Mums with other little ones and busy lives - will you breastfeed or bottle ?

I know Its a LONG way off but this is one thing ive been thinking about ever since we agreed to TTC.

I breastfed all 3 of my boys and found it hard to give up but it did take alot out of me - ds2 fed every hour and with 2 others to runa bout after and working full time ( from home ) it really took its toll and hubby felt left out then i felt guilty when i finally had to give up at like 10 months old.

I always said that this time around I would bottle feed from day 1 to take the pressure of me and so i can see excatly how much they take and space feeds appropriately so try and go 4 hours between feeds rather than an hour but now im pregnant Im not so sure Ill be able to not give into breastfeeding again no matter how hard I find it !!!

Maybe ill buy bottles and do mixed feeding

I breastfed my first two and bottle fed my 2yo, and while yes, it did free me up some, I am definitely bfing this one. I missed it, and a years worth of formula cost us a bundle. I really, really hated having to make sure we always had extra formula so we wouldn't run out, and I hated washing the bottles. My sister, on the other hand, hated breast feeding. So I guess you have to try both to know for sure. After a couple of months, I really regretted starting the baby on formula, so we just won't do it this time if we have the choice.

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Originally Posted by Mum23boys

I know Its a LONG way off but this is one thing ive been thinking about ever since we agreed to TTC.

I breastfed all 3 of my boys and found it hard to give up but it did take alot out of me - ds2 fed every hour and with 2 others to runa bout after and working full time ( from home ) it really took its toll and hubby felt left out then i felt guilty when i finally had to give up at like 10 months old.

I always said that this time around I would bottle feed from day 1 to take the pressure of me and so i can see excatly how much they take and space feeds appropriately so try and go 4 hours between feeds rather than an hour but now im pregnant Im not so sure Ill be able to not give into breastfeeding again no matter how hard I find it !!!

Maybe ill buy bottles and do mixed feeding

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I have loads of friends who did a mixture; some breast feeding some bottle feeding. You have to just do what works when you get to it. I did breast feeding with both of my boys all the way through partly cos I wanted to but partly cos I have food intolerances and wanted to decrease the likelihood of them getting them!

I don't know that you'd save time by formula feeding, with making up bottles, sterilising everything etc I think it would work out about even. What about a good sling you can bf in? That way you can still get things done with the boys if you need to.

Bf does take up a lot of time in the early days but I found it got easier and easier as they got older & so convenient when I needed to go somewhere with not much notice!

I never really thought about it like that, i can understand that older siblings would need your time too and BF may be inconvienent. The older siblings would also be able to help feeding bottles? to let you get other stuff done?

It's more that mine fed as babies every 1-2 hours on a bottle atleast I can see how much they get and space feeds a bit further apart plus I'll be back at work after a week or 2 and work with children' and wondered what they would be Luke with me breast feeding but I guess I could use a sling