How soon to use breast pump?

[zootime]

I am a gran writing on behalf of my daughter. She is successfully breast feeding (I'm very proud of her)and baby is now 6 weeks old. She intends to carry on but he is very colicky,has trouble getting up the wind, and she thinks that if she uses a breast pump and feeds from the little bottles he might have less wind. She intends to tailor this somewhat for her convenience also, so that she can go out and not have to feed, as some of her bottle feeding friends do.
I sort of thought he was a bit young really?

I breast fed her and although it was obviously years ago, I would have thought that if I didn't feed I would dry up, i.e. it sounds like early stages of weaning.

I am not saying anything as she is old enough to do her own thing, but I think she would be very disappointed if it all went wrong.

Can anyone tell me anything about this please, and is he too young to start 'messing about' with his feeds?

Also any advice for the colic!!
Thanks in advance
gran

well expressing then bottlfeeding is a lot of work for her [i am doing it at the mo] and it does run the risk that the baby will get used to the bottle and go off the breast [also happening to me]
I would suggest she rings LLL or NCT breastfeeding counsellors to ask about the colic, it may be the latch or something, first. If you google them the national numbers will come up and then you get put through to a volunteer in your area. Good luck.

I think bottles gave my son more wind than b'feeding to be honest.

I expressed and breastfed a lot in the early weeks, as my son was in special care and he needed to catch up on weight fast. To be honest, I have always had quite a bit of milk and I put that down to expressing in the first few weeks. But I have read contradictory information elsewhere.

I'm not being much help here but I disagree with the bottles = less wind. I also think your daughter will have to express a lot to ensure that her milk doesn't diminish over time. But expressing on top of b'feeding should allow her to store some up so she has more freedom to go out and for others to feed babe.

if she intends to give a bottle in the long run, then i would offer the bottle. i breast fed my dd and at 10 wks she refused a bottle. i had no choice to bf till she was 10 mths, which i didn't mind but obviously going out and having a drink was problem! Now my son is 14 wks and from the start i was adamant I didn't want this to happen again! So I expressed at two wks and offered formula. I have been giving my ds formula in the day and bf in the morning and at night. Even the health visitor said he was 'getting the best of both worlds' (I don't feel so guilty now!) the problem now is though my supply is dwindling! So recently he has been taking more bottle but it suits me fine.

There is nothing to suggest bottles will reduce colic. However expressing is a niceway of getting a break.It won't affect supply if she still feedsas normaland doesn;t give too many.

I'd try a bottle soon or he may refuse it.

I'd suggest she gets professional advice on the positioning and attachemnt first from a qualified Breastfeedign Counsellor who can observe a feed, as a simple adjustment might cause less wind. Bottles may not help in that respect and lots of babies are more unsettled around this age, however fed.

my midwife suggested that b/fing needed to be 'established' - whatever that means, before expressing...

But I started giving DS expressed milk when he was about 8 weeks. No problems, although he did feed v v quickly. Changed teats to 'slow' and this made a huge difference.

From experience, I'd say avoid the bottles. My son had one bottle of expressed milk and decided he preferred the bottle. He was a complete pain to BF after that. Fussing, crying, refusing to latch on and filling himself up with wind. He became such a pain that i'd get stressed out with him messing up the letdown process and DH would take him away and give him a bottle.

Our local BF clinic wasn't much help as he was nearly 6 months and they only help mums in the first 6 months so suggested after repeat visits that I wean him. Not very helpful.

As a PP suggested, your daughter would be better to attend a breastfeeding clinic or talk to someone from the la leche league as there may a problem with the way baby is latching on or feeding that could easily be fixed without resorting to bottles

Dentinox works well for colic and unlike infacol doesn't have to be given before every feed. It can be given when colic develops.

Carrying LO upright, tummy to tummy in a soft baby sling would also help to bring the wind up naturally.

Tummy time across someones knees or on a soft blanket on the floor also can help

Thank you so much for all the replies. My daughter will come on here in the morning to tell you herself how she's getting on!

Hi its the daughter here,
Its going brilliant baby is having last night and first morning feed off me and bottle by day he hasnst rejected me at all. one of the main reasons for going on the bottle is that baby had terrible wind to the point even when asleep he would wake screaming do a burp and sleep again but he never used to go more than an hour at the most without this happining. he now sleeps for two to three hours sound... the reason for the wind is it used to come out of me in such a fast manor that baby was gulping it down and taking in wind the only nice way to feed him was laying down so we were side by side eg nightime ( cant really do that in tesco's lol) also he was greedy using me as a dummy he would feed 4 times in the morning thus he gave himself belly ache he needs to learn he can have cuddles and feel safe without suckling, now its just 2, one of me, one of the bottle. There are so many reasons as to why i do both, another being the father can get more envolved aspecially as he isnt the baby's real father just adopting him so gives them time to bond to. Baby never had any problems latching on or feeding if he had i would of thought twice about doing this... i will warn you though its a alot of extra work us breast feeding mums do have it easy in that respect ( no bottles to clean ). One more thing, i write a diary with times he woke, slept, Screaming fits, fed and how much.. its brill now i can see a pattern emerging and it reminds me when ive expressed and when to do it again ( which is at the moment morning, lunch, tea time. )

I'd just like to point out that you just said your baby is using you for a fake breast. Dummy is short for "dummy tit" (as much as I hate the phrase) and is given because people think babies shouldn't be on the breast if they're not breastfeeding. Whereas it's actually an important part of supply. It's the note to the milk man, "more milk tomorrow".

But that's just technicalities, you need to do whatever works for you.

This may be completely redundant but a friend of mine recently got an Ambicrib as her baby had terrible wind and would do much the same as you've described here- screaming and what not to just pass it. She swears by it and has never had a problem since. Look them up on the net- it's like a hammock and is fantastic. It just holds them in a cradled position which helps with reflux and everything. Might be an idea??

I had the same problem- my milk would be spraying across the room at feed times so the boy got terrible colic from gulping. To ease this I expressed a little before each feed and just took the top of, as it were! He grew out of it but it was hard getting there. Sounds like your one's getting on well though and you are doing what feels right for both of you so carry on!

I give my ds4 a bottle of EBM every 2 days and have done sionce he was 4 weeks old. It doesn't reduce supply beacuse evey time he has a bottle, I express the same amount that he took and give it to him the next time.
IMO I don't think bottles help with wind and most baby bottle manufacturers who design an "anti-colic" bottle seem to be trying to copy the design of the breast so I reckon I'm right!

Bottles can cause more wind than breast. It might help to apply some slight pressure above the nipple at te start of the feed to slow the let-down. Once your flow has slowed you can let go (so as not to cause a blocked duct).
It doesn't matter that you are giving EBM by bottle if that's what works. The most important thing is that your baby gets BM. Well done on getting this far