I'm a little surprised! (& a pumping question)

I posted a little while ago with some questions about pumping (I'm going to
be working outside the home about 6 hours per week total). Anyway, my DS is
6 weeks old today and I decided it was time to give pumping a try. I started
out while he was nursing on one side, but I couldn't lean forward properly
and the Isis wasn't working quite right. So, I waited until he had finished
up on and then pumped two ounces in under five minutes! I was quite
surprised and pleased with myself. It was weird to see the milk in the
bottle--I see it running down his face quite a lot, but it was strange to
actually see any quantity of it together in one place.

My second surprise was that we decided to try to have DH feed the EBM to DS
after his morning nap, just to practice a bit and see what happened. I was
expecting him to spit out the plastic nipple and protest a bit. I also made
sure to be out of sight and those sorts of things. As it was, DH gave the
bottle to him and he took it and drank it just fine. I even came into view
and stood next to them without a reaction. I confess that I felt like crying
a little really--I am glad that things went so smoothly, but I was expecting
to be a little bit more sought after! After the bottle, he nursed a bit more
on one side.

How often should we try this little routine to make sure that he remembers
how to take the bottle when I do go back to work (not til next month)?

With mixed feelings.....

--
Em
mama to Lann, 9/21/03
(six weeks old today!)

"Em" wrote in message
news:qUbpb.85818$Fm2.66793@attbi_s04...
I posted a little while ago with some questions about pumping (I'm going
to
be working outside the home about 6 hours per week total). Anyway, my DS
is
6 weeks old today and I decided it was time to give pumping a try. I
started
out while he was nursing on one side, but I couldn't lean forward properly
and the Isis wasn't working quite right. So, I waited until he had
finished
up on and then pumped two ounces in under five minutes! I was quite
surprised and pleased with myself. It was weird to see the milk in the
bottle--I see it running down his face quite a lot, but it was strange to
actually see any quantity of it together in one place.

My second surprise was that we decided to try to have DH feed the EBM to
DS
after his morning nap, just to practice a bit and see what happened. I was
expecting him to spit out the plastic nipple and protest a bit. I also
made
sure to be out of sight and those sorts of things. As it was, DH gave the
bottle to him and he took it and drank it just fine. I even came into view
and stood next to them without a reaction. I confess that I felt like
crying
a little really--I am glad that things went so smoothly, but I was
expecting
to be a little bit more sought after! After the bottle, he nursed a bit
more
on one side.

How often should we try this little routine to make sure that he remembers
how to take the bottle when I do go back to work (not til next month)?

With mixed feelings.....

--
Em
mama to Lann, 9/21/03
(six weeks old today!)

Hi Em

You say 6 hours per week total, in what blocks of time will that be? To be
honest I wonder if you need even leave him any milk.

Having said that, it's great it's worked for you, despite the weird twinge
of jealousy, I remember feeling the same when my daughter had a bottle of
expressed milk, I disliked it so much we never bothered again!

If you really, really want to leave him the milk I would ensure you get into
a daily routine of him having a bottle. Most babies prefer breast to teat,
and who can blame them, and by doing it daily he should continue to accept
it fine. If for some reason you can't do this, go back to my first
statement - you may well be able to BF around your work depending upon how
it's set up.

Nikki

My second surprise was that we decided to try to have DH feed the EBM to DS
after his morning nap, just to practice a bit and see what happened. I was
expecting him to spit out the plastic nipple and protest a bit. I also made
sure to be out of sight and those sorts of things. As it was, DH gave the
bottle to him and he took it and drank it just fine. I even came into view
and stood next to them without a reaction. I confess that I felt like crying
a little really--I am glad that things went so smoothly, but I was expecting
to be a little bit more sought after!

I know exactly how you feel. :-) It was the same for me when DS had his first
bottle -- and took it with no trouble whatsoever.

How often should we try this little routine to make sure that he remembers
how to take the bottle when I do go back to work (not til next month)?

If you want to be really careful, once or twice a week. If you're too lazy to
deal with the pump and bottles that often, once every other week or so will
probably do. I think DS got a grand total of something like three bottle
feedings in the 4 months between the first one and when I went back to work FT,
and we never had any trouble, but plenty of other moms find that any "break"
from bottles is followed by a round of bottle refusal.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 2.5 yrs