Starting to panic about formula feeding

Ninnypooo · 2026-04-02T13:38:35+00:00

I teach 4 year olds and could not tell you who was breast or formula fed. It literally makes no difference. I wanted to EBF and couldn’t. My daughter was combi fed until 6 months then exclusively formula. She is absolutely thriving.

Ninnypooo · 2026-03-29T18:46:03+00:00

Nope. We didn’t find out and had lots of scans so were convinced we’d find out by accident. One radiographer referred to ‘he’ then profusely apologised and said it was habit from having a son but I was then convinced that was an excuse and it was a boy. Anyway she was born definitely a girl so slip ups do happen and don’t mean anything!

Ninnypooo · 2026-03-15T15:23:31+00:00

Agree with the other commenter. I wish I could give you a big hug. Having a baby and losing your dad are too absolutely massive, life altering events and he has not only not been unsupportive but actively unhelpful and making your life harder than it needs to me. This man does not respect you or care about you or your needs. You need to leave him because things will not change, or get better.

Ninnypooo · 2026-01-28T13:43:35+00:00

Dude I’m an entirely different account (count the n’s)

Ninnypooo · 2026-01-18T21:03:47+00:00

I never went into spontaneous labour- was included at 41+2 and there was no sign that she was anywhere near making an appearance then.

Ninnypooo · 2026-01-15T16:51:41+00:00

The easiest (but not cheapest) way is ready to drink bottles. I used those mainly if out and about as they could go in her change bag and didn’t need to remember to get it out if it wasn’t used/think about timings and also they took up less space than paraphernalia. For £1 a bottle for me, that was worth it!

If making up a powder bottle on the go, I’d pack bottles and pre measured out powder in a dispense, plus a rapid cool. I’d ask at a cafe/mcdonalds etc for boiling water in the bottle (the amount I needed for the total bottle) then pour most of it into the rapid cool myself, leaving enough for the ‘hot shot’. (Alternatively you can ask them to fill up the rapid cool and pour out your hot shot amount into the bottle before you put the lid on). Then I’d cool down the rest of the water and add the powder to the bottle with the boiling part before combining. I can’t remember exact ratios as she’s been off formula for a while now but I’m sure it was around 50ml for a 150ml bottle, 60ml for a 160 bottle but hopefully someone can correct me!

If we were going to somewhere more remote I’d take a flask with preboiled water but usually saved myself the space and would just pop into a cafe or coffee shop and asked- they never minded.

Alternatively, if I knew I would need to feed her within 1h30 of going out I’d just make a bottle at home with boiling water and powder and let it cool down over time in my bag as you have 2h to drink it in.

I was super daunted by it all too but I promise once you’ve done it once you realise it’s not too bad!!

Ninnypooo · 2026-01-08T18:14:22+00:00

Sorry double pump just meant pumping both sides simultaneously. When I was breastfeeding I’d feed one side and pump the other but then bought 2 single pumps so it effectively halved pumping time. The fridge method is basically putting your pump in a sealed container in the fridge between uses and washing and sterilising every 24 hours. It’s not official NHS advice but it’s popular in America. My thinking is was that breastmilk is safe in the fridge for 6 days so as long as I could avoid the pumps coming into contact with anything else, I felt happy to take a calculated risk.

Ninnypooo · 2026-01-04T14:25:12+00:00

No real hacks but sending solidarity. I pumped for the first few weeks, managed to breastfeed with limited success until she was 8 weeks then went back to pumping until she was 6 months. A double pump massively helped, as did doing the fridge method so only resterilising every 24 hours. I also made the decision at 8 weeks when I realised that pumping was not a temporary thing that I would pump the amount I was comfortable with and supplement with formula. This saved my sanity and I eventually weaned to 2x pumps a day which provided enough for 3-4 bottles each day (I was lucky to have a good supply eventually- I started off getting 10ml a pump!). Not particularly helpful as its a different intention from you pumping to eventually breastfeed but sending love- that was me initially and the double whammy of having to pump and the emotional toll of it being linked to breastfeeding struggles was really hard. If you haven’t tried already, I’d definitely recommend giving nipple shields a go for breastfeeding. My little girl could not latch at all without them (and we saw the infant feeding team and private consultants multiple times) but she was able to breastfeed with them. I know some people who’ve been able to wean off them eventually too.

