Breast and bottle...

[lovemybabydoll]

hi there, I am bf for 20hours a day and giving 200ml bottle for the remaining time. This is to give me a little break from my 1 month old DS. Can this cause tummy upset? Any advice will be appreciated? Thanks...

Formula milk is harder to digest than breastmilk so if he's got an upset stomach then that may be the cause. Have you considered expressing so that you can have your break? There's a lot of good info about pumping and storing milk here.

The effect of formula on dc was the most awful nappy rash. We're now ebf and have no nappy rash, his poo changed to yellow curds in a clear whey.

200 ml bottle is a big bottle for a month old....not sure what you mean by bf for 20 hours a day.

can you share more info?

Hi, not 200ml in one go. I mean he takes 100ml bottle AM and one 100ml evening. No nappy rash (thank god).
With my first child, I ebf for 10 mnths and when we switched to bottle, it was extremely difficult. It's not essential to give bottle I know but it isn't a bad thing for him to be familiar with a bottle for the switch over. I do not intend to bf longer than 10 mnths.
I do not get on well with expressing, most painful for me :(

Thanks for clarifying :)

Babies of 10 months old don't need bottles - they can have cups.

In fact babies can be helped to use cups from just a few months old.

Hope you don't mind me being frank, but I would think it's a bit crazy to start teaching a 10 mth ebf baby to use a bottle.....!! It's not worth it.

If you are trying to get your baby to be prepared for getting milk in some other way, there's no real need to start as early as this.

He's 1 month old though, and between 3 and 8 weeks is the best time to introduce a bottle if you intend to express or mix feed.

Does he have a tummy upset, or are you just worried that he may get one? IME, I don't know any mix fed babies that have had tummy troubles from a small amount of formula, unless they have had a milk intolerence.

I hope you don't mean you're BF constantly for 20 hours a day - that would drive anybody crazy! If so, you should see a BF counsellor as it sounds like comfort sucking.

Hi, I am worried he may get an upset tummy.
I meant I bf every 2-3hours for the rest of the time.
Why would I give cups at 10mnths old? I prefer to let my baby sleep cuddling up with a bottle at nights. There is plenty of time to teach him to use a cup to drink water.
Please be Frank, it's ok. I will always decide for myself in the end but like to consult here so that I make an informed decision.

Babies can cuddle up with a cup, too....I suppose all this is a matter of pure preference :) If teaching to use a bottle is a struggle (and you said it was 'extremely difficult), then I don't see the point, really, when a cup is absolutely fine.

But that's my preference I suppose, for an easier life :)

OK, so you have a baby who is 4 weeks old, you're mostly breastfeeding and you are giving two bottles a day to get a break. Is that right? You can't express comfortably, so it's not an option to give breastmilk in a bottle?

The benefits of this are that you are getting the break you want. The risks are that introducing formula can impact on you baby's health by removing the protective coating on the gut which comes from breastmilk, which allows pathogens to pass into the body and makes your baby more likely to suffer from illnesses such as gastroenteritis. Formula at this age can trigger allergies either because of the cow's milk in the formula, or because other allergens are being allowed to cross the gut because the breastmilk protection is stripped away.

These are are "risks", not "certainties". Equally your baby could be absolutely fine with some formula.

Kellymom goes into more detail:

www.kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/infant-formula.html