EBF And Want to Introduce Bottle

WIth both of my babies I introduced one bottle of pumped milk a day. It never interfered with their ability to breastfeed effectively. I use bottles called 'Breast-flow' from Target. My milk always flowed fast too, but again, if you introduce only one bottle a day at this point, you shouldn't have any issues. Good luck! :)

I'd wait another month or so before introducing the bottle to avoid nipple confusion. Because eating from a bottle is SO much easier for babies than the breast, she may begin to refuse the breast in favor of the bottle.

As for what you can do about your fast milk flow, once you feel your milk start to let down, take your baby off the breast for a few seconds and let the milk flow into a washcloth or something. That first milk is very watery anyways so she won't be losing nutrition. Then, once the 'torrent' has passed, let her latch on again and she should be able to nurse comfortably.

One thing though, you really have to catch her before she's crying from hunger otherwise she'll be really upset when you unlatch her and make her wait those few seconds.

Sounds just like me! I have a 30 month old and am still nursing my 11 months old. I introduced a bottle at about two weeks, and they still liked the booby the best!
The milk flow - try nursing laying down on your side. That really helped with my daughter. It didnt seem to choke her as much - plus - its comfy and relaxing for you!
With my son (I didnt know what was going on - just that breastfeeding made him mad if he wasnt sleepy) I nursed witht he vacuum on. I think he was so busy listening to the noise that he didnt nurse as fast/hard and the milk came out slower.
After @ 6-8 weeks, the problem will sort of owrk its way out on its own.

You should probably wait about 5-6 weeks before introducing a bottle... you'll have better success at your little one being able to do both.

I would STRONGLY advise to not introduce bottles until at least 3 months when you KNOW you've established a good latch and milk supply.

If you have a strong let down, pump first, then let baby suckle. The first 2-4 months is the best time to start stockpiling your expressed milk, because after 4 months, the ability for the machine to get anything is greatly diminished. This is not due to you producing any less - quite the contrary - but the pump is like a vacuum vs a tornado (baby's suckling).

Starting bottles too early will produce nipple confusion and lazy latch - both situations will sabotage your ability to nurse and lower your mil supply.

If you are feeling like a human pacifier... I'm sorry, but that is normal. Maybe if you nursed more often laying down on your side, so you can fall asleep with baby during nursing, you may feel less stressed. I know that napping while nursing was my saving grace.

Keep up the great work, start your stockpiling and I know you can do it!

Hi C.-

I am an 'old' mom...and my first was born in germany in a german hopistal (we were american)...any hoo...they (nurses) at the hospital (while I was recovering from emergency c section) gave my first born bottles of 'kinder tea'...I found out that it was 'fennel' tea...and acted as a digestive. I both successfully nursed my first born son...and had the flexibility of something for him to 'get' from a bottle that was NOT 'my' milk...

My now ex was able to go tdy to germany and get 'kinder' tea for our other kids...

Maybe some moms here know if there is a similar 'tea' here? There was no 'nipple' confusion...MY nipple was milk...but the 'tea' was soothing...and a nice alternative sometimes...

Hope it works out!
Michele/cat

I had a very strong let down and fast flow with my second daughter. It was great in that she was full in about 5 minutes or so, not a slow eater to say the least, but she did choke and so forth a lot in the beginning, but got used to it.

I would sing to her to get her to slow down a bit.

I waited until she was about 3 months or so (no need to starty bottles sooner, for me) and I found that she was eager to try and then got frustrated, finally it dawned on me with a comment by a friend in my Mommy & Me class that it probably has to do with the flow rate she is used to and the slow flowing nipple, so switched out to the #2s and still frustrated, had to go to the Dr. Browns #3, fast flow, which literally flow when turned upside down, and she finally took it.

I would follow the advice of others and wait a few more weeks to try out a bottle, but do keep in mind the flow rate of the nipple if you have troubles getting her to accept the bottle when you try.

Also, just a note, I ended up going back to work when she was 5 1/2 months old and had to pump during the day. My milk supply decreased and the let down was much slower and she ended up choosing to drink from the bottle instead of the breast. I was able to pump for a full year to provide milk for her in the bottle, but had to supplement with formula to get enough and it was more work pumping and then also feeding her too.

So this is another reason I would wait a little longer is to really establish your own supply first.

E.

I was told to recline - lie in bed propped up by just one or two pillows - lie, not sit- and have the baby on top of me, not my leaning over the baby, but allowing him to be on top. Kind of awkward, but eventually we both got the hang of it!

I'm sorry, but you have some advice I wouldn't follow from a previous poster. According to my lactation consultant, 4-8 weeks is the best time to introduce a bottle. Breastfeeding is well-established and the baby is more likely to be amenable to breast *and* bottle feeding.

If you pump and then nurse, you're setting the baby and yourself up for foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. It's better to nurse, then pump about half an hour later. I find that pumping in the morning gives me the best yield in one session, but I sometimes end up pumping at night because of convenience.

I also have overactive letdown. My daughter (now five months old) has just adapted to it because it's what she knows. (The advice about expressing some milk into a cloth first is a good one.) When she was first getting bottles, we used the level one nipple. It worked great. Then we stopped giving them by mistake (husband was awfully tired in the evenings and I was a little protective of my "stash" for when I returned to work, so I didn't push him) and started up again around three months. It was a real struggle getting going with a bottle again until I switched to a multi-flow nipple. Since it's early for you, I'd definitely start with the slowest flow nipple to see how it goes. We use Born Free, and feel like the nipple is reasonably similar to a breast compared to some bottle nipples. However, my lactation consultant has become a huge fan of the Breastflow bottles. (We already had Born Free from when our older daughter was born, so we stuck with that.) She said that a baby has to work the mouth in a very similar fashion to actual nursing.

Oh, and no, the slower nipple isn't likely to be preferable to her. In my experience and based on what I've read from others most often, it's when a bottle is faster and less work that a baby is more likely to develop a preference for the bottle instead of the breast. Not that it always happens in those instances either... just that seems to be more common that way than in our situation.

As you can see, you'll get almost as many opinions as you'll get answers. You might check out www.kellymom.com for more breastfeeding advice.

Congratulations on your new baby!