Advice for 2nd time

[Perplexed]

I planned/tried to ebf with my daughter and we did till 4 months of age. She wouldn't take any bottles till she turned 4 months where she completely refused the breast and didn't get any milk when I used the pump as well.

With this baby I want to feed from the breast and bottle feed breastmilk. Is it possible to get baby used to both bottle and breast from early on or does this purely depend on the baby?

The nurses at the hospital last time said I had to use a nipple shield on my right nipple due to being flat...once I started doing that dd refused the left breast without a nipple after having a fairly decent/pain free latch. I'm going to refuse nipple shields this time but is there a way to make it easier? Should I pump the flat side before offering? Am I setting myself up for disaster by expecting baby to adjust to two different nipple shapes and a bottle?

I realize it's still weeks before I have the baby but it's so important to me to be prepared and learn more. As much as I tried to be prepared with my daughter things still went horribly wrong and I'm terrified of experiencing the same issues again.

 

[noon_child]

It can be harder for baby to find a flat nipple and more difficult for you to judge the correct positioning for a good latch, but it is possible to feed from them without a shield depending on the severity of the flatness. If you think about it a baby who has latched on to the nipple has latched incorrectly; they need a mouthful of breast tissue/areole, and once they start sucking the nipple should poke out more.

 

[lindblum]

I went back to work when my first child turned 4 months. She had been exclusively breastfed since birth. I bottle and breastfed her for the following two months. Unfortunately at that time I didn't know how breastfeeding worked and my supply dried up so i continued with formula.

If you want to continue having breast milk for a while after, make sure you pump often, I think its every 2hrs. I kept using longer intervals between pumping which caused my supply to dry up.

good luck x

 

[BunnyN]

Do you know what caused her to refuse the breast at 4 months? Maybe google nursing strike to see how to deal with it if something like that happens again?

Although you didnt make it as long as you wanted it sounds like you must have got some things right because you managed EBFing for 4 months.

 

[Perplexed]

Do you know what caused her to refuse the breast at 4 months? Maybe google nursing strike to see how to deal with it if something like that happens again?

Although you didnt make it as long as you wanted it sounds like you must have got some things right because you managed EBFing for 4 months.

I'm not really sure why she started refusing at 4 months but it was combined with having frequent dry diapers and poor weight gain. I don't remember exactly but I think she was gaining weight but then started losing again and went back to around her weight at her 2 month appointment by 4 months.

I suspect that she had undiagnosed upper lip tie but never found out for sure. I keep wondering if it was the combination of upper lip tie and nipple shields that caused my supply to slowly dry up. I wasn't able to express anything at that point whether by hand or pump. I'd used the pump previously but she had never drank any of it.

Our pediatrician at the time said her gums were a little swollen but that he just believed she wasn't getting enough milk.

 

[noon_child]

You've already experienced a baby who showed nipple confusion (refusing nipple without shield on it) so to avoid that it is best to wait a good three to six weeks before introducing a bottle. A lot of women do bottles straight away with no issues or confusion but if you are determined to breastfeed it may be best to avoid anything that might cause a barrier.

 

[luna_19]

I would definitely try to avoid the nipple shield this time, I have pretty flat nipples and it was a bit of a struggle but we were able to get him latching without using a shield by rolling the nipple to get it sticking up a bit then trying over and over until he got it. As previous posters have said it's best not to introduce a bottle until bf is well established around 6 weeks or so. We did use bottles very early on as we needed to pump amd supplement and were very lucky he didn't develop a preference