First time away from LO...pumping

[channy3232]

So we have a wedding this weekend and my MIL is watching LO. I pumped last night and this morning so I have two feedings worth of milk. Should we "practice" giving him a bottle tonight maybe? My sister suggested my OH giving it to him so not to confuse him? Also is it a bad thing to bottle feed and go back to BF? We're not going to be at the wedding long so he should only need fed once hopefully.

 

[Mervs Mum]

I dont know how old he is but young babies can get confused by bottles but some are just fine.

Enjoy the wedding!

 

[channy3232]

He's 2 wks old. I think that's what my sister meant. That he might get confused. My hubby gave him a bottle 2 nights ago and he did fine. He's given him 2 since then so I can sleep through the night. I've also been BFing in between and he's done fine. Is there any harm in this if hes latching on to breast and bottle? Also if he were to reject my breast and only feed from the bottle, is there any harm in that?

 

[Mervs Mum]

He might be fine now but when he realises that its waaaay easier to get food from a bottle he may go on a nursing strike - basically refuse to latch. This can be very upsetting and frustrating as they basically go on hunger strike till they get a bottle and of course you'll soon run out of EBM and then you'll need to resort to formula which will knock on to your supply. Exclusive pumping can be done if you were so unlucky to end up in this situation but its very very hard - see the sticky thread at the top of this page. On top of that it's really much too soon to be expressing - mum's expressing at this stage often end up stopping BFing as he amounts they get to start with are so small they start to doubt their supply, when actually the pump cant get the milk out like your LO can.

Of course all of this is the worst case in many respects and you could get lucky.

 

[anothersquish]

Honestly I wouldnt worry too much about the odd bottle. You can buy teats that "behave" more like a breast and he will have to latch on and suck in a very similar way. These can be a little expensive but definately worth investing in if you wish to use bottles every now and again. I exclusively BF with my first til he was 10 months old and now I wish I hadnt, I really wish I had expressed and let his dad feed him from a bottle at least one night a week as it would have made my life much easier and made supplementing him with forumla as he got bigger and hungrier easier, by the time he was 9/10 months I just couldnt keep up with him despite him being on solids as well.
My friends youngest (now 8 months) has been given a combination of bottle and breast since he was a week old and he happily accepts both and has no problems switching from one to the other.