Bottlefeeding Breastmilk....

[Mischief]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if any of you bottle feed your breast milk sooner than using formula or feeding from the breast?

I'm breastfeeding....Sometimes i feel close to Ollie when i do it, but I dont feel 100% comfortable with it...and i stress that he isnt getting enough...cause I cant see...etc.

I express a couple of feeds for him a day....One for before his big sleep...he has this one about 8-9pmish.....and one for early morning...530ish...Steven gives him this feed before he goes to work.....

When i do the night feed for him with the bottle, I feel so much closer to the little fella, and much more relaxed and comfortable.

So I was wondering...does anyone here express and feed exclusively...

If so...how is your milk supply, does expressing hurt your nipples...ect...whats your experience...

Thanks for any help!!!

Kat :)

[Mum&bubs]

When Summer was younger i did both breastfeed & then expressed my milk cause i too was worried she wasnt getting enough because i couldnt see how much. I used to do it by myself by hand then that hurt my nipples too much & was too tiring & you dont get much. The breast pump is good but after a while it hurt my nipples :( I cant really help because i just gave up & breastfed her without anything else.

[Ana Gram]

I expressed for 6 weeks before switching to formula. I much prefered expressing to having DD on the breast. I found that expressing hurt alot less than the baby, in fact expressing was heaven.

[bronny-jane]

im interested in this too, also what is a good breast pump, i have an avent sterilizer.

[Mischief]

Thanks Mum&Bub and Chelle! I'm going to talk to my family health nurse at our 6 week appointment (in about 10 days) if I havent gotten better at it by then!

Brony, I have a Medela Electric breast pump. Was $150 or something like that. Is very good!

[Goosie22]

Hi Kitkat,

Here is a some info on exclusive pumping (http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bf-links-excpumping.html). You can do it for a long time with success, it just a matter of getting your pumping sessions in. Some info I read recently suggests pumping at least 10 - 12 times a day, this can be in cluster pumps (like cluster feeds if you can fit it in better).

There are disadvantages using bottles as they dont develop the facial and jaw muscles to the same extent e.g helping with ear infections ect.

[1stbaby]

Im interested in this too as I want to go out and work. My MIL lives with us and will look after my child so I just have to leave the milk. Everytime I mention it to the community nurse, they seem to think it will be too hard to pump enough. I will be away for 2 or 3 feeds. they are advising me to formula feed during the day and breast feed morning and night. I will be breast feeding him up to 6 months and would love to continue, but when I express, the most I've ever got is 50mls.
One meeting I went to the other day, a husband was talking about his wife who gets up at 3am and expresses for the whole day (about 600mls) so she can leave at 7am. sounds exhausting.
in regard to bottles, I have a teat that is supposed to be like a woman's nipple and requires the same action. Its really oddly shaped. Has anyone else used this? Its called mother's partner.

[bigglet]

I express milk in the morning (I use an Avent Isis and love it) and freeze it and use it when I need it. I think I breastfeed a bit more in the evenings when I think my milk isn't as full as in the morning/day.
I'm going back to work in a few months so I'm hoping to express during the day.

[sharvs]

I had major attachment issues when DS was born. I exclusively expressed for about a week using a breast pump. I found that I would feed DS (with the bottle) which would take about 40 minutes then I would have to spend another hour expressing for the next feed. By this time he was just about due to be fed again. I ended up switching him over to formula (for more reasons that just this). It is hard work but possible. You just have to be prepared to spend the time doing it.

[MummyCharmzy]

I exclusively expressed for DS for almost 5 months and exclusively for DD for 3.5 months because both were premmies and lacked the sucking reflex initially and it was 'better' for them to go on bottles (meant DS came home 2 weeks sooner and meant DD never had to be tubefed!)

The FATAL mistake I made with DD was stopping expressing overnight, for me personally doing this dried up my milk. I had to express 3-4 hourly at most around the clock. With DD there were numerous times I had to express every hour for 48 hours straight to maintain my supply. It was VERY hard work!!! DS I never had supply issues though.

With DD and DS I used the Avent isis, I have the 'back to work' set which has a microfibre bag, avent cooling packs, small bottles, the pump and some spare parts.It was brilliant but time consuming and with DD I began to get a lot of hand cramps from doing it so regularly. For this reason I have just purchased the Medela Pump in style double electric pump and an accessory pack. It set me back around $375 for it all second hand (the cheapest ive seen the pump in style is $435 without the accessories I got also tho) its the same as what you'd use in hospital which is BRILLIANT and I cant wait to try it out when bubs arrives, though hopefully I'll actually get to breastfeed this time!


If anyone has any questions feel free to ask!

[Mischief]

Thank you all for your information!

I dont think I would be able to express exclusively. The past few days I have been expressing heaps. Ollie has a little bit of a cold and is being fussy at the breast, the pump hurts my nipples when I have to use it constantly! :(

But hopefully Ollie will start some solids at 6 months. So thats not that far away now really!

[SJE]

All I would say is just to be careful.
Expressing can decrease your supply over a period of time. My bubs wouldn't attach so I expressed for six weeks and that was with the help of medicaition and supply did eventually run out. Its hard to express regularly when there are visitors all the time.

