Dimbo bottlefeeding questions

[FrannyandZooey]

Ok go slowly please. Don't really know what I am doing here. If I have a bottle of milk and he drinks some from it, how long before I have to chuck it away? I mean can he have a bit more from the same bottle a bit later on?

How do I warm it - running under the hot tap? The instructions on the pump say heat and shake it, but am I mistaken, or should you not shake breastmilk? I thought it did something funny to it.

When you sterilise the stuff in Milton's, do you rinse it afterwards?

The (mini Medela) pump packet says 'suitable with any bottle' but only actually seems to fit the narrow Medela bottle that comes with it. Can I buy more of these, or some other bottle that will fit? atm I am expressing into the Medela bottle and then transferring to a NUK bottle as I haven't got a teat for the Medela one.

NUK packet says replace teat every 1-2 months! Really? what about if only used occasionally?

How much (roughly) would you expect a 4 month old to have at one feed?

sorry, any and all answers gratefully received

it was dripping in his mouth scorpio
he couldn't seem to swallow it
most of it went down his chin i think

oh cool look at this:

If my baby doesn't finish a bottle of pumped breast milk can I save it for later? by Jan Barger, R.N., M.A., IBCLC

"...Based on this study, which admittedly needs to be done on a larger scale, it would seem to me that expressed breast milk, fed to the baby, partially consumed, and then refrigerated, could be used for one more feeding no more than four hours later. That's probably fairly conservative. One of the best tests of whether the milk is spoiled is to do what you do with cow's milk: Smell it and taste it!"

Brusseau R. Bacterial Analysis of Refrigerated Human Milk Following Infant Feeding. May 1998.

"Summary: The number of infants who are breastfed is on the rise, as is the number of women in the workforce. Many women who choose breastfeeding after returning to work, express milk during the day and store this milk for a future feeding. When infants do not finish a bottle of expressed breastmilk, doctors recommend unfinished portions be thrown away. This study examined bacterial levels in expressed, partially consumed breastmilk that was stored for 48 hours at 4-6° C. A portion of unconsumed milk was examined as a control. Samples were taken every 12 hours for bacterial analysis. Tests were performed to identify total colony counts, pathogenic Staphylococci, coliforms and b-hemolytic Streptococci. This study showed no significant difference between bottles that were partially consumed and those that were not exposed to the baby?s mouth for 5 out of 6 participants. All milk samples had colony counts in the acceptable range of < 105 colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/ml). Although this project provides evidence that it may be safe to refeed a child a bottle of breastmilk, due to the small sample size, further tests should be performed."

oh bless him! Yes he will learn, dd did at 5 months. She had had it before, but a gap from 3-5 months when she didn't. After much wrestling

Not sure how long if baby has already drunk from it. I think I used to use it for a couple of hours or so.

Milton says do not rinse (as the bottles are then not completly sterlile) But I would much prefer my baby to drink a few germs from the water then the chemicals and crap from milton (yuk).

Breastmilk is antibactirial anyway so it will kill the tiny amount of germs in the bottle from the tap water.

My DD wouldn't take a bottle for a long time, then one day (with a NUK teat funnily enough) she just took to it. She will now drink out of any bottle or cup etc.

One suggestion I was given and tried is to use a first cup (free flow one like TT first cup) which are suitable from 4 months. It takes a while but if you can do it then you can completely skip the bottle stage? Might be worth a try?

i don't think he will need the milk so much as comfort
not planning to go out for too long
ah well was worth a go

you might find he takes it better from someone else.
ds2 refused his point blank until I HAD to leave him with my mum one day and he drank an entire bottle.

Franny; you may have given up or gone out by now, but I found tommy tippee bottles great for my breastfed ds; he'd latch on just like on the boob.

And he only had a couple before starting nursery at 6 months, and was fine, so I don't think it's too late to learn. He is a very unfussy, laid back type, though.

i'll try again
i am not planning to go 0out until next week but I must admit i was hoping he would just gulp it down
the teat is a bit funny IMO, I may try a different one

thanks all for help

I use Tommee Tippee Closer to nature bottles and teats, express from the mini medula then into freezer bags if frozen or into a bottle.

Don't bother with Milton just wash and rinse bottles in hot soapy water, rinse and pour boiling water through them (I'm a microbiologist too)

DD3 will have about 5ozs in one feed same age as your DS2.

She will faff and fuss for a good 5 mins if given a bottle then will settle down and take it.

franny, someone suggested using a cup. i've tried this already and was slightly more successful than the bottle but not enough to go out without him!