for those of you who express breast milk - do you give the bottle?

Question

I have been advised by my HV that I should not give the expressed feed as I will confuse the baby, leading to her not latching on? What are your opinions on this? I ask because Maddie has reflux and I'm having to give gaviscon after every feed. Obviously the feed that she keeps down the best is the bottle feed that my partner gives as we can pop the gaviscon in it - instead of giving it via a syringe. I would perhaps like to give another feed this way...

Maddie is 1 month old.

Answer 1

It really depends on the baby. Some get confused by bottles, others dont. Buy a bottle with a nipple that is made to be more like a breast. The playtex drops ins are great, and even empty more like a breast. My daughter had expressed milk from a bottle like that a couple of times, and she never had problems going back to the breast. She also had reflux, but we didnt treat it. She just nursed exclusively for 10 months, and suddenly it went away and she could tolerate foods. She always followed her growth curve perfectly, and was never sick, so I know that despite the reflux she was perfectly healthy. Once we got past those months of reflux, she was able to eat anything. At 2 years old, she can tolerate foods I cant even eat, lol. You should talk to a lactation consultant. Your hospital probably has one. They can give you some good advice with this. Good luck :)

Answer 2

It's bottle feeding because you're using a bottle, doesn't matter what's in it. If you were using formula, then it would be formula feeding. If someone asks breast or bottle, just say they get expressed breast milk in bottles. Breast feeding (directly at the breast) has some advantages (such as jaw muscle development) that they don't get from having breast milk in a bottle so it's not the same thing. This is in no way a criticism of you - you're clearly doing the best you can for your babies. I hate pumping, so I am in awe of any mother who can keep up with that on a regular basis.

Answer 3

I could never give my boys a bottle. They just wouldn't take it from me; they would instantly look for the breast. If you must give the medicine this way, it is probably better to let someone else give the bottle. Then again all babies are different so you might give it a try. The syringe is probably the easiest way to give it and make sure she gets it all though. There are a couple of effective ways of giving it. Try right before a feeding when she is hungry - you might even "tease" her a bit. Put her up like you are giving her the breast, then pop the syringe in. If she fights it, put the syringe in the back of her cheek and slowly squeeze it in. That will keep her from spitting it back up. Other than that, I would agree with the one before me who said to watch your diet. There are many foods that will aggravate a sensitive baby's stomach. With my son, it was garlic, broccoli, and chocolate. My second son too much milk (one or two glasses was fine, but no more), and bell peppers.

Answer 4

I breastfeed. I had so much milk that I needed to express a bit before latching baby on... and it was wasted. Had I been smart about it, I would have frozen it for a later use. I have hand expressed in a bottle and gotten my husband to give a bottle... but baby was two months at the time... and he only got one bottle every 2 or 3 days. He is 4 months now and gets one bottle of pumped milk every day... or almost ever day.

As for your baby spitting up, I would try ovol and gripe water before and after feeds... burp baby 2-3 times during feeds, keep baby elevated during feedings, and get a wedge for his crib... Also get a baby perscriotion from your family doctor. I've never heard of a baby taking gaviscon. That doesn't sound right to me. Check with a lactation specialist as soon as you can. Good luck!!!

Answer 5

My son was very small when born (4lb 11 oz) and he found it extremely hard to latch on and also having flat nipples didn't help, so my midwife suggested expressing so that he would at least still be getting the breast milk even though he was not taking it directly from the breast.
I did this for the first 2 and 1/2 half months. However during this time I kept trying to get him to latch on until eventually he did. He is now 4 months old and takes from both the breast and the bottle (expressed breast milk).
It may help to get the bottles that are closer in shape and feel to the breast as so not to confuse her. I bought the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottles and found these have definitely helped and I would recommend them 100%.

Answer 6

My son had really bad reflux and I always nursed him. After a few minutes of nursing, I would stop him and give him his medicine then would let him go about nursing himself to sleep or whatever he was going to do. Your HV is right, when they are young, they will either become confused or lazy (it is easier to suck from a bottle) if you feed the bay from a bottle. There are a lot of other reasons to nurse besides just the nutrition so keep at it. You will get handy with the syringe in a little while and it won't be too big an issue.

Answer 7

Depends on how old your baby is. I didn't start expressing and feeding by bottle till my son was several months old and it was never and issue. If you feel that your baby has got the hang of breastfeeding and is latching on fine, I really can't see what the problem would be.

Do you have a mother and baby group?Try talking to some other mothers, and remember that HV are great but they don't always know best.

Answer 8

How old is th baby? It could be how you hold her during feeding causing the gas, also some babies are just gassy, it could also be the foods you eat. Depending on how old she is it should not cause nipple confusion but some babies do decide they prefer one over the other so that can be a pain. If she is a month or older then i would definitely give the bottle on occasion. I started mine at 1 week even though the doctors said to wait a minimum of 2 and they all breastfed fine but 2 hated the bottle so we finally gave up on that for them. just go by your instincts, the importance of breast feeding is for the breast milk so if you can keep up your milk and bottle feed it to her then she is still getting the vital nutrients. Good luck.

Answer 9

i started expressing when my daughter maddy was one week old. it took her a little while to get the hang of feeding from a bottle but after about a month she would take breast and bottle. so it will make it easier when u want to have a break or stop breast feeding. my daughter goes to her grandmas once a fortnight to stay the night and is bottle fed with no probs. my daughter used to vomit alot after feeds but i found if i winded her as much as possible throughout the day it helped alot. and also gripe water is very good as it breaks down the trapped air bubbles.

Answer 10

Personally I would hang off for a little while longer while Maddie establishes a good bf pattern. I introduced bottles at 6 weeks with both of mine and it was hard getting them to take the breast so I took both off again for a little while longer. A teat is much easier to suckle from than a breast and babies can get lazy. If you NEED the break then do what YOU need to do don't listen to anyone else.

At the other end of the scale my youngest then refused to take a teat again until he was 8 months old.

Babies never do what you think they should!

Enjoy your newborn