Giving a bottle of expressed breast milk

[choceyes]

Hi,

My DD is 5 months now and I was wondering about giving her a bottle of expressed milk once in a while so DH can take her out once in a while. I have a 2yr old DS too who'd I'd like to spend time with alone at these times.

My experience with DS was that he never latched on, even with a lot of trying, so I fed him expressed BM till he was 11 months old.

I'm worried about giving a bottle to DD as I am paranoid that she will reject the breast if given a bottle. I know lots of people do give bottles and breast together but I'm still quite worried about it.

Has anyone got any tips, or has anyone known any babies that rejected the breast after been given a bottle?

My dd was mixed fed from birth and never had a problem interchanging between the two and always preferred boob.

TK MAxx sell breastflow bottles very cheaply (as little as £4 for 4 in sale) these are amazing for breastfed babies as babies have to compress and suck rather than just suck- so makes interchanging easier.

Also when bottle feeding my midwife said stroke the bottle down the nose til you get the big wide mouth before you pop the bottle in- this is same as you would latch them on but so they don't forget latching.

if your dd is 5 months she is unlikely to reject the breast - thats a risk when they are much younger i think. seconding breast flow bottles - lots in plymouth tk maxx and i got mine £2 from ebay if not. dd was v contrary about taking expressed bottles but did consent to a breastflow bottle once in a while. i think you are more liely to have her rejct a bottle than breast ime.

meanwhile dd and other babies im aware of will go longer than you think without you - because we smell of milk and the dp's dont - dd would reject a bottle but be ok 3/4 hours with dh on his own but just catch up on feeds when i came back at this age.

also you can think about weaning at 6 months and once thats established your dp can give snack in lieu of a feed now and then - then it gets much much easier and less tiring!

lastly, one of dd's little friends is fed combined ebm from a bottle and bf (stay at home dad and working mum) and has been for about 6 months now - he is 17 months now and its never put him off the boob :-)

We also love breastflow bottles and I introduced a bottle from about 5 months and no problems!

thanks ladies for the replies.

I bought a pump so shall see how it goes!