"Introducing formula feeding to a newborn"

I am breastfeeding and my baby has been struggling to put on weight.

After several weeks the health visitor advised that I should be topping up with formula to help gain the weight. I was told this in a very brisk manner and felt belittled and incompetent for allowing this to happen - I felt like it was my fault.

The health visitor very quickly told me that my baby was hungry and needed to be fed straight away. I had an instant bottle in the house and brought it through to feed the baby. I went into the kitchen to wash my hands and came back and found the health visitor feeding the baby formula already. I hadn’t been given the opportunity to feed him myself and I missed giving my baby his first bottle.

They then advised that he should also be given the bottle of milk I had just expressed and even though I asked if I could feed him myself this time, they then fed him this bottle too. I was then told to top up with formula for the next week but wasn't told anything about how to sterilise bottles or make formula up.

Overall I felt unprepared, on the back foot and totally overwhelmed about how to manage things going forward.