Express feeding my 8 month old DD

[irani]

Hi mum's, I am currently breastfeeding my 8 month old DD. Soon will be traveling with her, and hence planning to express and feed her. Could you please guide me in which types of bottle I should buy for this. She has never used a bottle and only recently I have started giving her sippy cup for water. Any pointers will be really helpful.

[Megasaur5keeper]

It very much depends on your baby- we were using medela calma bottles until suddenly she went off them and fortunately took a MAM bottle. From a purely practical viewpoint if you have a particular style of pump the bottles that come with would be the place to start.
If she's getting on ok with the sippy cup you could even give milk in that rather than a bottle.

I have to say, if I was travelling with mine I'd be more inclined to feed her myself than express and bottle feed- it's far far easier than faffing around finding somewhere to pump, pumping, making sure you have milk storage, and so on. I've been expressing since baby was born and it is really tedious and can be hard going. Is there a particular reason you don't want to feed baby direct?

[irani]

Hiya, thanks for your reply. Yeah will try with the sippy cup initially rather than buying something she may not like. That's a really good idea.
I prefer feeding her directly too, which is very convenient here at UK and EU and other parts. However I am soon travelling to India to meet family and it will be quite inconvenient there to feed in public as she doesn't like being covered while feeding. Hence planning this as alternative and wasnt to try before our travels.

[Kokeshi123]

My experience is that it is very difficult to guess what kind of teat a breastfed baby will prefer, if they will take one at all! You might assume that bottles marketed for breastfed babies are better, but babies prefer all kinds of different things.

To be frank though, if she is 8mo and has never been bottle fed, there is a high likelihood that she will never take one, so be prepared to use the sippy cup. Even then, she might not be keen, as babies who have no history of drinking EBM in a cup or bottle very often won't drink it like that--they think breastmilk is "supposed" to come out of a breast and turn their nose up at it when it is offered from any other source. Especially if mummy is sitting right there and they can smell the milk from her breasts.

Is she getting on well with food? Because if she is ready to reduce her milk intake and go longer between feeds, you may find that the problem does not really arise--a lot of babies in this situation would just refuse a bottle or cup point-blank, eat more solids and wait until you get home for a breastfeed. You could also consider stirring breastmilk into porridges and other solid foods, if you want to make sure she gets enough.

Ask your relatives about the setup that you will deal with in India and think carefully about the logistics of how you are going to pump, store and carry around milk with you, sterilize the cup/bottle and so on. Hand pumping can be slow, and electric pumps usually require a power point. I believe it will soon start to get very hot in much of India, which could affect how long milk can be left at room temperature. If you are spending much of your time in relatives' homes and air conditioned shopping malls etc. then no problem, but then if that is your situation then you will probably be able to find private places to breastfeed anyway.

[eurochick]

Expressing for this trip seems like a bad idea. You are going to have to do a lot of planning - sterilising, timing expressing so you have enough, storage, etc. As well as getting your baby to take a bottle or cup.

[brookshelley]

Why are you planning to express? Direct breastfeeding is so much easier when flying.

[TeddyIsaHe]

You only need to sterilise the pump once a day. The rest of the time you can store it in the fridge. You can boil the parts if you don’t have access to a steriliser. And at 8 months you don’t need to sterilise bottles either, just wash them well in hot soapy water.

[Kokeshi123]

Sure, she can leave the pump in the fridge, but then she will not be able to pump when she is out of the house. I am assuming she will be out of the house for long periods every day, because if she is only taking short trips out of the house, the issue of BF in public will probably not arise in the first place--an 8mo is more likely to just wait it out and eat more solid foods to compensate. But then, if she needs to pump when out and about, where will the OP be able to express when she is out of the house? If she can find a quiet private place to express, she may as well just nurse there!

I don't know, it just sounds like a lot of hard work to me. I would just take a bebe au last nursing apron with me, and take the attitude that "if she is genuinely hungry, she will suck it up and nurse under the cover. If she messes about and refuses to nurse under the cover, then I'm going to take it as a signal that she isn't actually terribly hungry and can wait until I get home or find a private place to nurse." Other women in India must surely have ways of dealing with these issues--do department stores and shopping centers not have baby rooms? Or in the worst case scenario, a clean public loo where you could feed? Not the greatest place to nurse, I know, but I'd rather do that than arse about expressing.

