Introducing breastmilk bottle to fully breastfed 8 week old - can you help clear up some questions?

[kraftwerkkittie]

Hello! planning to introduce the bottle to my breastfeeding 8 week old so that my husband can occasionally feed him and I can go out by myself for more than an hour or for a whole evening! However, I have lots of questions ? sorry so many ? can anybody help?

1. Is 8 weeks a good time to try this ? both for his age and my supply?
2. Do you need to offer the bottle every single day ? a friend told me that baby?s need continuity and if you miss out on the bottle for one day, the baby may become confused and refuse the bottle for months.
3. How long does sterilised equipment remain sterile? If my husband were to take the equipment out of the steriliser and leave it by the bedside and I didn?t use it for a couple of hours would it no longer be sterile?
4. How often in a day can/should you express? If I wanted to create a bank of milk in the freezer, but also express for the daily bottle as per question 1. I?d need to express twice a day. Is this mad? Would my baby be losing out on milk because of my expressing?
5. When do you usually express ? I hear morning is best. Do you express while feeding on the other breast or do you wait until your baby?s finished altogether? Then, do you express both boobs or just one?
6. I read in Your Baby Week By Week that frozen milk loses much of the nutrients that make breast milk better than formula ? is this true?

I dont know much about doing it once every day - thats a bit too much gina ford for me. I dont think it needs to be done every day or they forget - my dd has an expressed bottle every time I go out - probably once a month and has been fine with that.

If you have a strong let down you could collect from the other side in a shell while feeding and then feed that at the end of the day - I usually got 1-2ozs that way. I also built up milk in the freezer by expressing only when my dd didnt take both sides in one feed. I would say expressing twice a day will be knackering and loads of extra effort - I mean how often will you be going out anyway?

I dont know about the nutrients but know that mine sometimes goes soapy when I defrost it - kellymom suggests scalding it before freezing - in fact kellymom is a good site for all things expressing and bfing generally.

DP used to give DD a bottle once a week, from about 6 weeks. She never refused breast or bottle.

It did take me ages to get a decent supply in the freezer, so to begin with it was pumping pretty much daily, in the morn, and then when we had enough milk, I used to pump (and watch trash TV ) when DP was giving the bottle.

Don't know the nutrient thing, never heard of this. I would guess that it would slightly degrade (if that's the right word) in quality when frozen, but frozen BM is still far better for your baby than formula.

Hi,

I'll try to answer the ones I can!

1. If his feeding is well established and you are comfortable with everything then 8 weeks is fine to offer a bottle of ebm. (I'm presuming you're talking about ebm here and not formula - because that obviously woudl effect your supply)

2.No - DS had a bottle once in a blue moon and it didn't make a bit of difference. Just so you know though, you may not be able to feed him the bottle because lots of babies won't take a bottle when they know the real thing is nearby!

1. Once you've sterilised the bottles assemble them and leave them closed until you put the milk in them. I think they stay sterile as long as they are sealed but we used to redo ours anytime we needed one - usually because there was so long between him having a bottle anyway ! - but also because it wasn't worth the risk of him getting sick. I'm sure a few hours woudl be fine though.

4.You can express as often as you want but remember that is supply/demand so if you are expressing extra every day your milk supply will increase. I only expressed extra when I knew I was going to need it. Twice a day isn't terrible as long as you are comfortable with it. Your DS won;t lose out because you will produce more milk when you express.

1. Morning can be better for some people because they may be more full so teh milk comes easier. Sometimes expressing alongside feeding your DS can make it easier too because it helps your let down - but it depends on what type of pump you are using - might be difficult to use a hand pump and hold a baby!
2. Freezing will destroy some of the nutrients/antibodies and antioxidants but defrosted breastmilk is still MUCH more superior to formula. If you are planning to use the milk regularly (and it sounds like you are) you can just refrigerate it. Freshly expressed bm can kept in a fridge for up to 8 days if your fridge is 0-4degreesC, 3 days if your fridge is 5-10degreesC - I tended to stick to the 3 day rule even though I think our fridge was colder.

HTH!

Hi! Will try to answer your questions, based on my own experience (sorry for capitalizing, it's just to distinguish between your questions & my answers)

1. Is 8 weeks a good time to try this ? both for his age and my supply? YES, ANY LATER THAN 8 WEEKS OR SO MAY ACTUALLY MEAN THAT HE WON'T TAKE THE BOTTLE EASILY (MY DS DIDN'T TAKE THE BOTTLE EASILY AT EXACTLY 8 WEEKS, WHEN WE FIRST OFFERED IT). FOR YOUR SUPPLY, 8 WEEKS SHOULD BE FINE, I THINK.

1. Do you need to offer the bottle every single day ? a friend told me that baby?s need continuity and if you miss out on the bottle for one day, the baby may become confused and refuse the bottle for months. WELL ON PRINCIPLE THAT MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA, BUT IN REALITY YOU CAN OFFER IT ONCE IN A WHILE- JUST TRY TO DO IT OFTEN ENOUGH SO THAT HE WON'T FORGET. AT SOME POINT WE KEPT FORGETTING TO GIVE THE BOTTLE, 3 WEEKS PASSED, & THEN MY DS WOULDN'T TAKE THE BOTTLE FOR 3 WEEKS AFTER THAT! SO JUST KEEP OFFERING IT OFTEN ENOUGH, E.G. A FEW TIMES A WEEK.

