How do/did you feed your baby(ies)?

[lauren9317]

Now that I'm deeply involved in feeding twins everyday, I'm really hyper aware of how other moms feed their babies. I know it can be such a personal issue on whether you breastfeed, pump, give formula, do a combo, etc. But I'm really curious about what everyone does.
I started out with the intention of exclusively breastfeeding both of mine but it really wasn't realistic since there are two and they needed more than what I could give them. Eventually breastfeeding got to be too much so as of now I pump throughout the day, feed them what I produce and then they also drink Enfamil Gentlease. It seems to work pretty well for all of us. I rent the hospital grade pump- the Medela Symphony. I find that I pump when I'm able to, which seems to be every 3-4 hours. So my feeding philosophy ends up being me pumping when I can, giving them what I make, and then happily giving them everything else they need in formula. I keep looking online to see if anyone else does the same as me and I can never find anyone who does. I'm sure there must be someone though!
Now I'm scared because we'll probably be traveling with the babies in the Spring and the idea of pumping on the go is stressful. I won't be able to bring the Symphony with me since it's too big and intense, so I guess I'd use the Hygeia Enjoye which my insurance sent me. (although it's not tiny either?)  But I don't know how well I'll do with that one.
I always have so many thoughts swimming around in my head about feeding these kids! Anyone want to share their experiences? And if you pump, which pump do you use? Any pumping and traveling tips? Or what about pumping during a daytrip? I would love to just take a day off from pumping when I need to but I guess you can't do that.

[babybchbum]

100% breast milk but have known tons of moms to do combo (as I call it) and their children are great. Gained normally etc

[amellis2]

I ended up feeding the girls all formula. I tried so so so so so hard to nurse. I was not getting the best advice from the Hospital L.C. (you don't need to pump at night? WHAT? This was while the girls were in the hospital.) Between the girls being in the NICU for 2 weeks, my PCOS (which negatively affected my supply before I could even get it started), I ended up using Enfamil Nutramigen, WHICH in case your wondering has to be the foul smelling formula on the face of this planet.

I made 0 colostrum and I was never ever engorged. We went full formula about 5 weeks in.

[lauren9317]

Jan 7, 2014 15:39:14 GMT -5 amellis2 said:

I ended up using Enfamil Nutramigen, WHICH in case your wondering has to be the foul smelling formula on the face of this planet.

I never realized how bad formula can smell! The Gentlease is kind of spoiled smelling I had a nightmare that I thought I was drinking a glass of milk and was actually drinking formula, lol.

[kimandross]

Yes, Marissa, Nutramigen is the most foul smelling stuff ever. H had a bit of it in the beginning when he was dealing with the metabolism issue, but he's been mostly breastfed. I've tried giving him formula as a supplement, but he rejects it every time. Its a bit of an issue since I pump next to nothing, even with the Medela Symphony. But he will be starting solids in the next few weeks, so I'm not overly worried about it now. Quinn was a 75% breastmilk/25% formula baby. There are lots of moms who do a combo Lauren! Giving your twins whatever breastmilk you can is awesome!

[sara76]

Amelia was breastfed only until 4 months when we started her on solids. I nursed 99% of the time and pumped for the 10 hours a week that I worked. I quit pumping at 9 months and tried to offer formula when we were out and when I was working but she never had an appetite for it. Ben is still 100% breastfed but I've come very close to quitting already in 7 weeks because this boy eats ALL.the.time. He's sleeping ok at night now but he's on the boob all day and it makes it hard to care for Amelia. She's starting to whine now and it's just to get my attention because she sees me pick up Ben when he starts to cry. Right now I'd love to breastfeed for a year but I'm being realistic. I'm going to be proud of whatever I can do. This is hard.

[mrsjason]

I do exactly what you do Lauren. I pump when I can and the rest is formula. It's about 50/50 mix of formula and BM for Brit. To be honest it's all I'm really willing to do and keep my sanity.

