Is it possible to bottle feed a newborn and switch to the breast when milk comes in?

[npg1]

I am just wondering out of curiosity.

I know when DD2 was a newborn for the first couple of days until my milk came in I gave her top up of formula as all she did was cry.

Would it work if you gave baby formula but still offered the breast until your milk came in?

I guess so, because your milk still comes in even if you only ff. But why would you want to do that and why would you need to? I understood that colostrum, the first milk is perfectly adequate for a newborn

But isn't milk production stimulated by the newborn suckling? I'd hazard a guess that milk production and supply would be scuppered by ff then swapping. Best not to risk it I think if you want to breastfeed.

llareggub you are right, the more you feed, the better your supply will be. I cannot understand why you would need to ff if you are exclusively bf (except perhaps in exceptional circumstances)

Ok thanks, it was only that I was wondering as I remember the first few days at home before my milk came in with DD2 was awful as I thought she was hungry all the time and wasnt satisfied with the breast.

Yes colostrum is adequate for a newborn.

I wanted to know if oyur milk come in no matter what or if some people dont get the 'milkman' come as some of my friends think their milk never came in.

Thanks though humpty and dont want to offend anyone by this, just trying to learn as much as I can about bFeeding!

A question, even before your milk has come in does that effect your supply, obviously I know during the growth spurts the more you feed the more milk you make but how can that be at the beginning when there is only colostrum there?

Sorry and yes I thought milk production was stimulated by newborn suckling but how do people who havent bf still get their milk come in?

no problem npg1, I don't know all the technicalities of it, but I guess that the more you feed, the better your supply will be. Also the more you feed, the quicker you will get the hang of it etc...
I'm not sure about the "milkman coming" , I thought it comes in for everyone, but maybe everyone feels it differently. Same as some people who bf get huge and full and uncomfortable more than others.

When DS1 was born and unable to feed because of breathing problems he was in ITU and tube fed. Without any attempts at BF my milk came in. Until then i had been hand expressing, but i think the midwives just wanted to give me something to do to make me feel like i was doing something. I think it would have come in anyway.

the initial production of milk is governed by hormones, this is why everyone#'s milk comes in (bar an absolutely minute percentage of women) even if you aren't breastfeeding.

so yes, technically you could offer a bottle before your milk came in however there are various reasons why this may not be a great idea!

colostrum is made specifically for a newborn baby. giving something else entirely is unnecessary and, some would argue, damaging.

you could go on to have problems with baby refusing breast because the sucking action and the way the milk is delivered is very different.

you could have problems because the amount of milk a baby takes at first is normally very small but the baby having been used to a bottle may expect/need more

it may be hard for a mother to then stop giving a bottle and trust solely on herself to provide milk, thus affecting her milk supply by supplementing

am sure there are other issues too, but that's just off the top of my head

npg1 here is a link to kellymom, a great bf website which explains all the biology stuff.
Turns out that there are 2 stages of lactation. 1 is part of pregnancy and happens so long after birth to everybody (the milk coming in). The second part, continuing to make milk, is done on a supply and demand basis, so if you don't feed a baby and ask for it, it dries up.
Hope that helps. If you want more info, kellymom site is excellent.

Thanks everyone for being so helpful and hope I didnt offend anyone!

I am not even pregnant yet and not sure about the idea of a third, but keep thinking about it! Not even pregnant and toying with the idea of breast or bottle! silly me!

npg i think that's the best time to be thinking about breast or bottle! get all the information while you can spend time thinking about it.
knowledge is power after all!

yes quite right. I B both my DD's and I must admit it was bloody hard work, easier second time round as I knew more and had a great BFeeding friend!

lots of good advice here. also remember a newborn babies stomach is the size of a small marble, so they don't need much to be full. colostrum also lines your babies gut to protect it from stomach bugs etc so is much better for your newborn than f milk.

tiny babies do cry, and not necesarrily solely because of hunger but for comfort too. lots of little breastfeeds are exactly what newborn babies need.

good luck with trying for a third

p.s third babies are lovely!

Ahhh thanks......

3rd babies lovely? really? Mind you I know a ouple of ladies who have 3rd babies and are lovely so you never know, I would like one but im so scared! I am also on my own all week, oh works away so things would need to change!!