Why does 6 week old find bottle much easier than breast?

[Ostrichone]

My second daughter is 6 weeks now and I've ended up expressing 5 out of 6 feeds a day. She spends a long time breast feeding and never gets full. Bottle feeding she is fast and then settles much more quickly. Latch seems fine and neither of us is in pain. Fed first daughter fine til 6 months. My MIL says the baby is lazy!

It's been a while, but it could be that the 'let down' of the breast is a little slow. With bottle, the milk is just there immediately, and they don't have to work for it. MIL's comment is a little insensitive, but could be approaching the truth! Why should she work at the breast if there's a bottle coming?! DD was just the same. My let down was slow (particularly if she was screaming in the middle of the night!) and she would work herself up so much.

Let's hope someone in the know comes along!

Your baby is not lazy, it is just much easier for them to take from a bottle than from a breast.

Why do you express most of the feeds? (speaks as someone who takes 45 minutes to get a few ounces out - I am in awe!!!)

I suppose getting milk out of a bottle is easy and requires no real effort from the baby. They can quickly get a lot of milk out in a short space of time and hence are zonked out - like eating a three course meal, I suppose.

BF requires more effort from the baby so it's little and often. I honestly believe that the Western concept of scheduled feeds e.g 6 over a 24 hour period does not always work for breastfeeding and your DD is perfectly normal and not lazy. I think once they reach 3 months or so, they become stronger and more efficient and can get more milk out and go longer between feeds.

Yes, I didn't mean to say your baby was 'lazy', just that she doesn't have to work for the bottled milk.

My mum said a similar thing about babies being lazy. I think that generation must have been told that. Babies can take a while to become full on the breast and have to work at it, which is why they have a natural suckling reflex. It may be that she is frustrated as the milk doesn't flow immediately, as with a bottle.

Your baby is possible display nipple confusion, this is really badly named as it's not a confusion of the nipple but more as others have discribed bottle preferance. The flow from a bottle is much faster then from the breast. They don't have to work at it. Babies can then start refussing the breast altogether as why should they have to work for it when you will give a fast flowing bottle.

It's the main reasion why it's not recomended to introde bottles in the first 4-6week's when BF.

I'd also expect a BF baby at this age to be taking at lest 8-10 feeds a day, as they do take less but feed more offten. (Although that's just a guide some)

It's normal to spend a long time breastfeeding at that age. You run the risk of your baby having severe bottle preference if you don't start cutting out some of the bottles, which may mean you have to express full time. I would start phasing out the bottles unless you have a desperate need to keep them (i.e. returning to work early).