bottle feeding breast milk

Hello ppl,I wanted to start expressing milk and bottle feed it to my 3
week old baby.

I only managed to express 2 oz (for a single feed). How much should i
expect to feed her in a feed?

I also read that the teat (teat = the whole rubber thingie or just the
one cm tip with the hole?) should be entirely full of milk in order to
avoid baby from sucking air. However this is hard with just 2 oz milk.
Is it because the bottle is too big?

I fed her 1 oz and baby threw up. Do you think it's because I did
something wrong?

thx,
B

I'm thinking that if the bottle (6oz) was much much tinier (1 or 2 oz)
things would be easier. What are the smallest bottles, which arent
meant as toys?

Also, should I give her chance to swallow every few seconds, by
removing the bottle, or should I just let her go till she drains it?
It's demoralising seeing her throwing up thirty mins of pumping!

Thx,
B

On Jun 4, 11:08 pm, wrote:
Hello ppl,I wanted to start expressing milk and bottle feed it to my 3
week old baby.

I only managed to express 2 oz (for a single feed). How much should i
expect to feed her in a feed?

I also read that the teat (teat = the whole rubber thingie or just the
one cm tip with the hole?) should be entirely full of milk in order to
avoid baby from sucking air. However this is hard with just 2 oz milk.
Is it because the bottle is too big?

I fed her 1 oz and baby threw up. Do you think it's because I did
something wrong?

thx,
B

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello ppl,I wanted to start expressing milk and bottle feed it to my 3
week old baby.

It's great to get a break, but do watch out for signs of 'nipple confusion'
when giving a newborn a bottle. The action needed to suck milk out of a
bottle is different than the action needed to suckle at the breast. This
can cause some babies to prefer bottles, and if this happens then you have a
fight on your hands to get the baby back to the breast. Keep an eye out for
signs of nipple confusion (baby fussing at the breast, refusing to latch
etc), but enjoy the break from continual breast feeding!

I only managed to express 2 oz (for a single feed). How much should i
expect to feed her in a feed?

Babies all have different amounts, so it is practically impossible to know
if this is enough, or too much etc. Trial and error are how to find out.
Many people will express and store it in small amounts of 1-2oz, meaning
that if baby only takes an oz or so then they haven't wasted tons of milk,
and if baby wants more, then put another oz of milk into the bottle.

Do remember that your baby probably gets more out of your breast than you
will by expressing - they are more efficient it at it. 2oz is a good amount
to express on a first go - well done! I know that there will be others here
envious of that much milk!

I also read that the teat (teat = the whole rubber thingie or just the
one cm tip with the hole?) should be entirely full of milk in order to
avoid baby from sucking air. However this is hard with just 2 oz milk.
Is it because the bottle is too big?
The idea is to stop baby gulping air (as you have said). As long as there
is milk at the opening of the teat so that it is milk and not air that goes
into her mouth, you should be fine.

I fed her 1 oz and baby threw up. Do you think it's because I did
something wrong?

As I mentioned above, bottle feeding is a different action to breast
feeding. Bottle feeding usually means that the baby takes more air.
Usually, babies need to be burped more frequently when a bottle is given -
could this be the problem? It may just be that she happened to throw up
that one time! Don't start blaming yourself though!

thx,
B


From your second post, I don't think a smaller bottle would make much
difference. I also think that you can let her keep drinking until she is
finished, or you think she may need burping (perhaps half way through?).

I fully understand watching a lot of hard pumping being thrown up! Throwing
undrunk but defrosted/heated milk down the drain is equally depressing!

Suzanne

if you can't get the nipple full with 2oz of milk then you'll have that
problem with the last 2oz in a bottle whatever you do, so you really want to
figure this out, rather than assume you need more milk.

It's much more an angle thing, obviously if there is more milk you need less
of an angle, but as I said, bottles need to be finished, particularly ebm,
which is liquid gold! (formula isn't cheap either). A baby can feed pretty
much lieing down, so don't have preconveived ideas that they have to be a
particular angle (you might want to have them upright afterwards though).
4oz is what seems to be the smallest bottle, though they hold 5-6oz, you
could try a narrow nipple, though most people seem to think the wide ones
are more like breastfeeding. The other thing is bottle liners, if you're
storing breast milk, you can figure out a compatible system, so the storage
bag becomes the feeding bag, then no air can get in. There is also something
called a Haberman feeder, which is like a long nipple, I've heard of people
using it for breastfed babies, though it was intended for special needs I
think.

