Temporary bottle feeding - advice please

[MissTwister]

Hi

When my baby is about 2-3 months old I will need to have a minor operation that means I can't breastfeed for 48 hours due to anaesthetic. Therefore baby will need a bottle during this time - can anyone recommend what bottle to get that is most closely replicable to breast feeding so that the baby will take it and then go back to the breast. There is so much choice I am overwhelmed!!

thanks all

[WishUponAStar88]

Is it purely because of the general anaesthetic or because of the hospital stay? As there is no reason not to bf post general anaesthetic although not all Drs know that and so sometimes say not to feed for 2 days (as I was told). However the breastfeeding network say that it is completely safe and when I managed to speak to my anaesthetist (the one actually giving the drugs) he said it was fine too. I bf from about an hour after the anaesthetic and baby was fine.
If you need to stay in/ bottle feed for a longer op I'm afraid I can't help as my dd was and is a firm bottle refuser.

[WishUponAStar88]

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/detailed-information/drugs-in-breastmilk/drugs-factsheets/

There is a link on this website to a page on anaesthetics and bf. If you have questions about specific drugs you can email them and a pharmacist will get in touch with you.

[GlitzAndGigglesx]

When I switched I used Tommee Tippee. DD wouldn't take to it straight away so it took a few attempts. Sadly I don't think there's a miracle bottle that bf babies will take to straight away but once she had her first bottle feed she was fine with that one after

[MissTwister]

Thanks WishUponAStar88 that's really interesting. It's not even a GA, it's an awake one with sedation. I will check that out further as would be going home straight away.

[WishUponAStar88]

It will depend on the sedation they are using and how much/ what type of pain relief is needed. If possible I would push to speak to the anaesthetist as in my case he was much more in the know about the drugs whereas the consultant said "well I can't be sure about any drug so I wouldn't feed for 2 days". If you think about it little newborns are encouraged to feed after a c section which is sometimes done by GA. When I spoke to the anaesthetist he assured me that unless something unplanned happened he would use pain relief, sedation and antibiotics that were all ok to bf on.