Tips for breast and bottle feeding?

[ifihavetomove]

Hi, I'm about to have my first baby (hopefully!! Currently 8 days overdue) and I'd like to both breastfeed and pump so that dad can bottle feed.

I want to do this 1. Because I think it will be good for their bond and 2. It will be nice to have the option of either of us do it when it's time for a feed.

Would really appreciate any advice you have for doing this! I've been reading online and books and I'm getting v unclear/mixed info about how to do this.

I have an Elvie curve to wear on the other boob while feeding so hopefully can build a bit of a stash this way. Not sure whether to do this from day 1? Also have slow flow bottles and read about feeding for a bit then removing bottle and letting baby suck on a finger for a while so it mimics the breast a bit more. Feel like I'm overthinking it!

I'm 11 weeks PP and did this - I didn't use anything for 2 weeks to let breastfeeding establish a little. HV advised waiting 6 weeks before introducing a bottle but the midwife told me to start sooner, so I did.

I started using a Haakaa (think these are similar to the Elvie) which catches the let down and began to build a little stash in the freezer.

We first gave a bottle about 2.5 weeks in and he took to it fine. We do one about once a week now just to make sure he'll continue to take it (and to give me a break!).

DH didn't do anything giving him the bottle, just made sure to pace it so he didn't just neck the whole thing in one go.

I bought a manual Medela pump and started using that around 7 weeks, once my milk had settled down. I only pump when we give a bottle though at the minute. Hope this helps!

You won’t be able to pump until your milk comes in properly, which will take a few days. Pumping will increase your supply, which is generally a good thing but not if you naturally have over supply.

DS was teeny tiny so spent time in NICU so we bottle fed alongside breast from day 2 or 3. He’s always been happy taking a bottle alongside the boob and the nurses were quite sceptical when I raised concerns about nipple confusion.

I have a far few friends who waited many weeks to introduce a bottle because they didn’t want to undermine breast feeding and ended up with a baby that wouldn’t take a bottle at all.

I’ve pumped ever since we came home from hospital and the break it gives me when DP gives the bottle is a sanity saver. And the best thing is 10 weeks in, DS is still happy to take fridge cold breast milk.

We combination fed both our children, with a mix of breastfeeding, bottle feeding expressed milk and formula.

With my eldest I hand expressed from about 3 weeks to supplement as she was slow to gain weight, then moved into a hand pump at about 4 weeks which worked fine. We also sometimes used the ready mix formula for dad to do a feed if I really needed a decent sleep. I had the medela shells for let-down which is a handy way to catch an extra ounce or so.
With my second pumping just didn’t work for me, no idea why but it took ages to get a tiny amount, so he had breast milk direct or formula in a bottle.
Both of them I made sure they had at least one bottle a week even if it wasn’t necessary just to ensure they’d keep tolerating bottles, as the majority of feeds past 6 weeks were breastfeeds.

Before DC was born I had been dead set on purely breastfeeding and giving formula felt like failure - but actually, giving one bottle of formula does not mean you have to stop feeding, and mixed feeding still gets them all the great antibodies and stuff, plus you get a break when you might really need it. DC1 had a tongue tie and DC2 had a poor latch to begin with, so being able to give my boobs a few hours off duty to heal was very important!

I couldn’t be bothered pumping so I gave one bottle in the evening before bed. It usually helped them sleep a bit longer.

Pumped with my first (from about week 3) and then just use formula with my second (from day 3) alongside breastfeeding, never had any problems with nipple confusion or similar and supply developed fine.

With my second the bottle feeding definitely saved the breastfeeding as my nipples were so cracked and sore for the first two weeks feeding was almost unbearable so knowing that I could take a break was an absolute life saver. (And yes, I saw a BF consultant etc and it wasn't a latch problem)

I pumped from about ten days both times to avoid having a bottle refuser.
No problems at all.

Thanks all, I think I am overthinking it. I'll see how things go but I'll hopefully start using the elvie curve a week or so after my milk comes in.

Still pregnant...9 days late now!

I’m in the same boat so thanks for asking this question, and please do come back with an update on how it’s going (I’ll be checking!) and also wishing you the very best getting that baby out soon & healthy xx