You didn't give enough details to know whether 2oz is good or not, a newborn
feed often is around 2oz, but if that was pumped in addition to bfing, then
it's really good, if it was instead of breastfeeding, you may need to watch
out for your supply, post more details if you need help.

Cheers

Anne

"Suzanne S" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello ppl,I wanted to start expressing milk and bottle feed it to my 3
week old baby.

It's great to get a break, but do watch out for signs of 'nipple
confusion' when giving a newborn a bottle. The action needed to suck milk
out of a bottle is different than the action needed to suckle at the
breast. This can cause some babies to prefer bottles, and if this happens
then you have a fight on your hands to get the baby back to the breast.
Keep an eye out for signs of nipple confusion (baby fussing at the breast,
refusing to latch etc), but enjoy the break from continual breast feeding!

Oh yikes. I kind of had a reverse issue with DD2.
Every baby, I've found, is so very different. DS was nursed and also had
bottles of EBM. If it was food, he didn't care where it came from. Food
was food was food for him. Breast or bottle, he didn't care, but I found I
bf more for my convenience... I didn't really have a "need" to bottle feed
and didn't really *need* that break or slight freedom. He'd take whatever
and didn't complain.
DD1 would not take a breast. At around 5ish months, IIRC, she started to
lose weight and it became a concern. Tried a bottle and she never looked
back.
DD2, OTOH, has refused a bottle. Around 4 weeks, I tried giving her a
bottle just for that freedom and break. She did take a bottle, about a
total of 8oz over the span of about a week (about 2oz every other day,
sometimes every 3 days) and then she up and refused a bottle around 2
months, I think? Ever since that, she will not take a bottle.
So, on the flip side to nipple confusion or baby having a preference for the
bottle over the breast (which I've heard can be because a bottle is easier
and less work sucking, among other reasons) you might have that
disappointment of the baby trying a bottle then just absolutely refusing it
not long after! For as long as I can remember now, DD2 has not had a
bottle, and it's because she *won't* take it!

I only managed to express 2 oz (for a single feed). How much should i
expect to feed her in a feed?

Babies all have different amounts, so it is practically impossible to know
if this is enough, or too much etc. Trial and error are how to find out.
Many people will express and store it in small amounts of 1-2oz, meaning
that if baby only takes an oz or so then they haven't wasted tons of milk,
and if baby wants more, then put another oz of milk into the bottle.

Do remember that your baby probably gets more out of your breast than you
will by expressing - they are more efficient it at it. 2oz is a good
amount to express on a first go - well done! I know that there will be
others here envious of that much milk!

That is a good amount for the first little while. Once again, it sure seems
every baby is different. I remember with DS, I was able to express TONS of
milk. I could manually express a good 6-8oz per session, and still be able
to give him a good nursing right after I finished expressing and storing
that milk. It seemed like I had enough to feed an army of babies at the
same time for a very, very long time.
With DD1, she had lost quite a bit of weight and wouldn't/couldn't nurse.
I'm sure this was partly because of her good sleeping. She slept a good 6-7
hours from the day she was born and was sleeping 12 hour straight through
the night by 3 months. I couldn't pump once I realized there could be an
issue with feeding, as I don't think we had a good supply going from the
start because she was sleeping through the night. I think those no night
feedings had a huge impact since it was right from day 1.
DD2 on occasion still wakes at night for a feeding, and she's 7 months. She
nurses like a champ, refuses a bottle, but that's fine since her weight gain
is fantastic and she's healthy and going strong. To this day, I still
cannot manually express much of anything (seriously, not more than a few
drops it seems, so no more than probably 1/4oz TOPS) and the pump proved to
be totally useless. Couldn't get much more with the pump either, and I had
even tried to go so far as the Medela Symphony(?) hospital grade pump. I
was left with cracked, sore, red, chapped, bleeding nipples from the pump,
yet DD2 does a fantastic job.
2oz is fantastic, and even if you had to pump and pump and work for that,
it's still a good amount. I actually found out my expressing and pumping
with DS and what seemed like massive amounts was not so typical for the
majority. I now feel like I was some sort of milk mutant! DDs both showed
me that it's not always as easy as I found it was with DS!

I also read that the teat (teat = the whole rubber thingie or just the
one cm tip with the hole?) should be entirely full of milk in order to
avoid baby from sucking air. However this is hard with just 2 oz milk.
Is it because the bottle is too big?
The idea is to stop baby gulping air (as you have said). As long as there
is milk at the opening of the teat so that it is milk and not air that
goes into her mouth, you should be fine.

I fed her 1 oz and baby threw up. Do you think it's because I did
something wrong?