1. How long does sterilised equipment remain sterile? If my husband were to take the equipment out of the steriliser and leave it by the bedside and I didn?t use it for a couple of hours would it no longer be sterile? WELL I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE 'OFFICIAL' ANSWER IS TO THIS, SINCE I'M A BIT OF A LAZY PERSON, BUT WE USED BOTTLES AFTER STERILIZING THEM IN THE MORNING, & IT COLD BE ANYTHING FROM IMMEDIATELY (ON MORNINGS WHEN I WOULD GO OUT) OR AT NIGHT. JUST MAKE SURE YOU LET THEM DRY ON A CLEAN SURFACE AFTER STERILIZING. ALSO REMEMBER THAT IF YOU'RE USING EBM, THERE'S LESS OF A NEED TO BE ABSOLUTELY METICULOUS ABOUT STERILIZING, SINCE EBM HAS ALL THOSE ANTIBODIES ETC.

1. How often in a day can/should you express? If I wanted to create a bank of milk in the freezer, but also express for the daily bottle as per question 1. I?d need to express twice a day. Is this mad? Would my baby be losing out on milk because of my expressing? AS MUCH AS YOU CAN (IT CAN GET BORING & TIRING), SO FOR EXAMPLE TWICE A DAY? E.G. SOMETIME IN THE MORNING, AND ALSO ONCE AT 9.30 PM AT NIGHT, BEFORE THE 'SKIPPED' FEED. HOWEVER, REMEMBER THAT CREATING A MILK BANK IN THE FREEZER IS NOT THAT MUCH USE SINCE MILK CHANGES AS THE BABY GROWS, SO YOU NEED TO USE IT PRETTY SOON. IT'S STILL BENEFICIAL TO HAVE A SMALL MILK BANK, BUT I WARN YOU, IT'S NOT THAT EASY TO CREATE (AT LEAST IF YOUR SUPPLY IS LIKE MINE, I.E. ADEQUATE BUT NOT GREAT). WHY DON'T YOU CALL A BF HELPLINE FOR FURTHER ADVICE ON THIS?

1. When do you usually express ? I hear morning is best. Do you express while feeding on the other breast or do you wait until your baby?s finished altogether? Then, do you express both boobs or just one? I EXPRESS AT NIGHT (9 PM, BEFORE SKIPPED FEED) & OFTEN FIRST THING IN THE MORNING FROM ONE BREAST, & THEN BABY EATS FROM THE OTHER. YOU HAVE TO FIND YOUR OWN PATTERN THOUGH, EACH WOMAN IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT IN WHEN THEY CAN EXPRESS MORE.

1. I read in Your Baby Week By Week that frozen milk loses much of the nutrients that make breast milk better than formula ? is this true? NOT SURE!

Thanks for advice so far. I've taken a look at the kellymom site and it's great. Especially relieved to think that I won't necessarily have to express every day to ensure that baby sticks to bottle as I kind of don't like doing it! Not sure why...

In response to bubbleymummy, yep, I'm planning to give him expressed breast milk in the bottle, not formula. As for sterilising equipment, i'm mostly thinking about the bits of the pump. I have an electric pump, just sterilise the tubey bits and the bottle that it pours into... Not sure how long I can leave it out before it stops being sterile. If i can get my hubby to sort it out and drop it by the bed when he's leaving and then get up in a couple of hours and use it (lazy me!) that would be brilliant, but don't want to endanger the LO.

Any further advice from anyone still appreciated!

kraftwerkkittie - there are other threads on how sterilising isnt seen as that important anymore anyway - I definately left the pump out for a couple of hours and it has been fine.

Eek! Please don;t say sterlising isn't important. I have just been to a conference discussing the promotion of safer bottle feeding because so many people are overlooking the basic recommendations and babies are getting very sick. Please don't ignore the guidelines - it really is not worth the risk!

1. The later you leave it the better, but 8 weeks should be okay. Bottle feeding has to be learnt by both the feeder and baby so the secret of success is practice. Once you have chosen bottle and teat don't faff around changing it all he time, just persist.

2)Nope. You breast are very clever. It'll work out, but try to express to compensate for any missed bfs.

3)You don't need to sterelise at all. You need clean milk-residue-fee bottles. Sterelising can give you peace of mind but clean is really all you need to aim for.

4)It's up to you really and every woman is different anyway. Express to compensate for the missed feed. Your boobs will adjust to whatever pattern works for you.

5)Whatever works for you. A lot of people express in the mornings after the first feed. If your lo is happy to only take noe side so you can express the other (either at the same time or just after you might find this works best. Evening often produces less milk, but as I said everyone is different you'll have to experiment.

6)Absolute nonsense. Do you have the article. I want to complain.

Hi, I know not all babies need to be given a bottle every day in case they forget how to take one or decide they don't like it but it might be an idea to keep a daily bottle up for a least a few weeks or until you are sure it's as established as the breastfeeding IYSWIM. My daughter was delighted with her first few bottles (at 7 weeks) but I was lazy, hardly ever gave her one and she soon stopped taking one at all. In fact, she never took one again after those first few, not even after I stopped BFing at 14 months. If I get a next time, I will be much more diligent about expressing if I decide to give bottles. Or alternatively not bother at all. I can't quite decide which. Laziness will probably make the choice for me!

Yes I agree Horton - 'next time' I will be more vigilant about giving bottles regularly as my daughter who is now 4 months, has got wise to my hopes of leaving her with my boyf for an evening and just has a chew or gags on it when offered. Oh dear!

Oh dear, anna. Hope she changes her mind soon! Actually, once I'd got my head round it, I didn't mind not being able to leave my daughter as much as I thought I might.

As soon as something touches air or anything else its no longer sterile.

The advice I had when donating to a milk bank was that I should wash the pump parts really well in hot soapy water and then dry them straight away with a fresh piece of kitchen role. Then just put them away until the next use so long as that wouldn't be so long they'd be covered in dust!

Hygine is important - but things don't always need to be completely sterile.