Bottle feeding questions - first time mam

[Kathryn160417]

Hi,

My daughter is 2 weeks old and I was breastfeeding but a few days ago, I decided to stop due to it being too painful.

My daughter had been having bottles when I was breastfeeding as I sometimes gave her top ups, so now that I am just bottle feeding, it's nothing new to her.

Sometimes she can feed really slowly (can take 2 hours to have 3oz) it can be a case that she is only sucking and not feeding, but you can see she's hungry when you take the bottle away. Other times she will absolute knack the bottle straight away. I just wondering if this is normal or if I'm possibly doing something wrong? Can the teats be too big for her or anything like that (i have the tommee tippee bottles)? I feel silly asking what some people might think are obvious questions, but I am a first time mam and I tend to over worry about things!

Thanks

It sounds like sometimes she's sucking for comfort, which is totally normal. Have you tried a dummy?

Yeah we use a dummy too cause that's also what we thought. When it does look like she is sucking for comfort we try to swap the bottle with the dummy, but she spits the dummy back out and wants the bottle

Congratulations!!

I really don't want to be the 'but breastfeeding!' person, but just in case you didn't know, first time mum etc - the pain was probably due to incorrect latch. If you get help from a peer supporter or lactation consultant (through your health visitor), you can likely continue breastfeeding, cutting out all the formula making hassle and associated increased health risks.

That's IF you want to. Just thought it was worth mentioning, in case you'd stopped because of pain rather than because you wanted to stop, iyswim.
But if you do want to bottle feed I'm sure someone will be along with some good advice

Congratulations. They have such tiny tummys at this stage, so it will be a small amount initially. A bottle when made up will keep for 2 hours, but just make up 60ml at a time. 60ml bottles were all we made up in the beginning too.

Both my children were mixed fed, and were completely bottle at 2 mo this and 5 months- you have to do what works best for you.

Good luck

Tommee tippee worked well for us- make sure you have the smallest teet flow (the one supplied with the bottle). The teets do look large, but so are nipples!

Don't let yourself get guilt ed into continuing with breastfeeding if you are happy formula feeding. The 'health risks' mentioned are very, very small. The most important thing is that you are feeding in a way which you feel you can sustain and be happy with.

Have you checked that there are no tiny lumps of formula lodged in the teat? Sometimes you can barely see them and you need to squeeze them out. She'll look like she's sucking but not really swallowing - you know that little pause they do as they swallow? That will be missing, and she'll just be sucking. It happens to DS sometimes.

Also, sometimes the teats seal up. You can avoid this by squeezing water through them forcefully every time you clean them, so that it squirts out.

If you want to check for either lumps in formula or sealed teats, just turn a bottle of
milk upside down and give it a shake. You should get a few drops coming out easily, unless it's blocked.

I was gonna suggest go for medium flow teats (size2) if it's taking ages for her to finish a feed. The midwife told me to use them from day one as a bigger hole the milk comes out with less effort so they don't tire themselves out sucking so hard.