As my due date for baby number 2 approaches, I have been thinking a lot about feeding. I have made the decision to combi feed (Breast and bottle). My feeding journey with Zac largely influenced this decision. When he was just 12 hours old he was admitted to A&E due to him being newborn and not eating. So I thought I would share our experience and reasons for choosing to combi feed this time.
Feeding at the Hospital
When I was pregnant with Zac I had done a lot of research into breastfeeding. I had heard all of the “breast is best” speeches and decided that breastfeeding would be best for my baby. So when packing my hospital bag I didn’t pack any bottles, I didn’t buy any formula – why would I need it? After a relatively straight forward birth (read birth story here) Zac latched straight away to feed. It all seemed so perfect. He fed twice at the hospital – both times for about 30-60 mins. Although thinking back now I am not sure how much feeding he did or if he was just falling asleep on the breast. The midwives said they would like to see three feeds before discharging us. But he didn’t seem to want the 3rd feed despite us trying – he was too sleepy. However, the midwives were satisfied that he had had two good feeds and seemed to latch well. So 5 hours after giving birth I was discharged.
Newborn Not Eating
When we arrived home at about 10pm I tried to feed him again, but he wouldn’t wake up or latch. So I set an alarm on my phone for 1am to try and feed him again, if he hadn’t already woken by then. At 1am my alarm went off – he hadn’t woken up and hadn’t fed. So I got him out of his crib and tried to feed him. He wouldn’t wake up at all. He was just floppy. I phoned my mum and she suggested stripping him off and tickling his feet to wake him. He didn’t wake up. We decided to phone the out of hours midwife number we had been given. They said they could send a midwife out, but as he hadn’t fed since about 5pm (8 hours ago) they suggested we should go straight to A&E.
Arriving at A&E
So 11 hours after giving birth, I got us all dressed and packed, and we made our way to the hospital. When we arrived at A&E they asked how old he was. At this point he was 12 hours old. It broke my heart telling them this, I felt like such a failure that I had to bring my baby to A&E after just 12 hours of having him. The triage nurse was so lovely, she checked Zac over and took a blood sample. She said that his blood sugars were very low – because he had gone so long without eating. So she sent us up to Paediatrics. She called for someone to bring a wheelchair for me to take him. At this point I hadn’t thought about myself. About the fact that I had given birth 12 hours ago and was in pain walking.
Admitted to Paediatrics
On the paediatrics ward, they tried again to get him to latch. He still wouldn’t wake up or feed. They asked us to strip him off so they could check him and try and wake him up. Even undressed he barely stirred. They took more bloods – more tiny little pricks in my babies feet. They suggested that we give him some formula in a bottle. It would be easier this way to try and force him to eat. They gave us a tiny little bottle which I tried to feed him. He took a very small amount – which I thought was good progress.
However the nurse said that it wasn’t enough and he needed to drink much more. So she tried feeding him. The milk was pouring from the sides of his mouth where he was taking it in and spitting I out. But she insisted it was fine and he was getting some. As she sat him up to wind him, he projectile vomitted everywhere. He brought the whole bottle back up. The sick also had lots of mucus in it. The nurse said that it was good he had brought this up, it could be what was causing the issue. If he had a lot of mucus in his stomach from the birth then this could be making him feel full and therefore not wanting to feed.
Possible Neonatal Admission
She said we would let his stomach settle a bit and then try again. She explained that if we couldn’t get him to keep this next bottle down he would need to be admitted to neonatal. They would need to tube feed him and start IV antibiotics as a precaution for infection. She went on to explain there was a shortage of beds and so we wouldn’t be able to stay.
I sat in the hospital bed holding my tiny newborn and burst into tears.
Expressing Milk
Thankfully before the next bottle was due there was a shift change. The nurse who took over was much nicer and a lot less forceful. She asked if I wanted to try and express some milk rather than formula, seeing as I was originally trying to breastfeed. So they brought me the hospital pump to use. I expressed some milk for him and we tried to feed him this. We had to keep him stripped off and keep stroking his face and tickling him to keep him awake to feed. He drunk 10ml (which the original nurse said wasn’t enough). However the new nurse said that was absolutely fine as a newborns stomach is tiny.
He kept the whole 10mls down and was actually starting to open his eyes. He was more responsive and even had the cutest little hiccups.
We gave him an hour and then tried another feed. He took another 5-10mls! I was just so happy that my baby was actually eating! The nurse was satisfied that he was now waking and eating so he didn’t need to be admitted to neonatal. We could go home!
Arriving Home
We had to set up quite a strict feeding routine for Zac when we got home. He couldn’t go more than 3 hours without eating. This 3 hours started from the start of a feed. So if he started feeding at 6pm we would need to make sure he fed again at 9pm, even if he didn’t finished feeding till 7pm. We had to keep a record of every feed. I was too exhausted to try and breastfeed or pump that night. I hadn’t slept properly since I woke at 5am on Tuesday, it was now Thursday night. So we just gave him bottles of formula. He seemed to be taking these well.
The next day the midwife visited. We spoke about me trying to breastfeed again but he just refused to latch. I was still having to wake him ourselves to feed. We would have to strip him off and wake him. He would then get worked up and scream if I put him near my boob. The only way we could calm him down was to first syringe feed him some breast milk. So I would have to pump to get some breast milk that we could syringe feed him first.
Stopping Breastfeeding
It was becoming really distressing, stressful and tiring for us all. After getting mastitis a couple of days later I decided to stop breastfeeding. I carrie don pumping and we gave him the expressed milk in a bottle. He took this much better and it was so reassuring to know how much he was getting.
Hats off to any exclusively pumping mums. It is hard! I would have to wake up, pump for an hour, then wake Zac, feed him for an hour, wind him and settle him, then set my alarm for 30-60 mins time to start again. Zac quickly started upping his milk intake. He was taking the bottles really well – but I just couldn’t keep up. So he started having a mix of formula and breast milk. After 2 weeks I decided that it just wasn’t working and he moved to just formula.
I don’t regret my decision at all. I tried my best, but I needed to do what was right for us both. Zac was happy and thriving on formula.
Combi Feeding
So this time I have decided to combi feed. I want to be prepared for all outcomes. I have no set idea in my head on how this will work, I am going to go with the flow! It is likely that baby will have a mix of breast, expressed and formula! I don’t think I could exclusively breast feed. I would be too worried not knowing how much baby was taking
Ultimately, yes breastmilk is good for your baby. But I truly believe you need to do what is best for you, your family and your mental health. Whether that is breastfeeding, pumping, formula feeding or a combination of all of them.
If we have the same issues this time with baby not eating I feel like I would be more prepared. I would make sure I don’t leave it as long. I would try to feed some milk by syringe or give formula in a bottle. But, hopefully our journey is a little smoother this time!
Thank you for reading!
If you would like more advice on how often your newborn should be feeding or guidance with breastfeeding you can read the NHS guidance on newborn feeding. Or speak to your midwife or health visitor.
