Planning to breastfeed but should you have a bit of formula and bottles on hand just in case?

I had one pack pre-made bottles for the hospital. Ended up using them for a bit of top up. Now I do 80% breast and expressed and use forums 20 percent of time for ease and to be kind to myself. I couldn’t hold baby for a while in hospital and she was with dad so the midwives gave him the formula to feed straight away. But as soon as I had her I put her to my breast and used expressed colostrum to feed her. X

Amazing thanks so much!!!

Not formula. But some bottles and Hakaa yes. I ended up pumping and collecting letdown on the boob not feeding from, to give him ebm topups on top of the feed because he’d lost too much weight and gained too slow. So I just gave him more ebm on top of what he was feeding from me. I didn’t have any formula in the house at all besides the samples given in the baby bags. But hubby was able to feed baby w ebm when I needed a break or wanted to sleep in, he can used my pumped milk. Btw hospital has both formula and disposable bottles if needed to don’t stress if you need to give, just ask them they’ll have it. We ended up taking a whole bagful of disposable bottles home and I washed and reused even though they are made for one use in the hospital for sanitary reasons

With my first I remember getting some samples from my obgyn and after registering on formula websites. I ended having multiples cans. I haven’t used any of that so I donated it later on. I think it’s good to have some ready made bottles just in case so no one has to run to the store in the middle of the night

No you’ll be tempered to use it. Think of poor African countries where there is nothing to rely on just breast milk.. You need to establish your supply so all you need to do is put baby loads on breast for the first 8 weeks. Formula may hinder / mess it up. Plus it’s best to feed baby breast milk with no formula at all for the first 6 months as it’s gentler on their stomach. From a mum who breastfed twins until 1.5 years

I planned on breastfeeding and didn’t buy any bottles/formula at all. If you don’t have any intention of using formula you could just wait to see that your milk comes in fine. You can always send someone to the shop for formula if needed or as someone said, they have it at the hospital. My milk didn’t come in until day 5 but my LO just had colostrum until then

No you don’t need it. If you have access to a partner, friend, or family member, they could go out and purchase for you or you could have it shipped to your house. Postpartum be sure to spend lots of time skin to skin with baby. Like basically let baby live on your chest those first 2 months. I lived in a robe or button up shirts for 3 months basically haha. Drink electrolytes, eat oats, lots of protein, and make sure you’re eating plenty. Try to rest as much as possible AND just gaze into your baby’s eyes, oxytocin helps milk production 🩷

I was given samples of formula and the hospital gave me enough to make it through my oldest having a tongue tie and not nursing well. In the us you may not need to purchase just incase formula

Thank you everyone!