Breast feeding and expressing milk

[Hunnie]

When can you start to express milk into bottles? Is it from pretty much straight away?

I'm going to give breast feeding a go but would like OH to have some involvement in being able to feed LO.

Any other info generally on breast feeding would be helpful as I really haven't a clue and don't trust google!

Thanks xx

 

[Hope81]

They say that you should wait to have established breast feeding before you introduce any bottle and that they say that happens after the first 4 weeks if no problems.

I am sure more girls with experience soon will help you.

 

[Hunnie]

I've got a mw appointment this afternoon so I'm going to ask for some advice off her as well. Struggling to decide between what to do atm as I'd love to try breast feeding but it worries me all at the same time !

 

[Smithy1980]

Hey chick...I'm bf my LO and she's 13 weeks now! I didn't try introducing a bottle until after 6 weeks as they say and she just wouldn't take one full stop and still won't! We've tried every teat/bottle going and she still won't!

A few of my friends that have done bottle and breast from the beginning have had no nipple confusion....if I was to bf again, I'd defo introduce a bottle straight up! That's only my experience though and others may feel differently!

HTH and GL with the breast feeding x


Sent from my nearly buggared iPhone!!

 

[Monkey]

I have heard that it's best to wait until 6 weeks as to establish a good routine for breast feeding. My breasts were really swollen and full from just after the 5 week mark and I didn't even need to touch them for the milk to start flowing. I decided to express and I didn't want to waste it as there was so much so I decided to try her on a bottle a week early and she took to it straight away and happily switches between breast and bottle. I have actually noticed that she posits less when feeding from a bottle, but I love the closeness of breast feeding.

 

[Laineeb]

My health visitor said to wait till six weeks to avoid confusion but to be honest I did it before six weeks and my LO was fine. What you do have to be careful of is that at about six weeks your milk changes and becomes fattier and more filling. Therefore if you have expressed milk before this to put in the freezer it may not be satisfying for your baby after they are six weeks old. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Maria1977]

I had to express from when LO was 1 day old as he was tongue tie and couldn't latch on, plus I had had a section and I needed to get my milk to come in. It took 5 days for me to get milk, and that was mainly from skin to skin with baby and alot of pumping.

We didn't introduce a bottle until he was about a month +, before then he was cup fed either formula or my milk until his tongue tie was sorted.

We honestly never had any trouble, he rejected the bottle in the end and is now 1 year old and still BFing!

 

[JJ Mum]

I would introduce it earlier than they say personally, we had both bottles and bf in hosp as Devon had antibodie caused jaundice and they needed him to drink lots to flush out the bilirubin levels. He took it fine. When we came home, I was expressing once a day for oh to feed with bottle, and my boobs were confused and huge and leeking all over the shop, so they advised I stop EBM a few weeks. I did and Devon refused to take a bottle and never has taken on since!! We only bf and use a beaker for water now - really could have done with it when I went away to take that for near two days and OH had only a beaker to of EBM to offer!!!

 

[Franna75]

I expressed from the start too firstly cause I didn't know you were supposed to wait and secondly because it hurt less to express when i had a sore nipple - I reckon I'd have been tempted to stop BF if not. Every so often I still express and will try again over Christmas as I may attempt going out and my Mum feeding. My LO didn't seem to have any confusion and took to both. See how it goes. Have you thought about which pump to get?

 

[Esoames]

I waited until 6 weeks as well and my daughter was 10 months old when she FINALLY took a bottle!! I'm only just managing to stop breastfeeding at nearly 14 months. It's a long term commitment breast-feeding that you can't go in to thinking your husband will be able to help with feeding. My husband has tried to feed Isla but she was a bugger.

Men can do other things like winding, bathing etc. I know feeding is a massive part of babies life but there is so much more that the men can have an involvement in.

I'd try a bottle a bit sooner than 6 weeks but it's up to you. The first 6 weeks are the hardest so if you can get baby to take a bottle that's the time to go either all bottle or all boob

Emma and Isla 13 months

 

[Hunnie]

Have you thought about which pump to get?

I think I've got the avent electronic one.

Thank you for all your help and advise. I think I'd also started to get a bit creeped out by the whole baby being on my boob as some of the pictures I've seen in the leaflets just really put me off so its nice to know I guess that I can always express the milk and bottle feed her but with the goodness of breast milk. I'm going to try and do it normally first but I think it's going to be hard to get used to the idea at first.

 

[Sarah13]

I expressed a small amount from 3 weeks only every few days just so he would take a bottle too when I need him too. He wouldn't take it from me though so good for hubby! Dont worry about feeling creeped out just now, that's cos its not the norm in our society so we never really see mums bf, once your baby arrives nature takes over and for a lot of women it becomes the most natural thing to want to try, your boobs kind of switch function! I love bfing now, it's amazing watching him grow and I love the closeness only I get it makes up for missing my baby bump!

Be prepared for how hard work it is though, it comes as a bit of a shock as most bf babies need feeding loads, Kynon still feeds every 2-3 hours day and night so it's very draining and you don't get much else done! (it's fantastic weight loss though, I haven't been this weight in 15 years lol) It's also painful at the start and you worry about how much milk they are getting. Midwives don't really tell you that! Find a local support group if you can as you really need the support and help sometimes, and of course come on here! Make sure your OH is supportive too, this helps massively, we had a couple of really hard nights and my hubby said he was off to buy formula, he didnt but i was pissed off at him that night as he really wasnt helping! Also buy some nipple shields and lansloh cream.

Best advice I can give is relax and don't stress about it, this makes things harder, I just go with the flow and let him feed when he wants and stop when he wants and he's happy so that makes me happy, ok I don't get everything done I want to but however you feed your baby there arnt enough hours in the day as a new mum! Oh yeah it often gets me out of chores too as "I'm busy feeding" lol!

 

[Sarah13]

I also found this site an interesting read, it's american and very pro breastfeeding but had some interesting facts and info you don't always hear such as your body produces slightly different milk for boys and girls, boys is more fatty and has more protein! And how baby's saliva sends messages to your body about what is required! http://www.007b.com/