First timer Breastfeeding

Hey Ladies, Are any of you planning to Breastfeed? I'd love to do it but i know that i have to be prepared that it might not work for me. What i would like to know is if you are going to buy a sterilizer and bottles and a breast pump before you go into the hospital? Will you be bringing the pump into the hospital with you along with sterilized bottles? Sorry Im clueless about this.

Hi Lovetolaugh, I am hoping to breastfeed too!! As far as bringing bottled and pump and steriliser etc at my ante natal class the midwife said not to buy a pump until the breastfeeding is established because they recommend not expressing for 4 weeks or so after the baby is born. Re bottles, again you can buy a few for home but you dont have ot bring them to hospital, as they will supply them for you (in most hospitals i think). They are disposable so you wont need ot sterilise. I am going top buy a steriliser befroe the baby comes and have gotten 2 bottles to be on the safe side but thats it. Will get the pump when breastfeeding is established. The Medela electric pump is meant to be very good or else hiring the medical ones as they are powerful. I dont think I could be doing with the manual pumps!!! HTH

Hey Bubbalicious I would like to combine using bottle and breast from the start because it will allow OH to do the nightfeeds. I see a lot of girls on this site have done this successfully. I know it would be best to express my milk into the bottle. So i suppose ill need to buy a pump beforehand?? Do the hospitals hire pumps? Has anyone used formula and breast milk together. Could I do this if my baby wasnt getting enough milk from me?

Hey lovetolaugh, i'm def going to try breastfeeding. My friend had baby last year and her advice was not to have any pump or bottles etc in the house but know exactly which ones you want and have that written down in notebook. It will be too much like temptation to just throw it all in and switch. The midwife I attended said that support was key to success so hunt out phone numbers of support groups (La Leche / Ciudiu / rollercoaster forum/magicmum /PHN health centre groups / hospital or private lactation consultant) and have them all in notebook too. If you need to pump from the start you will prob need the industrial one and I believe the hospitals can rent or assist in finding rental equipment.

I got no bottles and just a basic sterilizer. I ran into problems and had to top up for a few days but the hospital gave us loads of the disposable bottles to start with. weaned baby off the top ups at 2 weeks Research the bottles you will use and find out where you can by them locally, but no need to buy!! you can get starter packs in the supermarket to get through a tight patch, again premade formula in bottles with disposable teats. if you run into problems you don't have to stop BF. there are lots of places to go for help: la leche Ireland get a lactation consultant in (recommended by me) Public health nurses often run BF groups locally. breastfeeding support thread in m&k best of luck with everything

I plan to breastfeed, but I bought a steriliser anyway, I'm not planning to bf for more than 3-4 months, so I will need it eventually whatever happens! I won't be buying a breast pump, I'll rent one in the hospital. I will buy a few of those cartons of formula, just in case I need them. I read somewhere yesterday, that if you are giving formula top ups, someone other than mammy should give them, that it reduces confusion for the babs between nipple and teat. I'd like to introduce one bottle of forumla a day after 2 weeks or so, probably last feed at night. Don't anyone quote me on any of this in October though

There is a new double pump available by Ameda- the supplier is in Galway 1800 511 511. Its supposed to be very good. Its called the LACTALINE. I got the leafetl from the lact specialist.

for ds i bought a few botttles and a microwave steriliser. i didn't bring any bottles to the hospital and thank god i had no problems with breastfeeding. i did have major problems getting ds to take a bottle but managed to wean him by six months so have gotten plenty of use for my steriliser since then.

You're bound to need the steriliser anyway even if you exclusively BF you'll probably give EBM in a bottle at some point. You can rent hospital grade pumps through most hospitals I think, the supplier is medicare.ie (or was when I was having DD). They're very dear to rent and you'll only want a hospital grade pump if your LO doesn't latch on initially or much later if you're continuing BF'g after going back to work. If all goes well then you can buy a simpler pump for expressing the odd bottle. It is very unlikely you won't have enough milk for your baby once they latch on okay and you feed frequently. In the first 4 weeks it's important to feed often to get your supply established, using top-ups can interfere with this big-time as milk is only produced in response to demand. So if your LO gets a formula feed they'll BF less and you'll then produce less milk. The only way to judge that the baby is getting enough milk is the number of wet and dirty nappies they do. I can't remember the exact numbers but they will tell you in the hospital.

thanks for the replies girls-its a bit scary thinking about it. I really hope it works.