BF and adding a bottle

erbear

Dh and I plan to introduce a bottle later this week. I know that, for a while, I need to pump when DH is giving the bottle to keep my supply up. I have a few questions about this:

1. Should I give DD that milk right away? I have been pumping for about a week after her morning feeding and have been able to get 5-7 ounces each day in the freezer. Would you use the freezer supply the next day, or the fresh milk?

2. At what point can I stop pumping at the same time as the feeding? I would continue to pump once during the day (I want to be able to have some BM for DD for 6 months, but I will be home from work until Sept. After I go back, I'd like to nurse in the am and pm, and give bottles at daycare).  I would love to be able to have DH do one night feeding so I can sleep more that an hour or two at a time!

mjcleve

1. Fresh milk is always better than frozen.   I would only use frozen milk if you need to - keep that as your "emergency" stash but keep in mind that it is only good for 3 months in a regular freezer and 6-12 months in a deep freeze.  What I would do is continue to pump after her morning feeding.  Put that milk in the fridge.  I assume DC will only eat 2-4 oz so you can freeze any extra plus what you pump while DC is having a bottle.

https://www.askdrsears.com/faq/bf25.asp

2. I wouldn't quit pumping while bottle feeding until you are okay with your supply dipping.

Lotte134

From what I've read your supply stabilizes around 12 weeks so at that point I felt comfortable skipping a feeding every now and then (once a week or once every 2 weeks) and it hasn't seemed to affect me at all.  Now the issue is more, do I really want to use milk but not replace it?  Generally I still pump to replace the feeding just so I'm not dipping into my freezer stash.