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breastfeeding and expressing.............

lillyblue

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I just wanted to ask a quick question. I am thinking about breastfeeding and was wondering if I wanted to express for night time or other occasions e.g. OH being involved would baby accept a bottle?

I am new to all this :oops:

xxx
 
yeaah would have thought so but you would have to watch out baby didnt get too attached to the bottle :hug:
 
Generally advised to BF exculsively for the first 6 weeks to get your supply in properly and to help prevent nipple confusion or preferring the bottle if you have a too quick flowing teat and therefore your LO doesn't have to work at all to get milk from it. If this happens it can make establishing BF'ing hard work.

The odd bottle would be fine but I'd not express on a regular basis too often before your LO is 6 weeks old. Often expressing gets nowhere near the same amount of milk from your boobs as a baby can so its not a good indication you are making enough milk.

Also in the early weeks LO will want and need to feed little and often and chances are you won't really have much time to express often.

Lots of other ways your OH can be involved in those early weeks. Bathing, cuddles, nappy changes.... my OH loved the cuddle time between feeds when I would go nap for an hour or two before the next feed. The waiting for milk supply to settle down happened and OH was able to give LO the odd bottle of expressed milk. However he admitted to me he didn't really get much out of feeding LO and preferred to cuddle and spend time with him that way. He gave occasional expressed feeds after this but I never pressed and things were fine. In all honesty, during the night when LO as hungry it was easier to have LO in bed with me and feed him myself than it was to wait for OH to wake up (or for me to wake him :roll: ), hear him stagger downstairs, warm up the milk, bring it upstairs and get LO ready to feed. I never slept through him feeding LO as often LO would fuss or cry and he'd need my help anyways. So I just stuck to boob feeding :lol:
 
I do this and it works well for us. TBH Teddy is so greedy he will take a bottle if he has to its not a problem :lol: . However he did start to reject the cheap bottles i bought as the milk came out way too fast and he hated it so i went out and bought the Tommee Tippee closer to nature (nipple shaped teats) and he takes it fine now. The only problem i have is him try to drink it laying on his side (so he can pretend its my boob i think :lol: )
 
I've expressed one bottle a day for Poppy snce the first day my milk came in and she's had no problems at all. Recently she's started to decide that she prefers booby but she's always taken a bottle and breast with no confusion at all.
 
Thanks ladies

see the thing is I am returning back to work after 12 weeks due to the fact I have got some final exams and will need to be in work with all the help for these! Thats why I only intend to breastfeed for the first 8-10 weeks! I know this might be harder for myself but I want to breastfeed to start off with and when I go back baby will have to go onto bottle! I will still be studying from when baby is 8 weeks thats why I was thinking I could express the onre - two bottles for the nights where I am out 6pm - 9pm in uni, :D

Seems all confusing doesnt it but just want to do whats best for baby

xxx
 
Without expressing I would have given up in the first week, as Mills couldn't drink at all when my milk first came in. She happiliy switches between breast and bottle.
 
god im so pleased to see some of your replies. i was going to post something similar after my anti natal class yesterday, where i was made to feel like an absolute idiot and a failure for even considering expressing (along breast feeding)
 
Well I will be expressing aswell as b'feeding!!! Thats your own decision isnt it hun! If baby will take both options then :dance: ill be more than happy

xx
 

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