Can i breastfeeed and pump?

[danni2609]

I didnt breastfeed my daughter but have decided to this time round but i was wondering if i can breastfeed during night feeds and pump it into bottles for the day feeds? Dont know if that will cause confusion for LO?Thanx

 

[Hevz]

In theory yes but I would recommend that breastfeeding is well established first otherwise baby may prefer teat to nipple (as it's easier and baby doesn't have to "work" to get the milk from a teat). You can practice getting used to pumping still though and express and freeze your milk...also that way you will be encouraging your body to produce extra milk and will be building a back up supply in the freezer


Expressing does take a bit of getting used to for some people and you may get barely anything the first few times you try....so be prepared for that. It takes a bit of practice.



The breast and bottle feeding section on this site is also really good with lots of experienced Mums and I think some may be councillors on there. I am a "Breastmate" and have therefore done training to help local mums in my area to breastfeed for longer so if you need any other help or advice I'm more than happy to oblige


Good luck

 

[danni2609]

thank you thats really helped

 

[sam's mum]

Some people do with no problems, but you might find at the start that you won't get much out with the pump. For the first couple of weeks Sam was on me pretty much constantly, and all the sucking stimulates your body to produce lots of milk. Giving bottles can result in nipple confusion, as a different technique is needed to suck on a bottle teat (it's also easier for them to get milk out of a bottle so they can get frustrated by the fact that they sometimes have to work harder for their food) but some babies have no problems doing both - loads of people on here are combining breast & bottle. I was advised to introduce a bottle between 4 and 6 weeks (long enough for breastfeeding to be established but not so long that Sam would refuse to feed from anything other than me) and he's never had a problem with bottles. I think I'd find pumping for all his day feeds quite time consuming compared to feeding him myself, but if we're going somewhere and I might not be able to feed him I'll pump and take a bottle of expressed milk.

Didn't mean to waffle on so much - sorry! Just meant to say that yes, it's possible but bear in mind that trying your LO on a bottle too early might cause nipple confusion, and you might not get as much with the pump as your LO would get out by feeding, as they are much more efficient at sucking the milk out.

Good luck x

[edit...and I obviously took far too long to reply anyway...sorry Hevz - didn't mean to just repeat what you said ]

 

[Blob]

This is what i plan on doing too... hope baby co operates with it eeek!!