[irani]

Thanks mums, that's a good amount of information for me to plan ahead of the trip and avoid unnecessary things. I am from India and I know about the places I have planned to visit for 3 months long.
I have no problems in BF in public, I do it here in UK all the time I am out with her. However we do not have baby rooms, BF rooms in shopping malls and airports in the places I am visiting. My sister who lives there feeds her baby in the car or feeds before leaving the house and plans to come back before next feed or feeds in restaurants when family and friends are around but the problem is with the coverings. My DD is very fussy about it and after a lots of trying I am not able to change it. She prefers to cry than feed with her face covered.

The time I am indoors is not a problem at all. Its the outdoors I am mostly worried and want to be prepared hence posted it for your expertise in these kinda situations.
I will get a manual pump and check if she is willing to take it while am still here. But in case she refuses no worries as am going to be with her all the time, and will have to manage her feeding time and time when we leave the house and return.

We are going in peak summer so yes I agree with your concerns for carrying the milk without spoiling and sterilizing the gears and bottles. I will gather all the information and plan accordingly.
I want to have a good time back home as this is the first time am visiting everyone in a 2 yrs and first time with her.
Thanks again everyone for posting.

[Kokeshi123]

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

[ChampooPapi]

Nuk latex teats large hole (amazon) and nuk large bottle worked for us with an exclusively breast fed baby. Good luck

[ChampooPapi]

And if its summer you are going your baby will be 12 months or over? then you can use cows/goats milk instead of formula/breast milk as well as breast feeding in the morning and evening

[irani]

Sorry, yes @Kokeshi123 she is on solids 3 meals a day and 4 to 5 times BF. that's for a good day. On difficult days it's 2 or less meals a day and rest all BF. If I pump I will do it only at home else no use of it outdoors.
@brookshelley I know, right!! I am just hoping for BF but nothing wrong in preparing for the alternative.
It indeed is turning out to be a hard work than what I planned originally. I want to enjoy and relax and not worry bout pumping, sterilizing all the time. No worries I will figure out a way to keep her happy and not missing out on BF at all

[irani]

Yeah she is going to be a year old this summer. We are travelling a month and a half prior that. I will leave it to my family about the cow's milk as I don't know the quality of milk we get there. Thanks @champoopapi will check it out.
Thanks a million for your wishes mum's

[irani]

I will surely update you all on my return about how it went so that anyone in similar situation can check

[ChampooPapi]

@irani yes that is too early to introduce cows milk. But you can also buy pre made formula which although is pricey as you'd only need 2 bottles a day perhaps its perfect for having in your handbag as it doesn't need to be refrigerated (unless opened and half drunk ect).

Those latex large hole Nuk teats are brilliant, honestly they are the only ones my breast fed baby will take and they are good value

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NQ65Z8C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?psc=1&ie=UTF8&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00VY5MQ84/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?psc=1&ie=UTF8&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

The small and medium holes are tiny

[irani]

Ah nice, thanks for the links. I will check them out. For now I want to stick to BF but may change after going there. Have to be prepared for all scenarios

[CountessVonBoobs]

Honestly I think expressing to cupfeed a baby of that age in a very hot environment is going to be a lot of hassle for minimal benefit. I'm not Indian so I obviously must bow to your insight, but could you just do what other mums of babies there do to feed direct? There must be workarounds that don't involve using a cover? And frequent feeding at that age is much more about emotional connection and comfort than thirst or hunger usually, so a cup or bottle often won't do, especially when mummy is right there. I successfully introduced a bottle to my EBF 5mo, but it's only used when I'm not there - when he wants to bf, he wants to bf and no substitutes accepted.

[irani]

Yes, surely there s no substitute to BF. I am just being prepared in case BF is not possible outdoors so not to have my baby crying. Not having a cover is not an option there as both my sister's are there I get to hear all the things regarding it. I am just lucky to be here in UK where there is no issues in BF in public. Most of my friends are bottle feeding, those who do BF uses slings and other ways to cover and feed the baby when outdoors. I tried feeding my baby in her baby carrier but not all the time she likes that.