exclusively expressing and bottle feeding experiences

[madmillie92]

Hi ladies, I would like to know peoples experiences with exclusivley pumping and bottle feeding expressed milk as I am thinking of doing this myself.
I have a very (very) fast let down and after about a minute feeding him he will start choking and swallowing air and pull away (he then gets sprayed in the face with milk) I then have to hold a breastpad over my nipple until it calms down, then another few minutes feeding ect ect
Its giving him such bad wind and reflux bless him, and whenever he has an expressed bottle he is fine and sleeps longer as he doesn't get such bad wind (I have to wind at least four time a feed when bf)
So I am thinking of exclusivley bottle feeding expressed milk but am anxious to know other peoples experiences, like is it very time consuming? Does your supply decrease? Or any tips for making it easier, I have a manual pump, are electric ones better? My baby is 3 weeks, how much. Per feed did your baby drink at that age?
Any advisr would be much appreciated

 

[l_maclean]

Tweety did this but I dunno if she's around much just now.

But from reading (not my experience) it is very very hard. You will need a very good electric pump, double is better. And basically your giving yourself twice the work as you have to 'feed the pump' then feed the baby iykwim. Plus all the sterilising.

Have you looked at different positions to deal with let down etc Kelly mom website usually has good info.

 

[knopk@]

Have you tried feeding lying down on your side or biological nurturing? My son was struggling in the beginning but as he grew, it got better

 

[Hope81]

How about pumping with your manual pump like 5 min before each feed until the let down calms down then put him on? You can give him that milk at the end of the feed maybe?
I expressed for 8 weeks it was a living hell.
Every 3 h day and night. Feed baby settle the baby then pump then deal with bottles, washing the equipment etc. I was getting close to no sleep.
You need a very good double pump loads of patience a good baby that settles easy and your supply may decrease as pump is nowhere as efficient as the baby.
My supply died completely at 8-9 weeks though I did express every 3 h..
But tweety made it 1 year, she had a very good hospital grade pump, she was pumping even out and about at the malls etc and a very good baby and loads and loads of self determination and patience xx

 

[CARNAT22]

I only managed 6 weeks.

It was a complete nightmare... I was setting alarms all hours of the day and night to pump, I had all the sterilising as well.

I know it was best for James but next time I am determined to feed from breast.

xxxxxx

 

[tiggy85]

I was in the same situation as you Hun when my baby was tiny, he was continually fussy at the boob, would refuse then latch on a scrEam after feeds. I had a fast let down too. He would choke and splutter.

Well anyway I also thought about expressing and bottle feeding and did a post on here about it. I got loads of people say don't do it......it's living hell and stressful. It's a risk that longer term you won't be able to sustain your.milk supply as well as creating double the work. Your likely to have oversupply along with fast let down, and whilst your able to pump well now that will settle down and you may not be able to pump when your supply normalises (what happened to me at 6ish months).

So I didn't switch I fought through it and it did get better, my supply settled a bit and baby got used to it. By 10 weeks he never coughed or spluttered again and still feeding at 10 months. It's so easy now! I found when it was bad I did hand express a bit to ease the letdown for him particularly on my right side which is faster.

Try reclined nursing as much as possible as well as hand expressing the first bit off. I wouldn't try expressing and bottle feeding. They will get used to bottles then refuse to bf.

 

[tweetyfoo]

I did it for a year (well 10 months, as i had 2 months of milk stored in the freezer)

Its exhausting! Up until about 6 months I had to express every three hours 24/7. I couldn't make plans to go anywhere, as I always had to be next to my pump.

That being said, it is achievable, you just have to be willing to put in the hard work.

If LO is latching, I would say perserve with bfing, try expressing off a little before you feed LO to see if it helps the letdown any?

 

[ABC237]

.

 

[madmillie92]

Thanks, I will persevere then! I have been pumping a little in between feeds (trying to get a supply for my night out tonight, my OH will be babysitting) but maybe that's just making me produce more milk? Going to have to pump when I'm out tonight (oh the joys of motherhood) and wear about 4 breastpads lol...
I have found that when I feed him lying down he throws up, maybe a bit of reflux? I have infacol coming with my shopping in an hour so at least if I can't stop him swallowing so much air, I can help him get it out! Xx