A woman has been arrested for sleeping with an underage boy and then getting pregnant by a different underage boy while on bail for the first offence.

Young girls and boys get sexually harassed and bullied when at school, not all of them. But more than you think. And not just by other kids, but by adults who we as parents are trusting to look after our kids.

A sleepover, is a more controlled environment, with only a handful of people coming into contact with your child. A school, a club etc there can be 100s of people coming into contact with your child.

I was targeted at 7 years old by the owner of a prominent private school. Thankfully, I wasn't SA'd. In year 5 of primary school, I started to develop early, I was harassed by the boys and teachers made remarks about how my uniform didn't fit right, always "adjusting it" around my chest and legs.

Years 7-9 of secondary school were hell. But it was all under the guise of "we're just messing around". A teacher twanging my exposed bra strap (none uniform day) is not "messing around".

Boys pinning me down trying to rip open my shirt to see my breasts.

I fear for my daughter. I hope she takes after my father's family, flat chested.

We need to educate all our children, what is acceptable behaviour. And to come to us, as their parents should ANYTHING happen.