Advice needed on mixing breastfeeding with EBM

[greenbeanie]

Could really do with some advice on this. I am expecting dc3, now 37 weeks. I breastfed both ds's fully until over 1 year so didn't really need to express. This time I shall be returning to university when the baby is 12 weeks which will mean being away for 36 hours every week with dh looking after the baby. There is no possibility of delaying this although i know it is not ideal.

I don't think dh would cope with cup feeding whilst I am away and wondered if there are any bottles which are better than others for combining breast/bottle. I shall be taking a breastpump away with me and aiming to express as and when possible. Also do you think there will be any problems with going back to full breastfeeding when I am home as I would really miss that and resent having to use EBM all the time when I am there.

Hope that makes sense

I'm sure lots will be along with advice, so in the meantime I'll give you my experience. I knew I'd be going back to work at some point when DS was still BFing, so got him started taking a bottle when he was about 3 weeks old. We just used standard size teats and the bottle that came with my Medela Swing pump. I did try him on one of those wide-neck bottles that puports to be closer to breastfeeding, but he spluttered and was windy (even though flow was the same). Also tried the anti-colic ones which made him more colicky.

It should be no problem to fully BF when you are with the baby and in fact it would be better, as the baby will be more efficient at removing milk than the pump (and thus you'll produce more for when you are expressing). Plus it's just a nice reconnection.

good luck!

Well I've used Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature with my two with no problems at all. Word of warning though, the normal vented teats are crap. Get the anti-colic bottles - they seem like a gimmicky waste of money but unlike the others they keep flowing and don't have baby sucking for ages and getting nowhere fast.

Okay, in light of gaelicsheep's post, I'll revise my advice to say 'be prepared to try different bottles'

I've been back at work 3 days a week since DS was 6wks. I started to introduce the bottle at te=he end of 4 weeks, DH did it and we offered every other day or so, so DS didn't forget what it was. I only BF him, not had a problem switching. I wouldn't offer a bottle before 3-4 weeks, nor leave it too long after 5 weeks. I express every 2 hours at work, and use the same bottles as gaelicsheep.
HTH

I shall have to look into the closer nature bottles, it's all new to me as I didn't really use bottles before. Plus my youngest is 5yrs old so things have changed a bit in that time!

I have always mixed bottle and breast feeding and I do both from the start, I use Boots bog standard bottles and teets, but I do start with a slow flow.

breastflow bottles?
www.amazon.co.uk/RC2-BRANDS-INC-Y1132-Breastflow/dp/B000KI8XXI

I went back full time at 16 weeks so a little later, but was away 2 days before that.
Like others we introduced a bottle at 3 weeks and used the Tommee closer to nature ones, as were given these. We have intermittently used other bottles and she was OK with those too. When she took the bottle she covered it like she would a a breast.

I expressed twice a day (as practically impossible to fit in 3). At first I fed just before and I left and was more than ready to feed her when I got in. After a while, it was just the two expresses at work and feeding her according to her schedule. I would pump in the evenings as well to make sure of quantities and add slowly to my freezer stash.

At 7 months, we have never moved on a slow teat as when she was younger she was very fussy and once had a nursing strike when I was away for 12 hours. Want to make sure the bottle doesn't become too easy again.

We've had no problems since I've been back proper. Sometimes she's difficult to feed, but I remind myself she would naturally have fussy periods anyway.

For the first 6 weeks I would only pump to demand (no building up freezer stash just yet)

hth