Planning on combining BF with EBM, advice please!

[theslumbertaker]

Hi all,

I'm expecting my second dd in May and I'm just looking for a bit of advice regarding trying to combine breastfeeding with bottle-feeding EBM. With dd1 I largely BF for 5 months, with the odd bottle of EBM or formula when necessary. However, I never really mastered the art of managing to express without seeming to affect my milk supply. I eventually weaned her over to FF at 6 months. I'd like to try to carry on BF for longer this time with dd2, which realistically is only likely to happen if I can combine BF with bottles....so can anybody advise me about the best way to combine BF and EBM, such as how to avoid reducing your milk supply etc. Also, any advice about breast pumps? I had a manual pump last time, which was fine and I did manage to express a fair bit, but it felt like hard work and seemed to take forever! Any recommendations, that don't cost the earth? Thanks in advance.

I had the same plan as you when I had my DD but she decided that she was not going to take a bottle, no way, never!

With regards to expressing. I bought an electric pump as my friend said it was much easier but I couldn't get on with this and hardly got any milk at all using it.

My local sure start centre had a number of pumps you could borrow so I borrowed a manual pump and got on with it great. I could have kept it for a few months but I decided to give it back and buy my own. If you are struggling with tht pump it might be worth seeing if your local Sure Start Centre do the same.

Expressing regularly will probably mean you produce more milk as your body thinks DD is feeding more. I found I would get loads of milk off in a morning. I could feed DD from one side and express the other but my DD slept really well so I was fit to burst 1st thing in a morning.

Your local sure start centre will have a breadfeeding group where you can go once a week and meet other breast feeding mums. Have a drink made for you and the breastfeeding support worker will be there to answer and questions and offer support. They would also come to your house if you needed them. I found the group a life line when my DD was very young and I was finding breastfeeding difficult.

Sorry, I don't understand why you think you'll need to do EBM as well? Unless there's something I'm not aware of, expressing is a lot more hassle than just bf - especially with an older child - I expressed for one bottle most days with DS but just haven't had the time or inclination with DD.
That said, you fed your first till 5 months!! I realise you wanted to go for longer but that length of time is fantastic in itself!

I wanted to give a bottle with EBM in some circumstances ie when we went to a wedding and my dress was not BF friendly! but also to give me a bit of a rest now and again and for her dad to feed her.

My plan went to pot when my DD would not take a bottle and I had to sit in the toilet with my dress hitched up at the wedding!

Thanks for your reply myboo that is a great help - I do have a local sure start centre so will check out what groups/facilities they have there. I think the problem last time was that I didn't express regularly enough, so didn't quite get into a pattern, hopefully it will work better this time! Interesting that you found a manual pump better than the electric too.

Stealth - the reason I will be using EBM sometimes is that I won't be able to be with my dcs 24-7 for as long as I would like to feed using my breastmilk (ideally around 12 months), so there will be times when dh/others may need to bottle-feed dd2. Also, we found that it helped last time if dh could do one feed a day anyway, to give me an early night to catch some sleep before the early morning wakings. We are working on the assumption that we'll end up in a roughly similar pattern this time, but I would really rather use EBM than FF if I can.

x-posts myboo. i also remember similar toilet-seated feeding sessions with my dd1 in the early days due to ill-planned wardrobe choices or totally unsuitable places for bf! i will definitely be planning my outings and outfits more carefully this time!

sorry to keep harping on, and ignore me if this isn't relevant but imo it would make more sense and be easier for you to exclusively bf until you know you'll have to stop - if that's after 6 months then it might be no problem at all. Unless you don't know when this is going to happen, in which cas i understand you'd want to be prepared.

I combined expressing with BF from 6 weeks with DD1, mainly due to a very sore nipple but partly for a break.

This is what i did, (Should put a disclaimer in to say i had an over production of milk.) I would feed off one side and use a sterlised shield on the other to catch leakage which i would decant into a bottle. Then about 30 mins later i would express off the other side again with a shield in to maximize milk available. DH would then give this bottle when she asked for it. It worked well for until we got to 12 weeks when DD1 refused a bottle completely (think we didn't progress the teats quick enough and she got milk quicker from me).

Planned to do same with DD2 but she point blank refused bottle, she would just tongue the teat. I found breast feeding much easier second time round and actually expressing bottles were more of a hassle it was far quicker to just breast feed DD2.

Thanks Katz, that's great advice! I will defo give that a go when i start expressing.

Stealth, I do see your point, and I will be trying to go with bf exclusively for as long as possible. But I am also being realistic just going on my experiences last time, in that I found feeding every 1.5 hours day and night was not conducive to me being on my best form in a variety of ways, so I have to take this into account. My dh is also keen to help as much as possible, and would like to have the chance to feed dd2.

fair enough - I just meant that worrying about expressing is another thing to worry over. If it actually makes life easier then it's worth it.

i found it most useful at night as at 6 week DD1 was on a 3ish hour feeding pattern, so i'd feed at 9ish then express at 9.30 and go to bed, DH would give a bottle at midnight when she woke for a feed and bring DD1 up to our room, when she woke at 3am i'd just feed her and go back to sleep and feed her again myself at 6am. It worked really well as i'd get a nice 5 hour block of sleep from 10 till about 3. Shame she had other ideas at 12 weeks!!! also at 12 weeks she started cluster feeding in the evening and would feed off and on from 8pm till about 11pm and would then sleep til about 4, which wasn't too bad.

That sounds similar to how we used to organise things in the evenings Katz, except I didn't always express, so sometimes dh used formula at midnight/1pm, which I would prefer was EBM consistently this time...the chunk of uninterrupted sleep this allowed was much needed from what I remember through the haze.

Can i just ask, did you find that feeding at 9pm from just one side was enough to hold your dd until 12? One of the problems I had with expressing last time, was that if I just fed from one side in order to express from the other, dd1 wanted to feed again very soon thereafter! I think that maybe the issue was my supply, but I don't know how to improve that this time, I fed on demand last time, but there seemed to be a limit to how much milk I was producing.

it worked until she got to 12 weeks when she seemed to go off the bottle and equally became more of a cluster feeder in the evening but after the prolonged feeding frenzy would sleep for 4/5 hours which was ok for me.

My second was completely different though, unlike DD1, DD2 came out knowing how to feed and took to it like a duck to water, no problems and was a super fast and efficent feeder, even now at nearly 5 she can neck a drink in seconds!!! which if she wasn't allergic to alcohol could be a problem in the future!