Breast pump at the hospital??

christinajon

For those of you that plan to strictly BF (me) are you bringing your pump to the hospital?  I am not going back to work, but I want to start bottle feeding LO once a day so that DH can get in some bonding time.  I have heard that it is better to introduce the bottle within a few days rather than wait longer, so LO doesn't refuse the bottle.  Thoughts???

MrsG.060708

With DD, I didn't. I didn't pump and introduce a bottle until she was a month old, and she did fine with it. She wasn't fed a bottle very often, but we didn't have any issues with it (and she actually took the one and only type of bottle I had bought--we had no need to try other bottles either).

My sister just had a baby last Wednesday and introduced a bottle with days, and so far, there hasn't been any issues with my nephew going back and forth between breast and bottle.

krahgozar

At our breastfeeding class, we were told not to introduce a bottle for at least a month because of nipple confusion.  I am a FTM so I don't have any first hand experience to share.

beedale862003

krahgozar:

At our breastfeeding class, we were told not to introduce a bottle for at least a month because of nipple confusion. 

This is the general rule of thumb, wait until about 4 weeks to introduce bottles.  Plus really unless you have to for some reason you don't want to pump those first few weeks on top of breastfeeding frequently. 

Jen&Peter

IMO and personal experience, DH can still bond with the baby even if he isn't feeding him a bottle. Dad's bond with babies differently than moms. Human nature

If you plan to BF, your best bet at being successful at BFing is to make sure you EBF for the first few weeks to make sure your supply keeps up with the new little one. The baby will go through growth spurts even early on so you will want to make sure your milk supply keeps up. Of course it still may be possible to pump to keep it up, but it is so much easier to get the hang of it and so convenient to just BF the baby and not worry about the pumping and the bottle feeding the first few weeks (for me the first few months).

I didn't bring my pump to the hospital. First of all, your milk might not even come in until you get home (depends on how long you stay at the hospital after the birth). Second of all, it is hard to pump colostrum which is all that comes out in the beginning anyway. If you are determined to let DH feed the baby via bottle, I say just wait until you get home. A couple days of him not feeding the baby a bottle will not harm the bonding time they would share anyway.

jonnygurl76

most hospitals have pumps already in the rooms although you may not get much of anything even if you do pump right away except colostrum, it takes a few days for your millk to come in.  and nothing works better at building up your supply than LO--much better than any pump.

also i didn't introduce a bottle until 3 weeks for fear of nipple confusion.  she did ok with it and then refused any bottle once she hit 4 months--luckily i am SAHM and was able to just BF but my point is every baby is different. 

Mereou12

Jen&Peter:

IMO and personal experience, DH can still bond with the baby even if he isn't feeding him a bottle. Dad's bond with babies differently than moms. Human nature

If you plan to BF, your best bet at being successful at BFing is to make sure you EBF for the first few weeks to make sure your supply keeps up with the new little one. The baby will go through growth spurts even early on so you will want to make sure your milk supply keeps up. Of course it still may be possible to pump to keep it up, but it is so much easier to get the hang of it and so convenient to just BF the baby and not worry about the pumping and the bottle feeding the first few weeks (for me the first few months).

I didn't bring my pump to the hospital. First of all, your milk might not even come in until you get home (depends on how long you stay at the hospital after the birth). Second of all, it is hard to pump colostrum which is all that comes out in the beginning anyway. If you are determined to let DH feed the baby via bottle, I say just wait until you get home. A couple days of him not feeding the baby a bottle will not harm the bonding time they would share anyway.

I agree 100% (and was just about to compose a lengthy response almost identical to this). Don't worry, your hubby will bond with the baby, even if he isn't bottle feeding from day 1.

And you really don't want to lug your pump to the hospital. It's just on more thing to drag back and forth. If you really feel the need to pump right away, you can always use a hospital grade pump.

forensicmama

I didn't need one with DD and I don't plan to bring it this time, either. I EBF DD and BF her for 2.5 years. Just FYI, look up pumping and research it thoroughly. You don't want to depend on pumping too early or your supply will tank. Also, you need to be comfortable with what is normal for a pumping session (1-2 oz is pretty normal) and how to begin a stash of milk, how long it'll last in the freezer, etc.

 

Check out Kellymom.com on the web. It's a great resource!

varkeyr

Your milk does not come in until day 3 or even 4. By that time you should be home. So it won't help to bring the pump.

mabma80

I pumped to get my milk flow going. I used the hospitals grade pump for the first few hours, but I would also BF so I never introduced the bottle at the hospital.  At home, I BF, pumped and let DH feed them with the bottle.  It took a few nipples to see which they each prefered for the bottle.  Our boys didn't really care how the food came, just as long as they ate. So that was helpful!  : )

HisBrideJules

We were also told at our breastfeeding class to not introduce a bottle or a pacifier until LO is at least one month old because it could cause nipple confusion.  That's what I am planning on doing.  But I think whatever routine you set up with your LO will work just fine.  =0)

CNAMamaof2

As many others have said, the hospital will have a pump you can use. I plan to start pumping right away, but I will have to go back to work so a supply is important to me.

I don't believe in nipple confusion, but I know it is something that is talked about. DD had to be supplemented with formula and bottle fed due to jaundice and her being too sleepy too nurse (a common problem with jaundiced infants) DD would latch on to me, the bottle, or a pacifier just fine, but the flow of the bottle was faster and she got lazy so we had to get her used to the slower flow of my breast and learning to work a  little harder for her meal:). 

I would wait until you and baby have a good breast feeding pattern established before giving a bottle and making sure you use a slow flow nipple. For DH to bond before this, have him hold baby skin to skin for burping and at other times. 

christiney06

HisBrideJules:

We were also told at our breastfeeding class to not introduce a bottle or a pacifier until LO is at least one month old because it could cause nipple confusion. 

this did not hold true for us.  my son got bottles first in the NICU. it's harder to get the milk that way and he was burning more calories than he was taking in so we did bottles only.  he did fine switching to breastfeeding at around 2-3wks.   same w/ the pacifier, they actually really pushed it at the hospital to strengthen his suck reflex.  he only used it til he was 6m.old.

I ditto that your milk most likely will not be in w/in the 2 days you'll be there if you have a vaginal birth. just wait and start using it once you've settled into a bit of a routine.  also , call your insurance company to see if you have coverage for one as medical equipment.  

mooninlv

they have nice, hospital grade pumps at the hospital you can just use if you want to pump. if i need to for some reason, i plan on just using that. you can always bring your pump along if you want some help from a lactation consultant on how to use yours specifically though. with ds#1 we introduced a bottle within the first week or so and he was fine. i liked being able to give him expressed milk if necessary or for someone else to be able to feed him if i wanted to go somewhere for awhile. a lot of babies are fine with going between breast and bottle. another thing that helps is getting bottles/nipples that are designed for babies that also BF.

preggersin2011

from what my friends have told me, once the baby has a bottle they will not want to latch on. the whole 'starving you baby' because you aren't producing enough is total BS and there are other ways to help a jaundice baby ie the sun. i dont plan on introducing a bottle until the week before i go back to work. if you want to strictly pump and then share the feeding duties i would say wait at least a week until your supply is in.