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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

B/Feeding, when can I start offering expressed milk

20 replies

kbaby · 06/06/2004 20:08

Hi,
I have a 10 day old baby and am breastfeeding. I would like to start giving a bottle of expressed milk, however my midwife has advised not to until a few months old due to nipple confusion. Does anyone have any advice? ideally I would like to give 1 bottle a day so that DP can help with the night feed. Also if bf can i use a dummy or will this also confuse the baby.
Thanks

OP posts:

gloworm · 06/06/2004 20:13

with ds, we waited until almost 4 mths and it took a full week for him to accept a bottle.

for various reasons, with dd, we went against advise and gave her a bottle at 3weeks...she took it straight away, no confusion, and still was ok on breast.

i guess at the end of the day all babies are different.

Metrobaby · 06/06/2004 20:28

With my dd we tried her on the bottle around 5 months. Nightmare! It took her a while to get her to accept it. With ds I didn't want to go through the same trauma again so dh gives him a bottle of expressed milk approx 3 times a week (he is 6 wks old now, and we started when he was 3 weeks old). I don't think it has interfered with my bf so far, and he seems to accept the bottle quite happily ....

cuppy · 06/06/2004 20:54

HI Kbaby,

Thought this might interest you.

On This Morning a few weeks ago , there was a bit about b/f and there was a midwife ( though I cant remember her name!) who was giving advise on how to b/f correctly.

She actually said that for some reason Midwives are saying that giving a bottle can cause confusion for the baby. But that the Royal College of Midwives says that there is no evidence of this so she cant understand why they say this.

I gave dd bottle at 3 weeks and she had no probs.

HTH

prufrock · 06/06/2004 20:56

Ignore your midwife.
Babies can tell the difference, but will accept milk from whatever source if they are hungry. dd had her first bottle at 3weeks, and ds got his at 8 days IIRC.
But I did see Mears post a good point recently about not using bottles if bf is not going well, as if the baby is finding it difficult to get milk out of your breasts he will prefer the bottle. So make sure you have your latch etc sorted before you atart the bottles. And use the slo-flow ones (avent one hole) so he has to work as hard at the bottle as he does at your breast

twiglett · 06/06/2004 21:05

message withdrawn

Ghosty · 06/06/2004 21:06

We gave DD a bottle of EBM at about 6 weeks (I think, can't really remember exactly) with no probs ...
We did that once a week for a few weeks and that was fine with now nipple confusion.
Then we didn't for a few weeks because I couldn't be bothered ... and then at 16 weeks we tried again and DD hated it ... which was a pain as I am beginning to need to go out without her now for work (I can pick and choose my hours but I do have to work).
It was a bit of a problem and once I had to go out and she refused the bottle point blank. I came home to find her in an exhausted sleep still sobbing in her sleep . She woke when she heard my voice and had a b/f like she had been starved!
We had a result when I tried a different type of teat (a german make called NUK that is shaped more like a nipple - we had been using Avent) and she has no problems now ... she has a bottle every couple of days.

Um ... a dummy won't affect your milk ... We gave DD a dummy at 3 weeks and have had no problems ...

Ghosty · 06/06/2004 21:07

Sorry, second line should say "NO nipple confusion" not 'now'

Fennel · 06/06/2004 21:10

I was advised to get them used to it before 6 weeks as they can get very fussy after that. mine had a bottle of EBM a day from a couple of weeks old (once breastfeeding was going well) and it did mean we never had the awful problems of getting them onto a bottle which so many people have if you wait a few months. I would really recommend doing it soon and keeping it up regularly. It never interfered with the bf for me, in fact I think it made me bf longer with each baby as I wasn't so tied to the baby.

JulieF · 06/06/2004 22:10

I had planned to introduce a bottle after 2 weeks. However ds refused to latch on so we cup fed until 5 weeks. Once he had the hang of breastfeeding we introduced a bottle around 7 weeks and things were fine.