As I mentioned above, bottle feeding is a different action to breast
feeding. Bottle feeding usually means that the baby takes more air.
Usually, babies need to be burped more frequently when a bottle is given -
could this be the problem? It may just be that she happened to throw up
that one time! Don't start blaming yourself though!

thx,
B


From your second post, I don't think a smaller bottle would make much
difference. I also think that you can let her keep drinking until she is
finished, or you think she may need burping (perhaps half way through?).

I fully understand watching a lot of hard pumping being thrown up!
Throwing undrunk but defrosted/heated milk down the drain is equally
depressing!

Suzanne

I have also heard that just because the baby throws up, it doesn't
necessarily mean the milk and effort was wasted. I was told (I think it was
confirmed here, actually, a while back) that baby can get what they need,
even if they throw or spit it up. The nutrients and all that go in pretty
quick, and I had this problem with DD2. Constant spitting up. Some babies
are just spitters, and I also did find that burping a little more often
helped... Even with DD2, who is breastfed and won't take a bottle. When she
was younger, I did find that burping her a little more often helped with the
spitting up issue. Maybe it helped settle her stomach a bit, maybe it
helped get that air out before more milk went on top of a little air bubble
in her tummy. Either way, for me with DD2, burping did help a little bit.
I also found she grew out of it. She used to be such a puker, now not at
all. I think the spitting up stopped around 4ish months or so. I stopped
burping her at all around 5ish months, and she doesn't spit up at all (the
rare, rare occasion excluded, and in these cases it's hardly anything) so it
is very possible this spitting up phase will stop!
Sounds like you (the OP) is doing great. 2oz is fantastic, and as long as
the weight gain continues, baby doesn't seem fussy, cranky, irritable,
whatever, I think you're doing great.

wrote:
I only managed to express 2 oz (for a single feed).

It takes practice. 2oz is a great start.


How much should i expect to feed her in a feed?

As much as she wants. Experience will tell how much that is.


I also read that the teat (teat = the whole rubber thingie or just the
one cm tip with the hole?) should be entirely full of milk in order to
avoid baby from sucking air. However this is hard with just 2 oz milk.
Is it because the bottle is too big?

The key is that the baby sucks only milk, not air, from the bottle.
If you are having problems with 2oz in the bottle I guess the bottle
is being held too low. Hold it so that the nipple is down, and fills
with milk.

Let us know how it goes,

Pologirl

wrote:

I only managed to express 2 oz (for a single feed). How much should i
expect to feed her in a feed?

Expressing 2 oz. at one time while you are
nursing is a great amount. Average is 1 oz.
Expressing instead of nursing (such as at
work), 3 oz. is average. It takes a couple
to a few pumping sessions to get enough
expressed breastmilk for one feeding.

I also read that the teat (teat = the whole rubber thingie or just the
one cm tip with the hole?) should be entirely full of milk in order to
avoid baby from sucking air. However this is hard with just 2 oz milk.
Is it because the bottle is too big?

It's just the angle. Don't worry, there's
no way to prevent baby from getting air. Just
burp her well after feeding.

I fed her 1 oz and baby threw up. Do you think it's because I did
something wrong?

It might have been air. Maybe she gagged.
It was probably some mundane reason...

-- Anita --

thanks you all for your encouragement. i have a question, which
although hypothetical, i would really like to know more about:

in the scenario that i switch over completely to bottle and abandon
the breast, how many oz would a average month old baby need per day
and how many oz per feed.

how often should you pump to keep up this supply? do you have to pump
at the same time each day?

thx

wrote:
thanks you all for your encouragement. i have a question, which
although hypothetical, i would really like to know more about:

in the scenario that i switch over completely to bottle and abandon
the breast, how many oz would a average month old baby need per day
and how many oz per feed.

how often should you pump to keep up this supply? do you have to pump
at the same time each day?

thx




Totally hypothetical question here, but am I right that you haven't
asked a midwife or lactation consultant to come over and check your
latch? You have written before about using nipple shields, so I'm
guessing you're having problems nursing.
If your nipples hurt or even bleed you _need_ to get the latch checked.
This is not normal, this is a latch problem. Call a midwife as soon as
you can and ask her for help.
Pumping exclusively is a huge pain, especially since you'll then be
dealing with:
- pumping
- feeding the pumped milk
- cleaning bottles and pump
I'm guessing this takes roughly 2-3 times as long as breastfeeding

Get help with your latch and you'll be fine in a few days/weeks max.
Establishing a supply that's adequate by pumping alone is not really
easy as far as I know, so really, getting help breastfeeding would be
your better option.

cu
nicole