OP, I would at least give breastfeeding a try for the first couple of weeks to give your baby colostrum and early milk. That really kickstarts the whole digestive system, helps clear out meconium, and provides a shitload of antibodies.

After that, it’s up to you whether to keep going and whether it works for you and your baby or not. Don’t try to kill yourself to make it work, but give it an initial shot. If it works for you and doesn’t make you miserable, great. If not, that’s ok too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I would not.

+1. You shouldn’t put yourself through it if you will only breastfeed for 4 months. It’s not worth it. There is no point. I would just start with formula from birth.

This has to be a troll. “Put yourself through” what? BFing? Which some moms very much enjoy and find considerably easier than formula feeding and which she hasn’t even tried yet? I EBFed through a year, but the vast majority of the health benefits are at the very beginning. BF through 4 months if it works for you; not being able to do more than 4 months exclusively isn’t a reason not to try (plenty of people still feed morning and night w/o pumping, so that’s an option you’ll have from 4 months on if you want)

PP here. Not a troll. I had a very hard experience trying to breastfeed. As much as people claim it's a " magical experience", many women have a difficult time breastfeeding. I've had several friends also have a very tough time trying to breastfeed. Not saying that will OPs case, but there is no point in stressing herself out if we will just switch to formula at 4 months. Not be able to breastfeed when you want to can be physically, emotionally, and mentally hard.

I’m sorry you had a hard experience (I myself did as well), but it is just NOT true that there is “no point” to breastfeeding if you plan to eventually switch to formula at 4 months.

There is a “point” to breastfeeding. A lot of the benefits are overstated, true (things like higher IQ are obviously correlation not causation), but there are tangible scientific evidence of health benefits that, yes, have been demonstrated in studies. Especially regarding gastrointestinal tract health, less risk of food allergies, and other reduced risk of cancers for the mother. Those benefits exist even if you only breastfeed for a short time.

Of course, those benefits have to be weighed against all other factors, including the emotional and mental health of the mother. If breastfeeding is too difficult or makes a woman severely unhappy, an unhappy mom is beneficial to no one.

So again. You can acknowledge there are some associated tangible benefits with breastfeeding, even for a short while, while still stating fed is best.

- Signed, a person who did breastfeed for 6 months, but also supplemented with formula when needed and didn’t feel guilty about it, and who never felt any of the “magical” warm fuzzy feelings about doing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. The digestive tract develops between 4-6 months, hence new recommendations to start solids at 6 months. Before it fully develops you have two issues with formula: 1) colic and 2) allergies/inflammation, from proteins that pass through the immature tract into the bloodstream. Some scientists believe this can be linked to inflammatory processes that cause disease later in life. I also think with breast milk it is easier to control your diet to reduce or eliminate colic. I learned how to do that with my first, and my second barely ever cried from digestive issues.

It’s just one factor among many, but personally I would breastfeed and pump a few extra ounces every day. You would have enough of a stash to go to six months, after which the benefits of breastfeeding are about passing on antibodies and less about protecting the developing gut. If you only breastfed before and after work at that point and baby had other foods, you could still pass on the antibodies.

Also, neither of my EBF kids had any issue with a bottle.

As for pumping at work, there are tons of hand free pumps now. Like PP said you could pump while eating lunch. It takes 10 minutes. I have pumped at conferences, on trains, on planes, everywhere. It’s not a big deal. The thing about parenting is that many things are pay now or pay later. You need to see if your baby takes formula well, as many babies don’t and have massive digestive issues in the first few months from it. It might be that the inconvenience of pumping save syou three months of a non stop screaming baby during your leave.

Not all babies that are formula that don't have digestive issues. I've known some breastfed babies to have severe gas and digestive issues.

Mine had issues on breast milk. Switched to formula and much better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd definitely breastfeed. Colostrum is like liquid gold.

(My brother and I were not breastfed. He had consistent medical problems and to this day has lower immunity and catches every cold, and I have severe learning disabilities.) We each wanted our children to be nursed.

Such hogwash in this post.