Expressing isn't always as effective as the baby feeding from the breast so it is advised not to express more than once a day for at least the first 6-8 weeks, unless you are expressing as well as feeding rather than replacing a feed.

mears · 06/06/2004 22:50

kbaby - as prufrock quoted I would advise not introducing a bottle until you are sure baby knows how to breastfeed well. Now for some babies that can be in a matter of days and for others it can be weeks. As a rule of thumb it can take 3 weeks to get breastfeeding properly established so probably best to wait until then to give a bottle/dummy. However, that does not really stop you expressing. Whatever you get you can freeze for later use. Be careful though because over expressing can lead to excessive milk production.
When you introduce a dummy you also have to be sure you are not denying baby time at the breast. The more a baby feeds, the more milk you make. If you introduce a dummy too soon it can impact on your milk supply.
Only you know how your feeding is going and when to offer it. I personally never routinely introduced a daily bottle but had no problems giving one when I went to work. They are all such different little creatures

tiktok · 06/06/2004 23:36

Prufrock, you say babies will accept milk from whatever source if they are hungry...well, some babies do, some babies don't. Some babies don't understand that a bottle of milk will appease their hunger. Some babies go a long, long time refusing a bottle....read some of the experiences on mumsnet and you will see no one can be dogmatic about this

clary · 07/06/2004 00:38

With DS1 I (well, DH, which also helps, ie if it's not you) gave a bottle of EBM at 2.5 wks and it was fine. I was going back to work at 4mo so needed to give him the idea. Similarly with DD or maybe a bit later and it was always fine, no probs with bf either. Went on feeding both until they were a year old (only at night in the end) and no confusion that I could see. Mears is right of course that you need to be sure bf is well-established but that is for you to know.

Original poster

kbaby · 08/06/2004 19:13

Thanks everyone, Ill probably wait until 3 weeks old and then give it a go.

OP posts:

webmum · 09/06/2004 13:30

I had to express milk after a few days because of very sore breasts, and we did a bit of mixed feeding (because expressing and feeding was taking up all the day) for a couple of weeks, after which I reverted to exclusive b/feeding without any problems whatsover, dd then had the occasional bottle again from around 10 weeks.

Blu · 09/06/2004 13:54

Also, Kbaby, once you are all settled and feeling totally confident with b/feeding (maybe already)have you tried feeding lying down? I used to put DS next to me and drift in and out of sleep as he fed, and we'd both fall back to sleep. Good if you're happy with the idea of co-sleeping.

Bozza · 09/06/2004 21:44

With DS didn't try to offer a bottle until 3 months when I was going back to work and it was a nightmare getting him to take it. With DD I gave first bottle of expressed milk at 2.5 weeks because I went on a hen night (well part of one - just the meal) when she was 3 weeks - last Saturday - so Weds to Sat I gave her one everyday. Since then I have cut back to one every other day. But breast feeding is going well for us.

slug · 10/06/2004 11:13

The sluglet had expressed milk from day one as she was in SCBU. As long as it was food going in she wasn't too fussy about the source.

There are many advantages to having your baby take a bottle, not the least being letting daddy feed the wee one while you get a rest.

Vmama · 24/03/2007 17:48

I am the example which disproves all the advice -I was having problems breastfeeding from day one and DH started to give him a bottle of expresssed milk after about 2 weeks. Rather than causing confusion it actually seemed to help him latch on -he was really struggling before that.

Now we are 5 weeks in and that one bottle is a godsend as it means I can get 4-5 hours sleep in a stretch.
We got the TT closer to nature bottles first but switched to DR Brown's because of colic.

I do think the dummy we gave him occasionally confuses him tho as he seems to forget how to latch on after having it -have only given it him 3 times and trying not to give it at all now.

nickytwotimes · 24/03/2007 17:51

i expressed from 2 weeks with no big probs
in fact, it meant i could have a break so did me and supply good

Lizzzombie · 25/03/2007 10:15

I expressed after 4 weeks. MW advised not to do it before this as not due to nipple confusion, but more due to how it may upset your natural milk production and you will start producing more than you need. Stick with it. I found the first couple of weeks really hard and really wanted to express. As soon as he hit 4 weeks I did it, and he guzzled it down no probs with nipple confusion at all. But I think you are supposed to try it before 3 months, as they have a tendancy to refuse a teat after this age. Good luck! x

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