BF w/one bottle per day question...PLEASE HELP

[mykidsmom]

I am going to be a stay at home mom and plan to breastfeed, but want to pump once a day so daddy can also feed the baby or so that I can occasionally be away from the baby for a few hours, like if my husband and I go out without the baby. From what I have read so far, I will still need to pump at the time when the baby would have normally been breastfeeding, even though she is getting the bottle at that feeding.

What would happen if I did not pump during the time tbe baby is feeding from the bottle? How have all you experienced moms delt with this.

Also, has anyone just given formula for one bottle feeding per day and breastfed the rest of the day? I am due in 3 weeks and trying to plan ahead. Thanks!

[jamsmu]

Here's what I did/would do:

BF only for the first month. If you are planning to bf, you really need to do it this long. Around 4-6 weeks is the time to intro the first bottle for baby. (We did it at 4 weeks, as we had a wedding the following week and needed to make sure DS would be able to eat okay.)

I pumped during the time DH fed DS at first, then stopped. This was fine. It was a little painful at first, but pretty soon, I was able to control the milk supply and didn't have the let-down at the bottle time. Your body makes what your baby needs. So if baby isn't eatting at that time, your body won't make it.

Around 3-4 months, we supplemented with formula once a day. No problems there.

Best of luck!!

[jillc]

Hi,

My lactation consultant suggested the following at a breastfeeding workshop that I attended a few weeks before my DD was born. This is what I have done, and it's working great.

Start doing this when your baby is between 3 & 4 weeks old, and you feel that breastfeeding is going well. We started this at 4 weeks, and everything went great.

Pump one bottle each day, about an hour after your first morning feeding (because your milk supply is at it's highest early in the morning). Your "first morning feeding" might be at 6 am, or at 9 am, or whenever. You choose the time depending on your particular schedule & when you're up for the day. Keep in mind that it may take a few days of pumping until you get an adequate amount of milk to make a bottle (about 3-4oz for a 4 week old), because you're basically telling your body that you're adding a feeding. Have your husband or someone else offer the baby the bottle in place of a breastfeeding session later that day. You will pump again when the baby is taking the bottle. You can save that bottle to give the baby the next day, or you can freeze it for later use.

I had DH give Abby a bottle in the early evening each day, because I figured it would be best for her to get used to taking a bottle at that time of day, since if DH and I went out to dinner sometime and left her with Grandma, that's about the time of day that Grandma would be giving her a bottle.

If you don't pump when the baby is taking the bottle, you're going to feel really full & it might be painful. I have sometimes had to delay the pumping a bit (ie, DH and I were at a wedding reception, and I had to wait until we were on our way home), and I couldn't wait to get the pumping started once we were in the car - ouchy! My electric pump has a car adaptor, which is great for these kind of situations. I also bought an Isis manual pump so that I could take it w/me anywhere & be able to pump when I needed to.

It's important early on to make sure the baby keeps taking a bottle every day or every other day for a month or so. We slacked on this from about wk 5-7, and then it was really tough to get her to take it again. For the last few months, we give her about 1 bottle a week, and she does fine w/it. I still pump a bottle each morning, even though we don't always use it. I now have a nice freezer stash built up incase we ever need it. Also, Abby just started solids, so I use the milk that I pump in the morning now to make her rice cereal with, or to add to pureed fruits & veggies to get the texture and flavor right for her.

Sorry this is so long! I hope it helps. :)

Let me know if I can clarify anything.

Jill

[sntm]

I agree that I would wait a few weeks before starting to pump (otherwise could lead to oversupply and latch problems -- ask me how I know!) and introduce a bottle around 4-6 weeks. Most babies will continue to take a bottle even if they only get it on occasion, maybe once or twice a week. You will definitely need to pump when she is bottle-fed, especially for the first few months until your supply is well established.

I would avoid using formula for as long as you can. First, it will impact your supply, as your baby will get full from the formula and not breastfeed as much and your supply will go down accordingly. Second, supplementary formula does change the intestinal flora and carries some of the risks of formula feeding, though those are tempered by the breastfeeding. This becomes less of an issue after 6 months or so when baby starts eating other foods. In other words, combined feeding is better than no breastfeeding, but not as good as exclusive breastfeeding. I would only (and have only) given formula if I had no other options.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]
Breastfeeding 16 months and counting

[lizajane]

i had great success pumping during his morning nap. he would eat, play then go to sleep. i would pump about an hour into his nap (about 2 hours after the feeding) and then he would eat 2 hours after i pumped (because he took a 3 hour nap). we introduced the first bottle at 7 weeks and were lucky that he could switch back and forth, even if he didn't have a bottle for a month.

when his nap got shorter, i started pumping in the evenings before bed. at first, i got VERY little milk. but after maybe a week, i was able to get almost enough for a full feeding if not enough. so that was about 2-3 hours after his last feeding. (and he slept all night.)

i would not plan to formula feed once/day because you may find that it is easier to just feed baby yourself. you wouldn't want to mess up supply, etc. by offering that one bottle when you don't really need to and then find out you don't want to bother making a bottle or paying for formula. schuyler hardly ever had a bottle of breastmilk because he was always with me! and when he did get one, i thought it was all a big pain.

[chicagojo]

For what it's worth, this is what I did:
From the day we came home from the hospital, DH gave the baby a bottle of formula for one feeding per day (around 2 a.m.) I breastfed all the rest of the time and initially did not pump at all.

After about 3 weeks, I started pumping after the feeding following the one DH was doing (so if he fed her at 2 a.m. and I breastfed at 5 a.m. I would pump after that 5 a.m. feeding). Once I had started pumping, he fed her EBM at 2 a.m. instead of the formula.

I had some "fullness" issues for a while but overall things went smoothly. I've had several people tell me that I'm lucky I didn't end up with a diminished milk supply and that DD was able to easily transition between breast & bottle from essentially day one. So I'm not 100% sure I would do this over again, but it worked out well for all 3 of us and gave me a chance for some much-needed sleep in those early weeks.

Good luck, however you decide to work it out!

[chicagojo]

Oh, and I forgot to mention one other thing: I never did get comfortable with the idea of breastfeeding in public, so DD always got formula if we were out & about. I would just pump as soon as it was convenient once we were back at home (usually within a couple of hours) and this seemed to work out ok.