+1. The dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. The digestive tract develops between 4-6 months, hence new recommendations to start solids at 6 months. Before it fully develops you have two issues with formula: 1) colic and 2) allergies/inflammation, from proteins that pass through the immature tract into the bloodstream. Some scientists believe this can be linked to inflammatory processes that cause disease later in life. I also think with breast milk it is easier to control your diet to reduce or eliminate colic. I learned how to do that with my first, and my second barely ever cried from digestive issues.

It’s just one factor among many, but personally I would breastfeed and pump a few extra ounces every day. You would have enough of a stash to go to six months, after which the benefits of breastfeeding are about passing on antibodies and less about protecting the developing gut. If you only breastfed before and after work at that point and baby had other foods, you could still pass on the antibodies.

Also, neither of my EBF kids had any issue with a bottle.

As for pumping at work, there are tons of hand free pumps now. Like PP said you could pump while eating lunch. It takes 10 minutes. I have pumped at conferences, on trains, on planes, everywhere. It’s not a big deal. The thing about parenting is that many things are pay now or pay later. You need to see if your baby takes formula well, as many babies don’t and have massive digestive issues in the first few months from it. It might be that the inconvenience of pumping save syou three months of a non stop screaming baby during your leave.

Not all babies that are formula that don't have digestive issues. I've known some breastfed babies to have severe gas and digestive issues.

OP, please just do whatever you think will work best for YOU. You will have a happy, healthy baby either way. I loved breastfeeding, but I had a low supply and a job where pumping was difficult/next to impossible sometimes (bartending). I tried sticking it out but pumping itself is so miserable. You can absolutely still snuggle and feel connected to your baby if you use formula. Whatever you decide to do will be right.

Anonymous wrote:I'd definitely breastfeed. Colostrum is like liquid gold.

(My brother and I were not breastfed. He had consistent medical problems and to this day has lower immunity and catches every cold, and I have severe learning disabilities.) We each wanted our children to be nursed.

Such hogwash in this post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd definitely breastfeed. Colostrum is like liquid gold.

(My brother and I were not breastfed. He had consistent medical problems and to this day has lower immunity and catches every cold, and I have severe learning disabilities.) We each wanted our children to be nursed.

I'm sure to hear about you and your brother but you can't be serious? Formula feeding did not cause any of this, just like nursing likely would have not prevented it either. There are plenty of very healthy and high achieving adults that were formula fed. Some of the sickest kids I know have been exclusively breastfeed for for well past a year. I think genetics play a larger role than which way the baby is fed.

I'm healthy and my brother is high achieving. We just didn't want to take any risks with our kids and wanted to give them as many tools as possible to not have to deal with what we each have had to deal with.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. The digestive tract develops between 4-6 months, hence new recommendations to start solids at 6 months. Before it fully develops you have two issues with formula: 1) colic and 2) allergies/inflammation, from proteins that pass through the immature tract into the bloodstream. Some scientists believe this can be linked to inflammatory processes that cause disease later in life. I also think with breast milk it is easier to control your diet to reduce or eliminate colic. I learned how to do that with my first, and my second barely ever cried from digestive issues.

It’s just one factor among many, but personally I would breastfeed and pump a few extra ounces every day. You would have enough of a stash to go to six months, after which the benefits of breastfeeding are about passing on antibodies and less about protecting the developing gut. If you only breastfed before and after work at that point and baby had other foods, you could still pass on the antibodies.

Also, neither of my EBF kids had any issue with a bottle.

As for pumping at work, there are tons of hand free pumps now. Like PP said you could pump while eating lunch. It takes 10 minutes. I have pumped at conferences, on trains, on planes, everywhere. It’s not a big deal. The thing about parenting is that many things are pay now or pay later. You need to see if your baby takes formula well, as many babies don’t and have massive digestive issues in the first few months from it. It might be that the inconvenience of pumping save syou three months of a non stop screaming baby during your leave.

Anonymous wrote:I'd definitely breastfeed. Colostrum is like liquid gold.

(My brother and I were not breastfed. He had consistent medical problems and to this day has lower immunity and catches every cold, and I have severe learning disabilities.) We each wanted our children to be nursed.

