i pump and feed my baby by bottle, is that bad?

Question

my mom got really upset when she found out about this but i really dont see why, if he's still getting my milk? and when i do try to breastfeed he chokes, spits, and cries so id rather feed him with a bottle. but then again,will that mess up his teeth later on since he sucks on a bottle or pasifier almost all day?

Answer 1

No it's not bad. You're doing the best thing for your baby. My question however is why is he choking, spitting an crying? You could have something called hyperactive letdown, which is making your milk come out really fast and making it hard for him. Your moms concern is probably that you may get tired of feeding him this way and eventually just switch to formula. By pumping and feeding you're doing twice the work. If you continue to bottle feed him, it will be hard to put him back on the breast if you want to. How old is your baby? I'm guessing he's pretty young. I would encourage you to keep breastfeeding and try to help him so he's not choking etc. The signs of hyperactive letdown are this:

-baby chokes and sputters
-baby doesn't enjoy feeding times and gets fussy
-baby is gassy
-milk shoots out like a fountain
-letdowns can sometimes be painful
-milk lets down frequently inbetween feedings

The remedy to fix this is to make sure that one breast is completely empty before switching to the other breast. Sometimes it may take 2 or 3 or sometimes more feedings to make sure the breast is completely empty. The other one may become engorged in the mean time, but that's ok. Just do what you can to comfort yourself, but don't pump or you'll just make more milk. Switch to the other breast when the first one is empty and feed several times to make sure that one is empty too. The problem will be fixed in two or three days. When you're nursing him try leaning back, so he's almost propped up on your breast. The milk is then shooting up, and going against gravity. It gives him more control as it's not spraying down his throat. Hope this helps, email me if you have any questions. God Bless

Answer 2

You are doing the right thing by feeding your baby your breastmilk, no matter how he gets it. however, a baby`s active sucking will keep your milk supply established better than a pump will, so you should let your baby nurse from you at least some of the time. Is it possible that baby is choking when your milk is actively letting down? That would be my guess. In that case, If you can`t feel the letdown, ( some women can`t) then when baby starts to choke, take him off, and wait a minute or two until the letdown stops, then offer it back to him.I had the same problem with all of my kids. good luck, and enjoy your baby!

Answer 3

no its not bad at all. You're doing what you think is best for your baby, and thats a lot more than most women do. Tell your mom to back off, you get to make these decisions not her. bottle fed babies do not have any more teeth problems than breast fed ones.

And pasifier teeth problems are still in the air. I'd ween him off that just because it causes more harm in the long run, trying to break him of the need of it later. I'd take it away, or only use it at certain times.

But then again, youre mom and you get to decide. It might be better for him to not be crying... its up to you.

You're doing a fine job, dont second guess yourself.

Answer 4

What I found out when my son was a baby, starting with the labor which went nothing like I'd envisioned it, is that there's often a difference between what's "ideal" and what's practical.

Maybe you'd like to do what's "ideal" and nurse your son - you want him to have the close physical contact, the slightly better jaw development. But it just isn't working out for the reasons you listed, so you pump instead. There are lots of people who have ended up doing the same thing - for example, sometimes milk production isn't great, so the mother pumps and pumps and pumps to try to make sure her baby gets enough to eat.

No offense to your mom, but don't let the breast police make you feel guilty. You're still making sure your baby gets the customized antibodies and nourishment that breast milk provides, so he's better off than if you were giving him formula. One major concern, though, might be that pumping could get to be so annoying that you gave up on trying to get him breast milk altogether. But even then you'd know that he got the benefits from your milk early on.

As for the alignment of his teeth getting messed up later on, this may be a risk, but the site listed below mentions "pacifier use beyond the age of three, and prolonged use of a bottle". My guess is that he's quite a ways from the age of three, and by the time he gets there he won't be using a pacifier. As for what constitutes "prolonged use of a bottle", this is a question to bring up with your pediatrician. (So might the breast feeding problems, actually; a lactation consultant might be able to help.)

I don't know what type of pump you're using, but I highly recommend going to your hospital and renting one of theirs. IMHO they are much faster, much more efficient than anything bought at the store, and many come with plumbing so you can pump both breasts at once.

Best of luck!

