Be Prepared for Bottle Feeding Anyway

“Oh, I’m not doing formula, I’m breastfeeding my baby”; that’s what I said before pregnancy, during and after until G-d had other plans for us. Our little guy was born with a tongue tie and lip tie, which we were first told would not be an issue with breastfeeding, he made all the right signs of nursing, but on day two we noticed he was yellowing and weight was dropping. 

Within hours, everything fell into a whirlwind. Our son needed to go under UV lights, I began pumping to speed up my milk supply and bottle feed, lactation consultants came, and countless heel pricks to our baby's precious baby foot  to check his blood sugar and bilirubin every hour. I was not producing enough in my first 36 hours to provide enough to my son in order for him to get the amount needed to remain off of formula. Both of our health was at risk and we had to make the decision to give our baby formula to prevent him from being transferred to a NICU, which was not in our hospital and would have been an enormous scary transfer to a new hospital. 

So as much as it was against my personal moral fiber, I agreed to feed my son formula for his health and safety. I cried and felt inadequate but I kept pumping and trying to naturally feed him as well. Long story short, with the help of prayer, determination and strong breast pumps, man oh man did my milk come in and we were able to then stop the formula, but due to his little and  tight tongue he wasn’t strong enough to suckle from my breast to get enough milk on his own. We were told that the poor little guy was burning more calories trying to breastfeed than he was consuming. So we had to arrange for a procedure to release his tongue tie. In the meantime this meant, pumping and bottle feeding.

Now because of my breastfeeding passion and focus, we were not properly prepared at home for pumping and bottle feeding yet. We had all of the machines and supplies but none were ready, cleaned, nor did we know how to use any of them, because in our minds we had months to worry about all of this. But there we were, now home, alone, just the three of us trying to figure out how to be parents, feed and pump a newborn and new mama, all while trying to personally eat, sleep and recuperate. 

The machines we had and liked the most are mentioned in the “Mama Must Haves” and they all worked great, after we opened them, read five thousand instructions, watched how-to videos and sanitized everything. It seriously took us days to get situated and the added stress because all of this was not helpful, but we did it and then we became masters of it all. 

I share all of this with you to give you the heads up to be prepared, even if you’re not “wanting” to bottle feed, the universe has its own plans and you may need to adapt for the well being of your child. It’s okay, mama, like I shared, it doesn’t mean this curve ball will last forever; I was able to reintroduce breastfeeding and reduced bottle feeding after our baby healed from his frenectomy, but life would’ve been smoother if we were more prepared for the “what if”. We don’t always know what the “what ifs” may be, so hopefully this story brings some preparation ideas to mind for you so you’re feeling more ready and confident for your new arrival!