Breastfeeding Question

chuckster

Hi,

Just a quick question, ftm and planning to breastfeed my baby due in 2 weeks all going well... breastfeeding as much as possible and expressing also after a couple months so the baby can be fed by dad incase I have to go out or get delayed somewhere etc.

I was at a breastfeeding ante-natal class this week where the nurse said breastfeeding babies can reject the breast after being fed from a bottle. I have read up about this online but does anyone have any first hand experience?

I pretty much just want to know how many people were successful breastfeeding and expressing occasionally?

thanks :-)

bp

My baby drank anything and everything. In hospital they latched on after birth but wouldn't again so was given formula as the second feed and then back to breast. On the second night I was beyond exhausted and nurses took baby for a few hours to let me sleep and formula again and then back to breast.

I expressed after week one and daddy gave one bottle a day (which daddy loved). FYI it was the 11pm bottle so I would feed at 8pm then go to bed. Baby and daddy would stay downstairs have bottle at 11 and then bed and I would feed at 2am so I got a few hours sleep.

Anyway I degrees - baby had no issue going from breast to expressed and formula. But that was my baby and they are all individuals.

Two more points to note - breast feeding is hard (baby and mammy both need to figure it out) - I thought it would be so simple and pain free (which it can be for others) and it doesn't work for some people - you do what suits you and baby and go from there.

Secondly you may not know but there is a growth spurt at about 10 days (which I didn't know about) when baby won't even let you pee, they just want to be latched on so have someone in with you that day to bring you food because it is exhausting and you will be starving.

Congtats in advance and I hope I didn't give you way too much info!

chuckster

bp wrote: »

My baby drank anything and everything. In hospital they latched on after birth but wouldn't again so was given formula as the second feed and then back to breast. On the second night I was beyond exhausted and nurses took baby for a few hours to let me sleep and formula again and then back to breast.

I expressed after week one and daddy gave one bottle a day (which daddy loved). FYI it was the 11pm bottle so I would feed at 8pm then go to bed. Baby and daddy would stay downstairs have bottle at 11 and then bed and I would feed at 2am so I got a few hours sleep.

Anyway I degrees - baby had no issue going from breast to expressed and formula. But that was my baby and they are all individuals.

Two more points to note - breast feeding is hard (baby and mammy both need to figure it out) - I thought it would be so simple and pain free (which it can be for others) and it doesn't work for some people - you do what suits you and baby and go from there.

Secondly you may not know but there is a growth spurt at about 10 days (which I didn't know about) when baby won't even let you pee, they just want to be latched on so have someone in with you that day to bring you food because it is exhausting and you will be starving.

Congtats in advance and I hope I didn't give you way too much info!

Not thats not too much info at all, thanks a mill!

Yea I was thinking I'm just going to have to wait and see how it all pans out... it's just the way the lactation consultant was talking about it the other day I would not be able to express and use a bottle as the baby wouldn't want to go back to the breast...

I'm abroad and the hospital I'm having it in is VERY pro-breast (they will even keep you in an extra night after giving birth to make sure you can breast feed) which is great as it's what I want to do, but she also was trying to say breast only for at least a year with little or no deviation from it which is just not going to be practicable!

Fingers crossed it all goes well :-)

thanks again!

How Strange

My two thankfully took bottles of expressed milk without any problems. I'd advise not using bottles for the first three weeks and exclusively breastfeeding until your baby has learned how to latch on properly.

MurdyWurdy

My LO took bottles no problem, both of expressed milk and formula. He always went back on the breast fine and it was obvious he preferred to be breastfed. He'd happily take a bottle if given it though. I've been unwell and am about to stop breastfeeding so he prefers the bottle now but he's 4 months old and was fine with both up until now.

I really think it's down to the baby, the same way some love dummies (my baba is like Maggie Simpson with his) and some babies won't take them.

liliq

I haven't read the replies, but 'paced bottle feeding' can help avoid baby developing a preference for bottles. I think kellymom.com should have a good description on it.
Expressing occasionally can definitely work. Expressing regularly can work too, otherwise even fewer mums would not be returning to work while Breastfeeding!
It's just about how the baby is offered the bottle.

Blueskye

I breastfeed my twins and they had a bottle of formula once a night from about day 3. No real problems going from breast to bottle with either baby but one baby was a bit lazy to latch and I had to make sure he was feeding properly. 5 months on he has no difficulties with boob or bottle. But if you could avoid bottles for the first few weeks I would, just incase it does affect breastfeeding.

holding

OP, your lactation consultant was just warning you about the dangers of nipple confusion, which *can* happen (doesn't mean it will happen). It can also happen with using a soother. You will basically just have to wait and meet your baby til you find out if he/she will be confused by a synthetic teat. It didn't happen with my baby, and he goes fine from bottle to soother to nipple. Lots of other women in the breastfeeding support thread at the top of the forum had a similar experience (some didn't). If your baby does end up having nipple confusion after you have given him a bottle of your expressed milk, then there are things you can do to bring him back to the breast.

Here are three websites with info you can trust:

http://kellymom.com/
http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/ (this is Dr Jack Newman's website)
http://www.llli.org/resources.html

sunshine10

Hi, my lo's took bottles no problems in the early weeks/months but once they got a bit older (3months +) they would fight the bottle if they hadn't one in awhile. Best of luck

lazygal

I combo fed with formula as baby wouldn't take expressed milk, no issues and it was from five days on.
I personally have never heard of nipple confusion with real babies, only online breastfeeding resources caution against bottles. I wouldn't have stuck with it unless I'd had the break of a bottle.