My boobs hurt after I switched my baby to formula only. How do I dry them up??? I started a medication that made it so I had to stop breastfeeding. The time I have pumped and dumped feel like wasted time. I wish my boobs could just dry up.

You go to make some formula but there’s less than a scoop left in the can? Do you use it and then try to make up the rest of the scoop with the next can? Use a scale or just eyeball it? Do you toss it?

Also, does this mean we mis-measured at some point because I would imagine the package has an even number of scoops in it?

I’ll spare you the boring details, but with my first we switched to exclusively formula around 2 months. My family is very behind-the-back judgy so they were not a lot of help and my husband’s family is super supportive but couldn’t really provide a lot of support. We never really researched much and just kinda winged it with our first.

We are doing formula from the beginning with the second and I’m just wondering if anyone has any advice or tips or anything that I may have forgotten about from the first time around.

This may be a dumb question. I am almost certain that I will EFF. I’m wondering if I need a breast pump for those moments if my milk comes in and I feel I am at the point of needed to express my milk to get relief. I am going to take the provisions of drying it up but I am not sure how that will go. Should I keep a manual pump on hand?

When I gave birth, I told my doctor that I didn't want to breastfeed. She was SO supportive and immediately gave me a pill that would prevent my milk from coming in. At first, I wasn't sure that I had made the right choice, but after taking care of my LO these last weeks, I am soooo confident in my decision.

Night feedings are hard enough -- even with my partner participating equally. Recovery from birth is hard enough -- without having to take on an extra physical burden.

So far, my husband and I have been able to enjoy taking care of LO. We just soak up these sweet moments. If I had chosen breast, I don't know if that would be equally true. All this to say, stay strong mamas. You know what's best for you, and nobody can tell you otherwise!

We recently had to introduce formula to supplement nursing as our newborn wasn't gaining and instead loosing. So now we are combo feeding. My question is regarding if my baby is digesting/tolerating the formula well.

We introduced it when he was 2 weeks (he's 3 1/2 weeks now). He's actually having big pees now, is quickly putting on weight and is not as fussy and easier to console. I noticed his bowel movements have changed. They switched from breastmilk poops that were yellowy/liquidish to thick squig-y green, and have now morphed to a gray paste that sometimes is mixed with green or yellow. He's also quite gassy.

I honestly don't know what's normal (my eldest was exclusively breastfed so this is all new to me) and of course the internet is conflicting informstion and full of doom. He has a doctor appointment in a couple days as we're currently monitoring his growth, but I don't know if it's worth trying to get him looked at sooner.

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated as I just don't know if it's worth taking him to emerge this weekend or wait until my doctor's office opens on Monday.

Edit to add: formula we are using is Good Start Plus, but the last 24 hours have been Good Start Soothe as thats all they had at the store when we went. He has 1.5-3 oz each feed after nursing, and eats anywhere from 90 minutes to 4 hours

I see people use the pitcher method to prep formula. I have the Dr Browns pitcher from when I was pumping/BFing and we are close to switching to full formula.

We use Kendamil Original. My LO is 11weeks old. The instructions say to boil water. We’ve been prepping 5oz of formula at a time by putting a container into the bottle warmer, mixing the formula, then chilling it in the freezer to move to the fridge.

With the pitcher method, can the hot formula just go straight into the fridge to chill? That’s not considered warming the formula twice? What are the steps? How are we doing this?

How is everyone making their MOTN bottles when upstairs? I’ve been bringing premade bottles, keeping in fridge, and using avent bottle warmer. But it’s a tedious process, sometimes bub puts herself back to sleep by the time bottle is warmed, or she is so hungry she cries the whole time waiting for the bottle. Is there a better way that doesn’t involve having a formula machine upstairs?

11 weeks PP been supplementing since week 2.

I had taken the decision to move to FF completely a couple of weeks ago because BF was affecting my mental health, each feed took really long.