With Macy I exclusively pumped for 6 months with her before she received a drop of formula. She actually breastfed off me for six weks before she lost too much weight and my pedi suggested I wasn't producing enough and she was wasting too many calories sucking andi should switch to pumping. When I did I was surprised at how little I was producing (although with pumping ypundonproduce less than the baby to breast). In order to meet her needs I had to pump 10 times a day (that meant I pumped in the middle of the night while she slept). Basically I made myself crazy because I didn't ent her to have formula, lol.

This time, I don't have the energy for all that. And to be honest I really, really hate breast feeding, lol. So for now I do what I can and have the short term goal to making it to 3 months.. After that I'll reevaluate and decide if I want to continue.

Right now I'm in Orlando visiting family and friends for and it sucks having to p,an my day around BFing. I've been here for 10 days and I haven't always pumped when I should have and I definitely see a dip in my supply. It's depressing but I hoping I can increase m supply once I'm back home but I have a feeling I won't be too successful. I have the Medea PISA and I alo have the hand pump by Medela but I can't remember the name. I haven't used the hand pump yet but I bought it with the I tensions of using it on the go.

When I travel I bring both pumps. My electric pump has a car adapter and it's come in handy a few times.

[mrsjason]

Oh and I have to add BFing is hard. Why was I under the assumption that it would be easy and convenient prior to having kids? Lol. I had a rude awakening when I had Macy

[mrsmew]

I never had much luck with pumping, but luckily I'm a SAHM (and only had one baby to keep up with!) and never really had much need. I had a crappy cheap pump, though, too. I was able to pump just enough to have a big enough stash to give myself an occasional break via bottles given by someone else. I did actually build up a small extra freezer stash at one point, but then we lost power for a week thanks to Hurricane Sandy and I had to dump it all. Oh, how I cried.

So anyway, DD was exclusively breastfed until 6 months when we started solids. I just fully weaned her now at 21 months. I never expected to nurse that long, honestly, but we were lucky and it went well for us. Now I'm just trying to go into #2 with hopes for a similar experience but no expectations. And this time I'll get a better pump through insurance so maybe I can give myself a couple more nights off!

I do feel like I've heard a lot of people doing the same system you're doing. I'm surprised you can't find others! I wish I had some advice for pumping and such for you!

[lauren9317]

I love reading everyone's experiences. Thank you Kathy for sharing, nice to find someone with the same "system" going on, I relate to so much of what you wrote!!

[lauren9317]

Jan 7, 2014 22:33:46 GMT -5 mrsjason said:

Oh and I have to add BFing is hard. Why was I under the assumption that it would be easy and convenient prior to having kids? Lol. I had a rude awakening when I had Macy

Totally, I was so naive! I knew realistically that it could be difficult but I never gave it too much thought. I don't think that I ever even thought I'd pump. I don't think I even understood what pumping really was, lol.

[loskadoodle]

I BF'ed exclusively for about 5 months, then I started supplementing with formula and he was fully on formula by 7.5 months. It worked for us and I def won't stress myself about EBF with the next one like I did the last time!

[mrsjenrn]

Zoe had 2 bottles of formula in the hospital when she was first born, which she did not like lol! I EBF'd her till I introduced solids at 6 months. I weaned her at about 21 months. Jack hasn't gotten any formula at all and we started solids with him at about 7 months.

Sara, hang in there! I know it was better with Jack by the time I went back to work when he was 3 months old.

Lauren, we need to GTG! I have lots to tell you about BFing and pumping but it's hard to put in a post bc of my 2 kids and it's just easier in person.

Also, as much as I would love to see everyone EBF (as this will hopefully be my livelihood in the near future lol), it really comes down to what works best for you and your baby/family. As long as you're feeding your baby something (breast milk/formula/both), you're a great mom!

[melis74]

I BF in the hospital, M had a horrible latch I was in so much freaking pain and bleeding. One of my nurses recommended pumping and I rented the Medela Symphony and pumped...turns out my supply wasn't that great either so we also started formula. So I did exactly what you are doing. I started with Similac, switched to Similac sensitive and ended up having to switch over to Nutramigen as M had a milk protein allergy. I only pumped while I was out on Mat leave, so three months and then exclusively formula fed.