When can you give a breastfed baby a bottle of EBM or a pacifier...

[Karenn]

and be fairly confident that it won't disrupt breastfeeding? I used to know this, but it's all gone out of my mind!

TIA,

[jillc]

Hi Karen,

As far as pacifiers go, I read & was also advised by my lactation consultant to wait "until breastfeeding had been well established - usually about 2-3 weeks". We were going to try to avoid the "binkie", but gave in at about 3 wks & tried for a while to utilize a pacifier as a soothing tool, but Abby never really loved it - she'd take it off & on for a few weeks, but it never was a big hit.

LC's recommended introducing a bottle of EBM around 3-4 weeks as long as baby was doing well with breastfeeding. They stressed the importance of giving one bottle daily or at least every other day. They said that waiting to intro the bottle later than this is a lot tougher - baby has already figured out that the boob is so much nicer & often will put up a big fight against the bottle. We intro'd the bottle @ 3.5 wks & she took it really well. Then we moved when she was 5 wks & I skipped doing the bottle for about 4 days & then she would not take the bottle again for several weeks! It was a big ordeal & had to spend lots of time w/Grandma working on getting her to take the bottle. So, in hindsight, I should not have skipped it for those 4 days so early on - it was rough for a while b/c I couldn't leave her alone w/DH or Grandma for more than 2 hrs - tough to get a much needed little break! For the last few months, she has taken a bottle about once per week & has not put up a fight. :)

HTH!

Congrats on your upcoming arrival!! Bet Big Brother is excited!!

Jill

SAHM to Abby, my "Lovebug", 3/12/04

[lizajane]

i was told 6 weeks. which was fine on the EMB, because i didn't have anywhere to go before 6 weeks! but we did go for the "binker" at 4 weeks. i had a horrible time for 8 weeks (pain pain pain) and in retrospect, i think the binker would have helped. he was a big time comfort sucker and i think the binker would have offered some relief. DH did do the pinky trick some and it would help. with this kid, i am going for the binker right away and will do the EBM whenever we are ready for a date night away from the kids. (since i am at home, it doesn't matter if he rejects the bottle. schuyler went back and forth with NO problem no matter how long we waited between bottles, but it was really rare that he got one at all because i was with him all the time.)

[psophia17]

We gave DS a pacifier really early - he had horrible gas and the only relief was for him to suck, but putting him on the breast when he was only sucking seemed to only make his gas worse (too much sucking of air, I think?).

He had bottles fairly regularly from about 6 weeks, but we weren't persistant with them. I was in the hospital on morphine for a couple of days at 4.5 mos, and although he took the bottle just fine when others gave it to him, once he saw me again he refused, and has refused since. We introduced a sippy cup just after this, usually with a little water or thinned out juice in it, so that if I wasn't there to BF he wouldn't suffer for it, and that has worked pretty well for us.

-Petra

DS - Nathan, 12/29/03

[andie16]

We started both at about 3 weeks. Breastfeeding was going fine and like another poster said, DD liked to suck for comfort and when she wasn't hungry or was gassy the nursing seemed to make her fussier. That said, it took about a week of trying the pacifier for her to like it. (Now I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of it!). As far as the bottle, we started it at about three weeks, but it probably took her until closer to three months to actually take it. We had to try different kinds before we found one that worked for her. Not sure if we finally found the right bottle or if she was just finally ready at that time.

Andie and Daisy (9/23/03)

[psophia17]

We stopped giving the pacifier outside of the crib at 6 mos. Now DS only gets it when it's time to sleep, and then he has to put it in his mouth on his own, we won't do it for him. Since he had gas all the time from 0-4 months, him not having the pacifier during outside of the crib was a real accomplishment :-)

-Petra
DS - Nathan, 12/29/03

[andie16]

DD only gets her pacifier in the crib now too (since June, I think). She used to get in the car sometimes too, but not for the last month or so. Now it's just that next step of taking it away from the crib, but I don't want to disrupt sleeping. Oh well, her doctor said not to worry about it for now, so I'm not going to rock the boat!

Andie and Daisy (9/23/03)

[TahliasMom]

We started in the hospital and not by choice. I was feeding her like every 30 minutes to an hour and she was still sticking her tongue in and out and being really fussy. By the second night, I needed SLEEP so I sent my baby to the nursery at 2am. The nurse came back and said that she was crying nonstop and couldn't hold her the whole time. Since I just fed her before I sent her there, the nurse suggested that my baby had a strong sucking need and we should do the pacifier. I gave in out of exhaustion. Well, the next day we went home and my baby became extremely fussy and then started screaming. I tried to feed her and she just kept getting more and more frustrated. I got so stressed out that my colostrum stopped. So my husband decided to try giving her some formula to see if she might be hungy. She sucked down 2 ounces and passed out!!! She was starving all along because I wasn't producing enough colostrum. My husband feed her that whole night, about 7 bottles while I rested, and she guzzled them down. My milk came in the next morning and she went right back to my breast with no problem!!! We use the Evenflo Elite wide neck bottles. I been only able to find them at some BRU and www.babycener.com the nipple on the bottle is wide and it has mulitple holes like a mother's nipple. We did the bottle of EBM couple times a night so I could get some rest and by 3.5 months we went down to 1 time in the evening so my husband can bond with her.
As for the pacifier, it went out of our lives until 3 weeks when she started to get colicky between 8-11pm and for car rides, when I'm alone with her. Now, 4 months, she gets it when she takes naps and goes to bed at night. We try to keep the binky in the crib 95% of the time. It took a whole month of "sleep training" to get her to sleep through the night, so she's going to have the binky for a while!
good luck
Katherine

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Newborns have a strong sucking need partly because it is the sucking at the breast that helps bring the milk in.

It's a shame that the nurses don't know enough about breastfeeding to know not to give pacifiers if the mother's milk has not come in yet. I'm sorry that happened to you.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/bo...breastfed2.gif

[TahliasMom]

Yeah, the lactation consultant was very upset with the nurse. Well, at least we know for next time!
thanks
Katherine