Pumping didn't work for me, collected very less. Tried two pumps as well (i thought my pump was the problem, not low supply), plus I hate it!

Now I've taken the decision to EFF, i feel so much lighter and happier already but cannot get past the guilt of being a selfish Mum.. no amount of self reasoning (I was EFF too) seems to work.

My little one just turned 1 and her daycare will only give formula/bottles up to 13 months without a doctors note so we are working on weaning.

I know this is something to decide after speaking to her pediatrician but I am a clueless ftm and don't want to sound like an idiot when I ask him.

Ped instructed to work on losing the night bottle for teeth health, but i'm wondering if I could continue to give her a bottle at night an hour or two before bed and before we brush teeth? Or maybe keep a bottle in the morning?

My concern is she is sick A LOT because of daycare, i'm worried if I cut out all of the vitamins in formula that it's going to get worse. she is also on the smaller side, always has been. Born 4lb 10oz and is now 18 lb 8 oz at a year old. She has been great at gaining weight at a rate her dr is happy with and she hasn't had any concerning weight loss at all. But She is already picky with vegetables, fruit (the only baby in the world that doesn't like berries I think), and meat. This girl could easily live off ritz crackers and potatoes lol. so i'm worried about her not getting all of her nutrients or losing weight.

I know they make like a toddler formula, is that something I should look into? I just want to make sure she is well fed and getting all of her nutrients if she continues to reject healthy foods

Sorry in advance if this doesn’t make sense or if the answer is obvious. For the Dr. Brown’s formula, would the Soothe Pro be comparable to say Similac Total Comfort and would the Gentle Pro be comparable to Similac Sensitive? Or am I completely off base?

From the “valve” with the white rubber circle on the left hand side. chatgpt suggested that there should be a red/pink unit inside this hole that stops the machine from dripping water when not in use.. Can anyone confirm there is such a piece in theirs ?

I am expecting and starting to collect items for the baby. I am not in a position where I could try breastfeeding. I hear that you should register for a lot of different bottles to see which ones your baby takes. That advice seems to be targeted towards people who breastfed for a time. Some of these bottles are PRICEY and I couldn't afford 12 of them. Because newborns have a sucking reflex, if I just commit to cheap bottles from Day 1, would I be okay to simply use the cheap ones and not bother with the unaffordable ones? I have standard and wide neck Parent's Choice bottles with slow flow.

Hello parents! New to the group and referred by the "Nicu Parents" chat. I am desperate and tbh don't know what to do. My baby is an ex 25 weeker who came home on Neosure. The poor bubs was miserable so based on referrals I got authorization by his doctor to switch to Enfamil Neocare 24cal. Since he is a preemie they want this. I haven't seen any improvement. We started on Tuesday. Same as NeoSure. Gas, Reflux, Colic and now constipation. I called his pediatrician and I told him my issue and he gave us the ok to switch to gentlease enfamil. Am I doing something wrong by switching this soon? I checked his diaper and I can see his diaper only has poop smears and it's between orange and brown. What has been your experience? Can I start gentlease or ride enfamil? Any advice to this desperate mom is greatly appreciated.

I’m using doc browns anti colic with the nipple size recommended for newborns. When I give my 4 week old a bottle (he’s breastfed most of the time) the milk always leaks out of the side of the nipple so his bib is noticeably drenched after the feed. What am I doing wrong? It really frustrates me because I feel like he’s missing out on milk

I also tried the glass even flow bottles and also noticed leaking is this normal?

My son just turned seven weeks today and for the last few days I can’t get him to drink more than 2 ounces at a time. He drinks Kendamil goat. Prior to a few days ago, he would drink 3 to 4 ounces sometimes 4.5 in one session. I’m not sure what changed. It’s a battle to get him to drink anymore. I’ll burp him and try to comfort him but every time I put the bottle to his mouth, he screams. He’s eating much less than he normally does and therefore woke up a lot last night. Has this ever happened to anybody? Does anybody have any advice? I’m really worried about him.

