what affects can switching from breast to bottle feeding have on my baby? did yours have any?
27 January 2010 14 Responses
A Parent asks, my daughter is 3 weeks old and i have switched to formula bottle feeding from breast feeding because she was feeding every hour – hour and half and wasnt very settled. what affects did your children have after the switch?
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I breast fed till week 10, so I am not sure how your 3 week old will be compared to my son, he’s older…
I switched to bottles and my baby settled on the 3rd feed, (I remember it clearly!) He slept longer the 1st night and now sleeps till 4am most nights.
He is happier on formula, which make me happier!
He started formula around on week 10, he is now 14 weeks and really really settled.
Hope this helps you.
This is normal three week old behavior and not a reason to stop nursing. If you are still lactating I would resume nursing, by next month she will be more settled. Giving formula means that babies are not getting the benefits of nursing! Your daughter will not get the wonderful immune boosting benefits, the amazingly close bond between mommy and baby that comes from nursing, the easy to digest food that does not upset her tummy like formula can. You will miss out on decreasing your chances of breast cancer. You will have to wash bottles at three am. If you want to stop nursing it’s your choice but I HIGHLY recommend waiting until 2 months when it gets SO much easier. Just stick it out another few weeks and you will se how much better it gets!
Some people may have a positive experience because formula (which is usually based on cow’s milk) is harder for a baby to digest and thus takes longer. However this isn’t better for your baby. Babies are supposed to feed often (and I mean really often) when they are first born as there tummy is the size of a marble. They do grow out of that constant feeding, but yes those first few weeks are hard, hard, hard!!
I did not have an adequate supply and my paediatrician made me give formula to supplement as she was losing a lot of weight (I wasn’t allowed to take her out of hospital until I did). It turned out that she had a cow’s milk protein allergy and reflux and very soon after starting her on formula (to top up only) she was vomiting a lot and was constantly unsettled and crying. She was medicated for reflux which helped, but she was still very, very unhappy. It wasn’t until I switched off a cow’s milk formula that she improved significantly. If it is not to late, I would stick it out and try to still breastfeed as it gets much, much better. Even compromise and just breastfeed as much as you can and give some formula at night that a partner can give so you can get a long stretch of sleep to help cope with the demands of a new one. I am still doing both (bottle and breast) at most feeds and wished I only had to do one, but I can’t get enough milk for her no matter how hard I try and I don’t want to give her full formula as it doesn’t agree with her.
However, if you do/ have switched the most likely things you need to consider is that
1. Formula can constipate baby
2. Baby may sleep longer as it takes longer to digest
3. Be careful not to overfeed your baby (it is easier to do on formula)
4. Be aware of allergies and intolerances
Hopefully that might help a little.
her poo will probably smell more and be a different colour, other than that, none what so ever, I was worried about going from breast to bottle with my daughter but we never had any problems.
It’s been my little miracle. My son is 13 weeks old today and the last three days have been the happiest in his little life. He’s almost fully on formula after starting to wean at 11 weeks.
Milk free diets and probiotics and zantac and every other measure have had no effect, but formula…. love it.
He had excessive gas, and now he has none. It makes me almost cry to see how happy he is.
Yes I know breast is best but isn’t for every mother, and in my son’s case it’s not for every baby.
Let me dispel a few stupid things other posters have said:
You won’t have a close bond with your baby:
Bollocks, i know people who breastfed for ages and have crappy bonds with their children, and I know people who breastfed and have great bonds with their children, same for formula – the bond you have is about parenting not how you feed your child.
Doesn’t upset the tummy like formula can:
Well my situation only speaks for me but my son is proof this is not true for all babies. Some babies have no tummy troubles with formula.
Breastfedding gets easier after 2 months:
Not true for everyone, once again this depends on you and your baby.
Formula can constipate:
Yes it can, but it doesn’t mean it will. A formula fed baby can also be fed coiled boiled water which can help with this.
It’s easy to overfeed on formula:
Not when baby is that little, if you overfeed it flows back out. But I’ve actually never met a formula fed baby which keeps eating when full. Why would this be any different between breast and formula feeding?
Beware of allergies and intolerances:
This can be said for breastfedding also and is not a strictly formula problem.
Do what works for you
he slept more, his poos were different and less frequent (once a day instead of 8), but he took to it really well. =]
edit: you won’t be up at 3am washing bottles because anyone with half a brain would prepare it previously. and that stuff about not onding if you bottle feed is the biggest load of bullocks!!!
First.. 3 week olds eat constantly… this is normal and being “unsettled” as you put it, may be due to something that you had eaten or maybe because your let down is too fast and she is getting too much of the fore milk and not the hind milk… the fore milk is much higher in sugar and can upset her tummy… if you wish to try to continue nursing, I would receommend expressing about an ounce of milk before nursing her… manually or with a pump, which ever works best for you… store it in the fridge for later and then nurse her. You may find that this helps to keep her full abit longer as well. I had to do this for about the first 2 months of my sons life or the poor kid had horrible belly aches… still I plugged along and did it, and now at 13 months, he nurses once a day unless I am at work, then he takes a 6oz bottle with 3 oz of my milk and 3oz of formula.