I used a manual pump as well- no wonder I can squeeze 35kilos with my hands:D

If you are intending to do this for a while perhaps hire one??

[PhAnToM]

I exclusively expressed with DD because she had severe reflux. :barf:
I had to add thickener to her milk. :no: I did this for 5.5 months but I did find that I had to begin to supplement with formula after a couple of months. By 5.5 months, my supply (which exceptionally good to begin with) had dried up. I was told to try to get DD to suckle to try to increase the supply, but obviously that wasn't a goer since she was so used to the bottle.
And that was that as far as bf went with her.

DS is not keen on the bottle at all and even though he is chucky also, i just grin and bare it. He will be starting solids this week anyway (nearly 6 months... :crying: ) so hopefully things will get easier.
Admitedly i didn't concern myself AS much about how much he was feeding as i did with DD either. He lets me know if he is still hungry and won't let go of the breast until he is done!
This wasn't the case with DD as she never knew when she was full. She would just want to keep drinking as long as she had access to milk. Of course the milk soon made a reappearance! :eek:

[Mischief]

Thanks guys! Ive been expressing heaps. I have 3 feeds in the fridge at the moment and 1 in the freezer.

I try to express before or after each feed. I give Ollie a suck for about 20 minutes....then change his nappy while his bottle heats up. He usually likes about 150ml to drink, so Ive been giving him 100ml in the bottle when he suckles.

I'm hoping that letting him suckle will make sure my supply stays, and also means that he KNOWS how to suck in case I'm out and about without a bottle. Ie yesterday....little ratbag drank his bottle and decided an hour later he wanted MORE.

I am feeling much happier today though. After speaking to my mum lastnight I feel better too. She could only feed for 3 months because after that her milk would dry up (she has 5 kids)....Ive been trying to compare myself to Stevens mum who loved BF and fed her kids until 1.5-3 years. I guess its wrong to comepare myself to anyone, I'll just play it by ear and do it my way.

Thank you all again!!

[Motherhoodjoys]

Hi girls, I am writing toget your support. I have a 3mth old girl and she is my 2nd child. With my 1st - a boy I suffered bad PND and I put him on the FF bottle at 3 months but also continued BF morning and night for a month.
I am going much better EMOTIONALLY with my 2nd child but to be honest get anxious with the whole BF thing becasue I never know if shes had enough even though she sleepswell and is growing I still get anxious.
Recently my friend tried to give my 2nd the bottle but she only took it after a 1 hour battle - during which I felt guilty becasue I felt I was being selfish wanting her on the bottle so i could feel emotionally better.
I know myson is wonderful, clever, healthy etc and he was bottle fed from 3 months so I would love to hear some encouraging advice.
Thanks Phillipa Motherhoodjoys

[PhAnToM]

Hi Phillipa. :wave:
You are not alone on the "is my baby getting enough milk?" stress.
It's a shame the breast doesn't become transparent while bf so we can see how much they are getting. But if your baby is settled, not crying AND growing and developing well, i'd say your doing a great job with her. More over, i'd say you've been feeding her liquid gold, as your baby seems to be growing beautifully.

My experience after struggling to bf my first (WAY too many complications) and now bf my second has taught me that if your baby isn't getting enough you WILL know about. In fact the neighbourhood will know about it. (and the volume in mls is irrelevant to my mind, now. It's a matter of are they satisfied or are they hungry.)

I am studying part-time and my little man is so devoted to the breast, we struggled getting him to drink the expressed bm from a bottle. So we tried some different bottles (DD was fine with Avent, but DS would not take a drop from it). We found the Pigeon Peristaltic teat bottle. It is stretchy and mimics the breast. So if DH or Mum were holding him in the same position as I hold him while bf, he drinks the milk from this bottle. No stress.

Having said this... if you are still not comfortable with bf, i don't see the point in stressing about bf. A baby that is FF in a relaxed environment will be a happier baby than one who feels the stress their mother is experiencing while forcing herself to bf.
Do whatever you are comfortable with as THAT is what will ultimately be the one that will ensure your baby thrives! (i think i just repeated another of my posts. Oh well, i guess that means i mean it! ;) )

It is not selfish to want to feel good and save your sanity and health. A healthy mother (physically and emotionally) will ensure healthier children. :smiliedance:

Good Luck.

[Mischief]

Hi Phillipa.

Dont feel bad. There are always people who will disapprove of the bottle. You should have seen the look on my MIL's face when I told her I was bottle feeding Ollie (even though I'm only using breast milk)...if looks could kill I would have been twitching on the floor.

You need to do what is best for YOU and YOUR BABY! If you are stressed and depressed breast feeding then its not best for either of you.

Can you try going half and half...some breast milk some formula?

Oh and I found out about a great way to know if your baby is full....and it seems to work... Look at the arms.

When they are hungry the hands are bunched over the mouth...once you get breast or bottle in the mouth the hands will move over their chest and they will still be fisted....as they get fuller the hands move lower and lower until they are finally resting by their side. When they are full their arms will be down and their hands open and relaxed. If baby has wind the hands will come back up over the tummy, but shouldnt make it back as far as the mouth....so burp him and then try again... :)

Hope this helps you!!!! :) I use it as a guide now weather BF or bottle feeding! :)