I'm sure to hear about you and your brother but you can't be serious? Formula feeding did not cause any of this, just like nursing likely would have not prevented it either. There are plenty of very healthy and high achieving adults that were formula fed. Some of the sickest kids I know have been exclusively breastfeed for for well past a year. I think genetics play a larger role than which way the baby is fed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I would not.

+1. You shouldn’t put yourself through it if you will only breastfeed for 4 months. It’s not worth it. There is no point. I would just start with formula from birth.

This has to be a troll. “Put yourself through” what? BFing? Which some moms very much enjoy and find considerably easier than formula feeding and which she hasn’t even tried yet? I EBFed through a year, but the vast majority of the health benefits are at the very beginning. BF through 4 months if it works for you; not being able to do more than 4 months exclusively isn’t a reason not to try (plenty of people still feed morning and night w/o pumping, so that’s an option you’ll have from 4 months on if you want)

PP here. Not a troll. I had a very hard experience trying to breastfeed. As much as people claim it's a " magical experience", many women have a difficult time breastfeeding. I've had several friends also have a very tough time trying to breastfeed. Not saying that will OPs case, but there is no point in stressing herself out if we will just switch to formula at 4 months. Not be able to breastfeed when you want to can be physically, emotionally, and mentally hard.

Yes. The digestive tract develops between 4-6 months, hence new recommendations to start solids at 6 months. Before it fully develops you have two issues with formula: 1) colic and 2) allergies/inflammation, from proteins that pass through the immature tract into the bloodstream. Some scientists believe this can be linked to inflammatory processes that cause disease later in life. I also think with breast milk it is easier to control your diet to reduce or eliminate colic. I learned how to do that with my first, and my second barely ever cried from digestive issues.

It’s just one factor among many, but personally I would breastfeed and pump a few extra ounces every day. You would have enough of a stash to go to six months, after which the benefits of breastfeeding are about passing on antibodies and less about protecting the developing gut. If you only breastfed before and after work at that point and baby had other foods, you could still pass on the antibodies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I would not.

+1. You shouldn’t put yourself through it if you will only breastfeed for 4 months. It’s not worth it. There is no point. I would just start with formula from birth.

This is nonsense. Most of the benefits from breastfeeding come from colostrum the first week and the initial three months to build up gastrointestinal immunity. Everything after that is a nice bonus, but not nearly as helpful to the baby as the first few months are.

And no, I’m not a breastfeeding nazi; I totally believe fed is best and I supplemented with formula when I needed to. OP should do whatever she is comfortable with and what works. But acknowledging that doesn’t mean there’s “no point” to breastfeeding if you only do it for a few months. There are advantages to doing it even for a short while, which have to be weighed against all of OP’s other circumstances.

Adding - here is a nice breakdown of breastfeeding benefits over differing lengths of time. Even doing it for just 4-6 weeks gives a big benefit to baby. (Which yes, again, need to be weighed against your own personal circumstances). https://ashlandbreastpumps.com/blog/the-benefits-of-breastfeeding-a-timeline-for-the-ages/

-1. Virtually none of these claims are backed by science, just so everybody knows.

"Science" is still in the discovery phase of the things that are even *in* breastmilk. Let alone understanding exactly why they're all there and how to replicate them effectively into formula. So there's no way anyone intelligent could be arguing that formula is the same and it makes no difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I would not.

+1. You shouldn’t put yourself through it if you will only breastfeed for 4 months. It’s not worth it. There is no point. I would just start with formula from birth.

? "Put yourself through it?" For many people, OP, it's not difficult and a joy and makes things much easier for you and the baby in many, many ways. For many others I'm sure not. Why not just wait and see once baby is here how you feel? You don't need to decide off the bat.

Honestly, try it. If it works, you won’t have to figure out about how to stop your milk If it doesn’t, it’s super easy to run to the store for formula. Either way is fine and you are a good mom regardless of what you choose.

Signed-
Mom that breastfed kid 1 to 18 months and kid 2 to 30 months (but was ready to stop at any time.)