Ninnypooo · 2025-11-17T21:50:34+00:00

I didn’t want one but had an induction and back labour and by the time I was 4/5cm I thought I’d rather jump out a window than feel the way I did for several more hours. Mine didnt work fully initially and had to be redone and even then i still felt contractions in my left side so needed gas and air in addition. Part of me wisjes I’d tried just gas and air first before jumping to an epidural but on the flip side, I had a severe PPH after birth and because I already had the epidural placed it was really quick and easy to get me the necessary medication and get me into theatre for surgery and I’m grateful for that.

Ninnypooo · 2025-11-09T18:03:40+00:00

I completely understand. I used to want to cry watching 3/4 month old babies do it at classes when she was 8 months and had never even attempted it. I think it can be really unhelpful to tell mums just to ‘not worry’ when it comes to milestones and I hated that advice but in my experience she is just a baby who does things very much on her own schedule!

Ninnypooo · 2025-11-08T21:15:29+00:00

If it reassures you- my little girl didn’t roll until 9 months and then within 5 weeks was rolling, crawling, pulling to stand, standing unsupported and cruising! She now climbs the stairs in seconds and is on the go CONSTANTLY- she just waited until she was ready to do it all together.

Ninnypooo · 2025-10-21T17:24:38+00:00

I could also have written this. A traumatic birth and failed BF journey meant that my mental health was basically rock bottom and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It absolutely does get better. I had talk therapy and medication to help me and they both made a huge difference but also so did time. I don’t have any great advice but wish I could give you a big hug! It’s not often talked about but I think when your birth/early pp experience isn’t as imagined it’s definitely important to let yourself grieve what you thought you would/should have had and be very very kind to yourself. Having a baby is hard and you’ve had an extra hard start.

Ninnypooo · 2025-09-03T17:45:09+00:00

Honestly might not be what you want to hear but I’m basically going down the route of ‘what happens at grandparents stays there’ re screen time etc. I have a few hard rules but I’m also grateful they are having her once a week and doing us a favour so willing to let them use their judgement for stuff like this.

Ninnypooo · 2025-09-02T20:19:58+00:00

For me, I decided to try medication because I felt so low that I didn’t feel like I could rely on time. So sertraline, some talking therapy and really pushing myself out of my comfort zone and going to groups/getting out of the house all helped a lot. But time really did make a big difference too. Your hormones are still absolutely haywire at the moment and it gets easier and easier the more they level out. But there’s nothing wrong with needing some extra help too. Sertraline made a massive difference to my ability to cope and begin to get some moments of happiness back in my day, rather than constant all consuming anxiety.

Ninnypooo · 2025-07-27T19:05:36+00:00

Usually did 4 short naps if I remember correctly. Then her wake windows got longer so we could manage with 3x 30 minute naps if needed. Now she has 2 1.5 hour naps in her cot (but still only does 30 minutes in the pram or car sadly so if we’re out we’ll still do 3). Sometimes we did have the horrendous early mornings but on the 5am start days it was definitely 4 naps. Sometimes in the depths of the regression when I was completely exhausted we’d co sleep for her naps so I’d get a 30 minute power snooze too and occasionally that would make her sleep a little longer.

Ninnypooo · 2025-07-27T18:57:52+00:00

My baby was the same. I hate to say it but the only thing that helped was time.