If you are sure you want to go to all bottles…. then that is up to you of course. Since she is presently used to you being her source of food, she may not take to it well, you may have to try a couple different bottles. I had this problem with my daughter and my son. I had to go to go somewhere for a day while my son was a newborn.. he refused 3 different types of bottles that day alone, and he was only about 4 weeks old. After about 4 months and all intotal 5 different brands of bottles.. he finally took to the Avent style ones, I actually used Gerber GentleFlow with Avent nipples… my daughter was soley nursed till she was 3 months, I went back to work.. she refused NUK, Avent and Nuby bottles, only took Playtex. Each child is different as to how they take to things…
Either way, which ever you decide to do, good luck.
This is so completely normal for an infant at that age, and for one during growth spurts… it is not a reason to stop nursing. Nursing is the best thing you can do for your baby, for the nutrition and the bonding… please try to reconsider. I know it may seem difficult in the beginning, but it is better for the baby and so worth it – and it gets better!
It’s all very well good to say it is ‘normal’ for a 3 week old baby to nurse every hour, but when you have other children, it’s not that simple. You cannot ignore the other child all the time because the baby wants feeding.
However, having said that my 9 week old was like that and I have supplemented a couple breastfeeds a day for formula, and he’s so much more settled now.
There haven’t seemed to be any effects in the change.
It’s totally normal for a 3 week old to want to feed every hour. Her tummy is really tiny, and breastmilk is easily digested so she gets hungry quicker. That might be an inconvenience for you, but it’s best for her.
When you switch, the effects can be mild or severe, depending on your baby:
She may go longer between feedings because formula is harder to digest. (Not a good thing).
She may get gassy.
She may get an upset stomach.
Her poop will smell bad.
She may get constipated because the iron in formula is not readily available for absorption.
She may get sick more often and get better slower.
my now 4 month old feeds every hour maybe more but she is still breast fed. that is not a reason to put her to bottle. and around 3 weeks my baby went through a growth spurt where for about a week she ate pretty much 23 out of 24 hours the dr said it is normal. the advice he gave me was feed on one breast for about 8 minutes then take her of and wait 5 min or so then feed on the other side and it worked she started feeding every 3 hours after that
nothing. but my son never got a bottle until he was 5 months old so that may have been it
many babies can switch back and forth very easily.
my son can go from breast to sippy to bottle without any confusion
My son is a month old, I do breast feeding and formula. I mostly do formula to give my fiancée the bonding time with our son. I found that formula has made him poop less. He did poop every 3 hours, now it’s about once a day. I called the doctor and he said it’s normal babies can go days without pooping. My son still eats about the same, 3 to 4 oz. Every 3 hours. Your baby can be eating so much because she’s not getting enough or it just goes threw her fast. If she’s not losing a ton of weight she’s fine and I don’t recommend taking away the breast milk. Do both or jut breast feed. Breastfeeding is the best thing for a baby. Babies really are a lot healthier with breast milk, so if you just want to switch the formula because your tired, don’t do it, that’s not fair for your baby, suck it up!
I feel so bad when people post things on forums to get advice and they only get ridiculed and put down. Well done for starting to breastfeed. I know people who just won’t even trying from day 1. We all know it’s the best for baby, so can people stop saying that. I’m breastfeeding my second daughter and she’s now 5 months old. She’s started solids and I was prepared to slowly wean her once she was having enough solids to satisfy her, between 7 to 8 months. Well, I also have a 4 year old, who I breastfed for 6 months and then slowly weaned. I was like a cow producing heaps of milk for her.
Since my second started solids she was having enormous trouble passing her solid food, and I had to aide her every couple of days because she just couldn’t go herself. I spoke to the baby clinic nurse and she told me to give her either more feeds or some boiled water. She’s not having enough fluids.
2 days after this discussion I noticed she was pulling at me more and more and was so unsettled at night and during the day for her sleeps. I checked during one of her feeds and noticed I had run out of milk and she just couldn’t get enough for her little body to cope with the solid food.
As mentioned, I have a 4 year old, and I won’t go into details, but she is a handful. I have been that stressed and rundown without sleep that my milk supply is deminishing. I am giving her as much as I can produce, but she needs formula.
My point is that if breastfeeding is going to run you down and stress you out that much, your milk just won’t be as good for the baby as it could be. You also have to be careful not get depressed if it’s exhausting you too much as you may take it out on the baby and suffer depression.
I love breasfeeding my babies, but it’s totally your choice whether you do or not. Some poeple won’t even think about attaching their newborn at all. So well done for trying.
For effect of formula and letting your milk supply dry up, speak to your clinic nurse. Be very careful of mastisis and the care of your breasts as you wean. I am having trouble with formula as she is vomiting constantly where she was that spewy with breastmilk. She may be drinking too much from the bottle. Not sure yet.
I noticed that this was an older post, so I hope you have made the right choice for you.
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