I fed German formula (HIPP) for our first one, and now we are 7 months pregnant.

we are planning to feed the same HIPP formula but I know it ships from Germany.

will Trump's tariff affect the price of formulas from Germany and if so, then is it better to buy now than when baby's out?

also what could be an alternative domestic formula for German formulas?

if tariff really is going to affect price by alot, then i would need to consider stocking them up now..

Hi all! Baby is almost three months. I’m reading about 4 month regression. His first stretch of sleep is 4/5 hours long then roughly three hours after that. Honestly it’s been so nice lol. I’m TERRIFIED of a sleep regression where everyone is saying “he wakes up every 30 min I’m dying inside” etc. so for EFF what did yall do? If baby is to wake up every hour or so should I prep formula ahead? Should I encourage full feedings in the day in hopes that will help? Is there any guidance like feed roughly three hours and try to soothe first? Obviously formula is a bit trickier because you have to make it so you just don’t know if baby will take it or not. Any encouragement to help ease my anxiety! Thank you friends

I’d like to wean my two month old off of Bobbie Organic Gentle because the recurring cost is just too high. He also is very gassy on it anyway.

What is the most similar to BOG that will be an easy-ish transition with a lower cost per ounce?

Is it normal for your baby to drink less on formula than breast milk? My 6 weeks old was EBF but we are trialing formula. He was drinking about 4 oz of breast milk. He is only drinking 1-2 oz of formula with feeds. Is this normal?

My LO is 6 weeks and is currently EFF. I was sad I wasn’t able to BF, but one of the things that helped shift my mindset was that apparently formula isn’t digested as fast as breast milk and FF babies tend to sleep longer. My LO sleeps between 2 to 3 hours at night and takes 4oz each waking. I have a friend with a same aged baby who EBF and they get 5 hour stints. I am JELOUS and am dreaming of the day. I realize I need to manage my expectations but one can dream.

A little back story - my daughter was diagnosed with a CMPI/SMPI at 4 weeks old. She has also been on daily Pepcid since due to severe acid reflux. We have been on similac alimentum the entire time. I her gas/fussiness/screaming has gotten better with the HA formula but her poops are FULL of mucus, stringy green/yellow poops all the time. Our ped is telling me we just need to deal with the poops, but they are so acidic and sour smelling that she gets these terrible diaper rashes that nothing helps. I’ve been to the ped 2x this last week, they’ve given me nystatin & told me to alternate with thick Destin. Let her air dry, Epsom salt baths, oatmeal baths, ect. I’ve done it all, she is so red, raw, welted, oozing spots and I’m just being told to support her thru it.

My question is, at what point to I ask for a referral to GI? What can GI do for us? We haven’t had any stool samples taken to know if there’s blood (I don’t see any but that doesn’t mean there isn’t, right?). I don’t know what else to do at this point and I’m so exhausted from the research I’m doing that is giving me conflicting information.. if we are switching to something like an amino acid based formula, I have no idea how I’ll afford it. I don’t qualify for WIC and my insurance won’t cover it. Maybe a GI Dr can help fight it? I’m lost and I’m hoping someone has some advice for me. TIA

1. Keep the scoop from old tins of formula. Wash and dry them, and store them in a clean place. If you ever drop/dirty/wet the scoop from your current tin of formula, you have spares! You can also use them for other dried foods when baby starts solids (eg. Baby cereal, oats, and the likes).

2. If you've got a supplement in the milk you really want/need baby to finish, prepare two bottles. Bottle A contains the supplement and an amount of milk you know baby will definitely finish, even if it's as little as 30ml. Bottle B contains the rest of the feed. Have both bottles beside you. Feed Bottle A first.

3. How much milk are you offering? Measure the volume in the bottle after you've mixed both formula and water. ML is also a lot more accurate and imo easier to track than OZ.