Can anyone talk to me about cup feeding?

[Bumperlicious]

Dd2 is 4 weeks on Tuesday. I'm thinking about expressing soon as I'm knackered & today had mini meltdown due to lack of sleep & constant feeding.

Thing is dd's latch still isn't great & was trying to avoid bottles at least for now. Dh is up for cup feeding but no idea where to start. Any advice?

Bump

Be warned - it's slow and can be messy.

We used to just tip the cup to his lips and let him sort of lap at it - eventually we got a medela softcup which made life easier (ds1 had bottle aversion).

I would just try it and see - just make sure you don't tip the cup too much or she will choke and splutter and waste all that precious ebm...

swaddle her before feeding

Wow the soft cup is expensive. is it worth it?

Should we just risk the bottle? i've got some of the closer to nature ones.

BUY NOTHING

ask your mw/phone the postnatal ward and ask for a couple

they are meant to be single use but i used them for about 6 weeks

a couple of feeding cups that is

Really? do you think they'll give me some?

TBH we bought it when we were so at our wit's end about feeding ds that we tried anything we could find - about a hundred types of bottles, cups, supplemental feeders, every formula on the market....the softcup was just a drop in the ocean of money we spent trying to get bf established!

I'm always when people say bf is cheap....

Having said that, it worked and so was absolutely worth it - almost nothing did.

I would probably just start out with an ordinary cup and see how you get on, before going out and spending vast amounts.

they gave them to me

if you are on good terms with your old mw ask her to nick a couple for you

having said that

i also consulted a lactation consultant (long tedious story) who said that actually i could have just used a bottle as the whole nipple confusion thing is in the main bollocks

this after 6 weeks of cup feeding

har de har har

anyway, don't pay for fancy schmancy cups, or just use bottles, it is (probably) ok

We brought home feeding cups from the hospital with us. Only advice would be to wind frequency as hey take on quite a bit of air when lapping at the cup.

Also second the swaddling, it only takes one loose arm. We were taught to sit him on our laps facing us and then hold at a 45 degree angle with a hand supporting his neck. But he was only a few days old...

Oh ib our 'nursing chair' is testament to that first time round!

I think its not so much the nipple confusion that bothers me but the flow. im sure reliance on bottles caused problems with dd1 refusing the breast periodically, she got used to necking bottles of ebm.

You can use anything for a cup feed

If you have bottles, use the lid for example and let your DD lap the milk

kellymom has some good info

I too got some from hospital, and asked a nice HCA to nab me some more. I sterilised them too, was also scared of using bottles in case of nipple confusion. DS lapped up the milk easily. Would second winding them regularly during feed. Also use muslin around the neck as if they dribble it out it goes into all nooks and crannies. And be patient, dont try and feed if you are in a rush!

There is a good cup feeding video on Dr Jack Newman's site (sorry can't link, typing on my phone). We used cups from the hospital to begin with, then got a Doidy cup (stopped leakage from mouth corners) then moved onto Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottles at around 5 weeks. HTH x