Hey guys, Just needing a little bit of help I have a 4 week old little boy that I am succesfully breast feeding however I am considering expressing so that other people if needed can feed him but just got a few questions.
1. Is 4 weeks old enough to begin giving him a bottle of expressed milk or will this play havok with breastfeeding as I know the suction is different,I would hate for him to stop nursing?
2.How much breastmilk do I need to express to satisfy him each feed - Do not want to give him too less and he is still hungry for whoever is feeding him?
3.I know its best to express whilst feeding in the morning but what happens if my baby wants the other breast, Wont it be "empty" due to the expressing?
Be great for your help
XX
Gurgle expert Liz Costagliola says 'Hi from 3 weeks onwards it is fine to express breast milk and to offer it in a bottle. By this stage breast feeding is fairly well established and offering a bottle at this stage shouldn’t interfere with breast feeding. Breast milk is produced on a supply and demand basis and therefore the more baby feeds or you express the more milk you will produce and therefore you will always produce enough milk for baby. All babies take differing amounts of milk and so its trial and error as to how much milk your baby will take. It is important that there is always a bit of milk left in the bottle at the end of feed, this way you know that baby has enough to fill him. As a guide to get you started offer half his weight – if your baby is 10 lbs then offer 5oz of milk – and then just be guided by your baby.
Hope this helps
Liz'
Thank you Liz, This is a great help...I'll use his weight as a rough guide X
Gurgle expert Liz Costagliola says 'Hi from 3 weeks onwards it is fine to express breast milk and to offer it in a bottle. By this stage breast feeding is fairly well established and offering a bottle at this stage shouldn’t interfere with breast feeding. Breast milk is produced on a supply and demand basis and therefore the more baby feeds or you express the more milk you will produce and therefore you will always produce enough milk for baby. All babies take differing amounts of milk and so its trial and error as to how much milk your baby will take. It is important that there is always a bit of milk left in the bottle at the end of feed, this way you know that baby has enough to fill him. As a guide to get you started offer half his weight – if your baby is 10 lbs then offer 5oz of milk – and then just be guided by your baby.
Hope this helps
Liz'
Hey again :)
You can bottlefeed anytime from now hun as baby is well established on the breast. He may refuse a bottle a few times but they do eventually get the hang of it.
If he wants to feed on the one breast, then express off the other one at the same time. I bought a medela electric breast pump which is recommended by midwives as I had trouble with a tommee tippee manual one and I had to go into hospital for a few days so wanted to get as much milk as I could before going in..I couldnt express much. I can now get 6oz in the morning no problem with the medela.
It depends on the baby hun on how much to feed him..try 3/4oz and see how that goes. You can store your breastmilk in the fridge/freezer for upto 6months (freezer)if you wanted to create a supply. x
Cheers for advice hun, Will give this expressing lark a try tomorrow...I have the manual Tommee Tippee I'll see how it goes if no luck ill invest in a Medela...How much are they and where from|?
Hey again :)
You can bottlefeed anytime from now hun as baby is well established on the breast. He may refuse a bottle a few times but they do eventually get the hang of it.
If he wants to feed on the one breast, then express off the other one at the same time. I bought a medela electric breast pump which is recommended by midwives as I had trouble with a tommee tippee manual one and I had to go into hospital for a few days so wanted to get as much milk as I could before going in..I couldnt express much. I can now get 6oz in the morning no problem with the medela.
It depends on the baby hun on how much to feed him..try 3/4oz and see how that goes. You can store your breastmilk in the fridge/freezer for upto 6months (freezer)if you wanted to create a supply. x
Hey guys, Just needing a little bit of help I have a 4 week old little boy that I am succesfully breast feeding however I am considering expressing so that other people if needed can feed him but just got a few questions.
1. Is 4 weeks old enough to begin giving him a bottle of expressed milk or will this play havok with breastfeeding as I know the suction is different,I would hate for him to stop nursing?
2.How much breastmilk do I need to express to satisfy him each feed - Do not want to give him too less and he is still hungry for whoever is feeding him?
3.I know its best to express whilst feeding in the morning but what happens if my baby wants the other breast, Wont it be "empty" due to the expressing?
Be great for your help
XX
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