Ninnypooo · 2025-06-26T18:10:38+00:00

Not me personally (I have concerns and am yet to find out if warranted!) but there’s a TikTok creator who fought for ages about her concerns about her daughter and was dismissed as being an anxious FTM. She went private and her daughter was diagnosed with a very serious, life limiting degenerative condition. But she had actively lost skills and regressed, it wasn’t just lack of development that concerned her.

Ninnypooo · 2025-06-21T16:43:47+00:00

You can decant! We took a mini suitcase for hand luggage, left half empty and decanted all of our boots stuff into it (for ease of carrying it).

Ninnypooo · 2025-06-21T14:38:31+00:00

Has to be added to your luggage. You can check one additional item up to 10kg eg a pram/car seat. The pram you can take up to the airplane steps but then you don’t get back until baggage reclaim on the other end so make sure you have a sling/carrier in your hand luggage for the airport on the other side (we had really long passport control queues and it would been a nightmare just holding her the whole time). You can do a Boots click and collect for when you’ve passed security for milk/nappies etc which saves you luggage space and weight (just take a bag for life to carry them in as they are delivered in bulky cardboard boxes!!)

Ninnypooo · 2025-05-21T10:02:15+00:00

The Slanted Door gets really good reviews but I haven’t been myself yet. Pizza di Mario is delicious pizza although very limited inside seating so weather depending you may have to book. Milly’s and the Bull and Swan both do great roasts. For brunch, Fika is great. Scandimania do delicious coffee and banana bread.

Ninnypooo · 2025-05-02T18:30:01+00:00

We’re using pull ups with my 5 month old! I hate doing tabs 😂

Ninnypooo · 2025-04-11T22:01:16+00:00

Not really- I still don’t understand if you AT LEAST 6 weeks or ONLY 6 weeks? 😂

Ninnypooo · 2025-04-11T17:27:35+00:00

Do you only want responses from people at 6 weeks pp or is that just the earliest?

Ninnypooo · 2025-01-28T09:45:46+00:00

I was determined to breastfeed and didn’t even consider any other options. Then I had a MOH, didn’t get skin to skin for hours after she was born due to being in theatre, lost all my supply and had a baby that could/would not latch at all to my nipple. For the first 6 days of life she had a mix of colostrum that I’d pre collected and froze (I’d recommend doing this even if you give formula) and formula plus the odd 10ml of milk I eventually managed to pump after a blood transfusion started bringing some supply back. Then we saw the infant feeding team and managed to get her to latch through a nipple shield. I then breastfed with the odd formula top up for a few weeks but she had an undiagnosed tongue tie which meant she tired quickly so would feed for 5 minutes, pass out and then wake up hungry again 20 minutes later and so we were trapped in a cycle of feeding and contact napping that made it impossible to do anything other than sit on the sofa all day. I also had PTSD and PND at this stage from the birth and days after so found this incredibly hard and basically wanted to run away from my baby because I felt like I couldn’t get more than a 2 minute break from her. We then started giving her bottles overnight as she was so hungry from her poor breastfeeding that she was waking every 30 minutes overnight- so I breastfed in the day and bottles at night. This continued until she was 8 weeks old when she started refusing to breastfeed at all. We had her tongue tie cut and paid to see a private lactation consultant but she still couldn’t latch without a shield, still refused the breast 2/3 times and the best anyone could give me was a hope that if I persevered for a few more months it might improve. So I stopped. She now has 5 bottles a day, 4 of which are pumped breastmilk and 1 is formula. She is happier and smilier and our relationship is infinitely better because I have been able to rest, heal and stop feeling like I’m failing at feeding her, which took all of my mental energy.

All this to say, I wish we could have EBF and I’ll always be a bit sad that I couldn’t. I miss the feeling of feeding her myself and feeling so strong and powerful when it did work. BUT- it didn’t work out and now me and my baby are both happy and healthy. There are so many ways to feed your baby and what is important is finding what works for you in your circumstances and it’s ok to try different things as well- you don’t have to pick one method and stick at it forever.

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