Answer 5

Look, its your choice to make. Your mom might have reacted that way because she probably went about feeding her children the traditional way and still approves of it today. I've heard it recommended that breast feeding however is the best choice for the following reasons:

- Perfect balance of nutrients Not as efficiently utilized as breast milk
- Contains high levels of nutrients Nutritional content depends on proper preparation
- Easily digested and absorbed Some babies have difficulty tolerating certain nutrients
- Content varies according to milk production stage, which meets the changing nutritional requirements Pediatrician/care-giver determines amount
- Infant determines amount

But if you find your child responding better to the bottle than breast feeding then by all means continue as you are. Babies suck almost anything they can get their hands on, thats normal, no I don't think it will affect his teeth later on.

Answer 6

Well the breast is supposedly better for developing mouth muscles but millions of people have been raised by bottle and we all seem pretty fine! I think it's great that you use your own breast milk. A pacifier is much better for a baby's teeth than a thumb! You just have to watch out for bottle mouth. If you take the bottle out of their mouth pretty quickly after they fall asleep you'll probably be fine. Breastfed babies can get bottle mouth too.

No matter which way you choose to feed the baby it's going to be disapproved of by somebody!

Answer 7

Its not a "bad" thing that you're doing but your mom might have good reason to be upset. Breastfeeding actually helps with bonding between mom and baby and it is supposed to be therapeutic for both mom and baby. Breastfeeding also does help you too (figuratively speaking). It helps you get back in shape faster (trust me on this one - after giving birth to my now 6 week old son, I'm down to 110 lbs from 140 lbs - no exercise. My pre-pregnancy weight was 108 lbs).

Try breastfeeding again. It might help if you try different positions for nursing. The baby might not be getting enough milk from the position that you use. See if that works. Good luck.

Answer 8

I have two boys, who were both bottle fed. They both have good teeth, and are very healthy. The main reason for breast feeding is that baby's can build up there immune system from the mothers breast milk, but some infants do not tolerate breast milk very well, as was the case of my children.

Answer 9

that is amazingly plausible to pump and bottle feed. Many moms in the NICU do it for months because the toddler is too ill to breastfeed. indexed right here are the keys: in the first 12 hours after beginning celeb pumping evey 2 hours on both area or double pump for a minimum of 15-20 minutes. Pump at nighttime too. you need to no longer see some thing in the pumps bottles in the beginning it really is typical . Use a double well-being center GRADE pump. For one of those pumping you won't be able to apply the over-the-counter kind pump. you need to lease or purchase the well-being center grade kind (fee $three hundred-1000, lease $40-60mo) . Get your pump factors in the well-being center they are going to be fee for your insuranse, which could also pay for most of the pump condominium. once the milk is in , round 2-3 days, proceed to pump both area each and every 2-3 hours for 20 minutes or pump until eventually the breast empties or slows in output, then upload on 2 minutes for more effective stimulation. you need to pump at nighttime too. A minimum milk furnish is 350ml, optimal should be more effective like 650-750 so that you've more effective. one of those feeding takes a good dedication and as different have suggested, that is complicated to maintain up. Breastfeeding is more convenient ( after the wreck in era), purifier, and the clean milk has immune houses that ought to nicely be damaged for the time of freezing (nonetheless many stay even even as frozen. formula has none of those!) once you retain your milk label it with the date and positioned it in licensed bags for freezing breastmilk (medela has great bags for this). that is sweet for 3mo in the common freezer. even as heating not in any respect microwave and not in any respect shake vigorously, this destroys immune cells. Breastfeeding is the first decision, human milk fed artificially 2d, then formula as a very last motel. Breast milk is a present actually you grants. there are one of those great number of analysis more effective mind advance, a lot less ailment, chance-free practices from weight problems, hypersensitive reactions, maximum cancers, diabetes and heart ailment all from breastmilk. cleansing and strerilizing bottles and pump equiptment receives tedious. Pumping like it really is unsuccessful because many are not any more waiting to maintain the ability as a lot as do what's mandatory to make it artwork even as searching after a clean toddler, notwithstanding it should be executed .

Answer 10

I'm proud of you! It is great that you are willing to pump and feed your bottle. That takes a lot of dedication! Just be careful with letting him take the bottle or paci all day. It can be harmful down the road. I have found that if you find a snuggly (I use a silky blanket with my baby) and use keep it close to him a lot that will become his security and he may not want the paci or bottle as much. good luch :)