Hi,
Apologies if this has been covered - I did search but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.
I'm a ftm to a 2 week old girl. She's ebf and it's been going extremely well. I'm very lucky and am enjoying breastfeeding. She's fed on demand and follows a typical routine (or non-routine!), sometimes cluster feeding, sometimes a long feed then a sleep for 3 hours. I feel that we've established bf and her weight gain has been excellent (born at 7lb 9, up to 7lb 14 by day 10. Not been weighed since but I can tell she's gaining and lots of dirty nappies).
I'd like to introduce a bottle as I need to do some Kit days in July and my husband will be looking after her. I'd like to pump and give 1 bottle per day to get her used to a bottle and to give me some flexibility and peace of mind that she'll take one.
Some questions :
1.) Is it too early? I've read so much advice and anecdotes on this. Do I wait and risk she won't take one or start now and risk messing up the bf?
2.) When is the best time to pump? I'm thinking of giving the bottle in the evening but open to suggestions. I know babies can be reluctant to take it from mum so imagining my husband will do it when he's home. Should I pump during the missed feed or in the morning when I'm more full?
3.) How much should I pump? Obviously I've no idea how much she takes in a feed. I don't want to over pump, stimulate more milk and become engorged.
4.) Can I pour the pumped milk straight into the sterilised bottle I'll be using to feed with if I'll be giving it the same day? (Stored in fridge if over 6 hours).
Any experience on this or advice would be great. I'm not looking to exclusively pump and I'm not returning to work full time until she's 8 months. My HV says by then, feeding around nursery might be enough so I won't necessarily have to pump for nursery? But I'd still like to know she can take a bottle just in case.
Thank you!