breast and bottle mix

[mamichuli]

It might be a good idea to just breastfeed for the first couple of weeks to establish your milk and the baby to be happy with the breast. After the first few weeks the baby is used to b/f and one bottle a day shouldnt make much of a difference. It is a lovely idea for your OH to have a chance to feed his baby and give you a bit of a rest.
As far as pumps are concerned, I use the AVENT Isis hand pump and find it easy to use.
Good luck with the birth

Lisa

 

[Urchin]

Yeah I agree its best not to mess with your supply too much in the early weeks.
your OH sounds great though wanting to do a feed so you can rest.

I'd probably say in this situation the best thing to do would be to solely breastfeed at first for a few weeks, then express a bottle for your OH to feed baby too.
The thing is though I found expressing a total faff, when it's so easy to just pop them on the boob, dunno I'll you'll think that too. If buying a pump I'd go for electric, not manual, I had a Medela one and it was fine but a bit noisy.

If you wanted to introduce formula for that feed instead, again, you'd be best expressing on top to your body will stop making as much milk as it'll think baby won't need so much.

there's loads of expressing tips in this section, good luck, and feel free to ask for extra help when you need it.

 

[leckershell]

we broke all the recommendations

i started expressing as soon as my milk came in as the engorgement hurt! can also use shells to collect what the other boob leaks while you are feeding/expressing off one. i put this in with whatever I expressed and used it when we had visitors round.

since the beginning we have used boobs, expressed milk in a bottle, expressed milk in a cup, formula in a bottle, formula in a cup.... the first 2 weeks we did all sorts! now we stick to boob, expressed milk by bottle (occasionally), or formula by bottle if he is overly hungry and i hurt a lot or am out or have visitors.

probably not recommended to mix and match, but we've had no problems except the very very early days. though i use nipple shields which probably feels the same to him as a bottle teat.

 

[Redshoes]

I would say obviously wait and see how breastfeeding goes, if you love it, you can always express at some point so Daddy is involved in the feeding. I wanted to exclusively BF Isaac, but he was unfortunately incubated in hospital and tube fed, this effected my milk and also his appetite for more than I had. So, we let him have breast and formula, and have done since he was a few days old, and now he will take either fine, he's certainly not had any problems growing on both and its certainly the best of both worlds for us as I still get to breast feed and Isaac is happy
Take on board what works for others but don't feel you've done wrong should you choose something different to what anyone tells you, as when it comes to breastfeeding there are some very strong opinions held by MW's/health professionals, the good ones will listen to what you want. Very best wishes with whatever works for you and LO midna

 

[trixipaws]

i tried melissa with a bottle after 2 months, she didnt really like it!
i think key is 2 get baby used 2 both early if u want both to work.

 

[mum2A&L]

though i use nipple shields which probably feels the same to him as a bottle teat.

we did the same and i recon we got a few extra weeks out if breast feeding. she just seemed to prefer the bottle (my hv said it was because it was easier to get the milk out!)