breastfeeding and bottles

[Mali]

FTM and I'm planning on breastfeeding. I am not planning to go back to work (or at least, not to my current employer), and have the the potential to be a SAHM or to find a part-time job if I need to have some "me" time outside the house.

I have a pump so I'll be able to build up a stash for any time I'm away from DD.

How many bottles would you have in the house? I'm planning on getting a few different kinds (like 1 of each), but have no idea how many is reasonable compared to overdoing it since DD will likely primarily nurse at least in the beginning.

How did you work pumping into your schedule? How early did you start pumping? Is it okay to add pumping sessions after I've gotten past the first month (and hopefully have the hang of breastfeeding) or should I start earlier?

[Liziz]

You don't need many bottles -- I only have 4, and I WOH. I got a "gift pack" that came w/ all 4 bottles (we use Playtex dropins) -- just started with one brand and figured if it didn't work, I'd get something new, and if it did work, I'd saved myself a cupboard of mismatched bottles.

Waiting until after the first month to start pumping is a great idea. Starting too early can actually cause oversupply, so since there's no pressing need to build a big stash quickly, definitely wait a month or two. At my breastfeeding class, the LC suggested waiting 6 weeks before starting, if possible.

As for fitting into the schedule - before I went back to work, I'd generally pump in the AM. I'd feed DD from one side, and then pump the other side (afterwards, I'm not coordinated to do it at the same time, though it would save a lot of time if I was!). I'd often feed DD, put her down foe a nap, and then pump while she was sleeping. Sometimes, she'd still be awake and I'd just put her in her swing or bouncer (in arm's reach) and talk to her/play w/ her while I pumped. As DD started to sleep for a longer stretch at night, I'd double pump a couple hours after she went to bed, just before I went to bed.

[BabbyO]

I think I have 6 or 7 bottles and I WOH FT. We send 3 bottles to the sitter's each day, and when Peanut was younger I'd send some extra milk just in case. This allows us to have 1 full day at the sitters, one set for me to pump into, and an extra incase mommy has to work late/goes out for an evening and dad has to give a bottle. More than enough!

For me I started pumping between 4 and 6 weeks PP to build my stash for when I was at work. It was perfect timing. I'm only nursing AM/PM now and sending two small bottles (Peanut is almost 14 mo) each day. The bottles are from my freezer stash. I haven't been pumping since he was 11 mo and I think we'll make it for another couple weeks on my stash.

For me, the best time to pump was first thing in the AM. My boys were sleeping at least 4-6 hrs pretty early on and I found that I was really full in the morning. I would nurse DC on one side and pump on the other side at the same time. This stimulated let down for the pump (and for a working mom this was perfect; I never had trouble getting let down with my pump), ensured I wasn't overproducing, AND allowed DC to get the good, rich hind milk as well as foremilk at that feed.

GL

[Mali]

Great, thank you so much! :)

[Schmitty21]

I worked FT and had a short maternity leave (6 weeks), so I was very concerned about getting a good start with breastfeeding, yet not having DS reject the bottle one I had to return to work. We first offered a bottle at 3 weeks, I had read that recommendation somewhere. It worked out really well for us. So I started pumping gradually around 2.5 weeks to a) learn how it worked! and b) to get that first bottle ready for him. By the time 6 weeks rolled around, he had had bottles every so often so it wasn't totally foreign to him.

We own 6 bottles (Born Free). I sent 3-4 to daycare every day. One thing to know is that BF babies don't eat as large of portions as formula fed. I read that a few places, and also witnessed what some of the formula babies' Moms brought in. So we only wound up needing the smaller, wider bottles (5 oz I think?), instead of the taller, skinnier bottles (8 oz).

Lots of luck! Turn to the boards for any help or issues. BF is very hard at first, but it gets easier with time and it's so worth it! :-)