Nipple confusion

[Somersetlady]

Hello all

i would be interested to hear from anyone who has experienced issues with nipple confusion when introducing an expressed bottle to feeding.

I'd also love to hear from people who have had no issues and how they stated off. Which feed etc

I have a 9 day old and want to give my poor nipples a but of a break!

Many thanks

When you say you want to give your nipples a break is that because you're sore/uncomfortable?

If so have you seen someone to check latch etc?

DC1 was exclusively bf and we then had problems trying to introduce the bottle later (3-6mo). In fact it wasn't really until 9mo that we cracked it.

With DC2 we started one bottle a day (usually the 9/10pm feed) from around 6 days old and experienced no nipple confusion. I still bf to 15mo. It made life all-round much easier as I was able to have breaks away from DC2 when needed. I could go and get an early night or have a bath whilst DH did the feed. I even went away for a couple of nights, came back and picked up bf where we left off (I had to pump and dump of course).

I have friends who have done similar with no problems. We are all committed bfeeders who just needed the odd break (in my case I think it helped me to escape PND a second time).

In case you haven't heard of them, Medela nipple shields are brilliant, and got me through the early days with DC1.

Hi Somer, I think it's perfectly normal to be experiencing some discomfort this early on simply because it's an entirely new sensation.

I gave DC a bottle of EBM from a few days old so I could sleep during the day, never a particular feed just whenever I didn't feel up to it and it never effected his ability to bf!

HTH

If you look on YouTube there is a video on paced feeding which shows you how to bottle feed a breast fed baby in a more natural way. I think the link is on Kellymom or you can just do a search. It talks about keeping your baby upright, getting baby to take the teat into its mouth by stimulating mouth, and allowing baby to go at its own pace.

Normonal and the cat thank you thats exactly what i needed to hear. Will try it and start slowly!

Sleepytea i will go and look that up now!

Dolphin yes thank you latch is fine hes just a very hungry boy who feeds a lot which I'm grateful for as all seems to be working well.

I want to be able to express out of choice and for norm. On another thred when i asked how early to express the subject of nipple confusion arose. Whilst very worthy I will not be sane if i tie myself to my child feeling this bovine for six whole months!

That's fair enough :-D was just worried you were in pain as btdt too many times myself!