Breast or Bottle?

[SugarKisses]

Katie is now 8 weeks old, 35 weeks corrected. I posted a thread a few weeks ago about her being on a tiny amount of oxygen for quite a few weeks and was wondering if she would grow out of it? Well on xmas day, she did. Though, 2 days after she had her 8 week jabs, so we are keeping an eye on her.

Anyways, breast or bottle? Ive been expressing for 8 weeks now and thankfully I am still able to get quite a good amount of milk. We have been trying her to the breast since about 33 weeks and 2 days, though she didnt really get her sucking reflex till she was 34 weeks. Shes done well sometimes, she latches on, has a good lick and has a good suck, got 4mls down her the other day untill she starting falling asleep and de-satting....im keen to keep trying with the breast feeding, but heres the thing....

A mum who had her baby 4 days before I had Katie (hers was 26+4) started trying with a bottle AFTER I had already started Katie with the breast and her baby is now fully bottle fed and just about ready to go home-so its took her about a week or 2 to get bottle feeding and breast feeding for me and Katie seems to be taking longer. Which is making me want to stop breastfeeding and start bottle feeding so we can get her home quicker.
We did try her with a bottle today and she done amazingly well with it. Took her about 20 mins to guzzle 54ml down....My idea was to get her on a bottle to see how she coped and then she might realize the more she sucked the more fuller her tummy will get so then she will recognize this and do the same with my boob?

Any recommendations on what you think is best?

 

[Sugarmuppet]

We did that. Gave her a bottle to get home quicker.

Gaby was born at 33 weeks and had no interest what so ever in breastfeeding. We tried and tried, after 13 days we finally gave her a bottle and she took a full feed. We were home 3 days later. Which was great...but...expressing is such a pain in the neck. I tried Gaby to the breast at every feed but it still took her until she was 16 weeks to take a full feed from me. Then she alternated between breast and bottle. I finally chucked expressing after 6 months and put her on formula.

I regret not trying harder to get her to fully breastfeed and I feel like we have missed something. However I did what I thought was best at the time.

Good Luck. x

 

[25weeker]

I breastfed using a nipple shield as my lo wouldn't latch well without it. I used it when she came home for about 6 weeks then weaned her off it. I don't think I could have solely expressed when she came home as a baby is time consuming enough. I am still breastfeeding and she is 1 in 2 weeks.

 

[lozzy21]

Could you keep trying her at the boob and then top her up with the bottle after? She may eventualy get the hang of the boob better and you wont need the bottles and still might get home quicker.

 

[SugarKisses]

I try her with the nipple shield too and she manages better with that rather than just boob iykwim....but its just the fact i see all these other babies bottle feeding and they are in and out quicker...obviously I dont want to rush Katie home, she will come when shes ready, but im eager to try anything to make it a little quicker iykwim?

Loz, I guess thats an option, but then they also have that 'thing' about the teat and nipple confusion? Urgh, its such a tough decision to make. 1 bottle today wont have made a difference iykwim?

I love the closeness of her being on my boob and I know she can do it a little bit, but the way I seen her with the bottle today.... makes me questions things even more and I guess with a bottle you know how much they get and they apparently go longer between feeds with bottle....

Help lol

 

[Sugarmuppet]

In my opinion if you think she will breast feed I would keep working at it.

However, in my experience it was great expressing and bottlefeeding because I knew how much she was getting and she was in a fabulous routine. This is probably why I didn't give up expressing when she started to feed from me and why we didn't make a success of it.

I'm not being much help am I? Just don't put too much pressure on yourself, at the end of the day as long as she is healthy not a lot else matters. Just take it one step at a time and do what you think is best at that moment, don't look back in hindsight and think what if i'd done it differently.

 

[lozzy21]

Not every baby gets nipple confusion and you can get bottles that help. Click the link and have a look at the supplimental nursing system

https://www.medela.com/IW/en/breastfeeding/products/breastmilk-feeding/special-feeding-devices.html

I had this dilema with Niamh and i choose to express what i could and then bottle feed her, i was desperate for her to be off the drip and in transitional care with me. She went on the breast for the first time (after the night she was born) at 10 days old with the help of a nipple shield and were still going with formula top ups.

Using nipple shields arnt as good as going on the boob with out but if its whats best for you then there is nothing wrong in using them.

 

[AP]

On lozzys link check out the calma bottle! Ive been intrigued since someone posted it recently xxx

 

[lozzy21]

If you decide on the calma iv got one sat here that iv never used with Niamh, i dont mind posting it up.

 

[hekate]

hi hun! I miss you on here!
well done Katie on coming of the oxygen and well done you for expressing for 8 weeks!

I think it really depends how much want to breastfeed...
I felt like that too when Redley was in NICU and others were leaving quicker, because of the bottle feeding...but in the long run I am glad I stuck to it.....
it has not been easy, but now breastfeeding is really rewarding...seeing that he puts on weight and grows so well...and after missing out on all the bonding after birth and the weeks of him "belonging" to the hospital rather then me/us it was a great way of bonding and him and me arriving were we should be....together!
sorry if I am sounding a bit sentimental...lol....

it sounds to me like she is doing really great! if she can get 4 ml then can get 54ml....eventually.....Redley used to take tiny amounts and I know it is so frustrating, but it sounds to me like she is nearly there.....
she just gets tiered easily....that's normal....have you got any help of a breastfeeding adviser?...maybe you could try and keep her awake a little longer by playing with her hands or changing her nappy half way through a feed? have they got a parenting/rooming in room?
as for knowing what she is getting....I worried about that to and thought it would be easier with a bottle, but I got over that quickly...as Redley was gaining weight and had plenty of wet and dirty nappies.....

as far as I know you... I think that you may regret not waiting a few days or a week until Katie can breastfeed sufficiently after sticking to it for so long!
but hun if your heart tells to give her a bottle then that is what you must do!

take care!

 

[Laura2919]

Chloe and Jaycee were bottle fed from the beginning. I didnt see them for 5 days after they were born but we had already decided on bottle feeding.
They told me to buy some cheaper bottles from boots or a supermarket but my girls hated them so I ended up with my original tommee tippee ones and they took to them fine.

 

[ButtonJessie]

hi hun! I miss you on here!
I think it really depends how much want to breastfeed...
I felt like that too when Redley was in NICU and others were leaving quicker, because of the bottle feeding...but in the long run I am glad I stuck to it.....
it has not been easy, but now breastfeeding is really rewarding...seeing that he puts on weight and grows so well...and after missing out on all the bonding after birth and the weeks of him "belonging" to the hospital rather then me/us it was a great way of bonding and him and me arriving were we should be....together!
sorry if I am sounding a bit sentimental...lol....
take care!

^Totally agree. Also, because its during the third trimester that babies recieve antibodies from their mums, so preemies have much lower immune systems than term babies, I really wanted to breast feed to help Lola cope with this harsh winter, since germs are so rife at the moment.

Me and the other mums on SCBU talked about this loads. The quickest way to get babies out of hospital is to put them on the bottle, but if breast milk is what you want to give your child, then I would say keep trying to estabish breast feeding. When you come home you'll find it very difficult to express for every feed, the routine is much harder once you're home I found.

I am breast feeding Lola with the Medela nipple shields (medium - the small ones are slightly thicker and she struggled with them). They made a massive difference for us, she could never manage a feed without them.

Formula fed babies go longer between feeds (breast milk is easier for them to digest so they get hungrier quicker), but bottle feeding with expressed milk doesn't make them go longer. If you want to do a combination of breast and bottle, tommee tippees are supposed to be easier to combine. Lola has had two bottles of my milk (TT bottles) and she got on with them fine. They do suggest in hospitals that preemies like the cheapo long teats, but i think that is most likely to cause nipple confusion since they are so very differently shaped.

Good luck. i know it's SO SO hard to make such a big decision. The desire to just GET.THEM.HOME is massive, but if in your heart you want to breastfeed then I'd say its worth sticking it out. She will be home eventually, and then she's all yours

xxx

 

[roxie78]

I agree if you do want to breastfeed then do stick with it. I'm afraid I am guilty of bottle feeding my LO to get home quicker too (well, we were doing expressing and bottle feeding formula) but once we got home the expressing didnt last long cos I just didnt have the time. So now she is just on formula but obviously breastmilk has added health benefits. Just do what you feel happiest doing.

 

[xUniquex]

despite the strong desire to just get bub home i would stick with it.

It may take her a little longer to get the hang of BF but the health benefits are so amazing and will be much more beneficial to her than coming home quicker on formula.

I found it so frustrating when DS2 was in NICU and off all his assistance,all he needed to do was get the hang of BF before coming home,and if he was on the bottle he would have probably come home a lot faster!
However i know that BM is what he NEEDS especially as a PP said being prem makes them more vulnerable to colds/infections etc.

the thing i found comforting was knowing that the end was in sight!Quite often prems just 'click' with the BF and it all comes along at once

Whatever you decide be 110% sure because expressing exclusively is bloody hard work!

 

[bob2331]

Hey,

I would have loved to breastfed Harry but due to his prematurity, i could, i expressed for him for 13 weeks but due to my health, i couldnt do it anymore, so he had to go on to bottles, although, the hospital i was at wouldnt let me breastfed only bottle feed him to start with so i think he got used to the bottles.

I did see in the unit though, bottle fed babies went hope quicker.

We tried all different types of bottles for Harry and in the end, Dr Brown's were the ones for us, now he is bigger, we are using advent bottles x

 

[Dani-lou]

Hey,
Well done Katie, sounds as though she is doing wonderfully.
Theo was born at 35wks so no way massively prem but he did have issues with feeding which in turn led to low blood sugar and he was in scbu for a short time. I tried so hard to bf and really wanted to - It had been my plan throughout my preg to bf but sadly I just didnt have enough milk and with the issues Theo had with his sugar levels I needed to ensure his levels didnt slip so couldnt afford to risk him not getting enough milk. When we was in hosp I did both BF by expressing (so I could see how much he was getting) a little BF on the breast for addtional comfort and formula so effectively I was combination feeding. Some women BF exclusively and it works for them and their little ones but sadly it wasnt the case for me. I often felt pressured by friends who had babies to BF but they were fortunate enough to have their babies home with them immediately after delivery so BF for them did not come with the added complications of having a baby in hosp. I did BF and bottle feed for around 3-4 weeks until I decided to feed solely with formula an Theo is putting on LOTS of weight fast and seems happier.

Danielle x