DD prefers the bottle now

DoctorWorm222

After about a month and a half of being back to work, it seems that DD has come to prefer drinking my milk from a bottle rather than the breast. She takes a bottle easily at daycare, but fusses and cries when I try to nurse her in the evenings - especially right before bed. I also noticed that when she does nurse, she doesn't keep at it as long as she used to. 

Does anyone have any advice for me? Its not as if I can cut out the bottles - she has to eat at daycare. I don't know what to do, and I'm afraid this is going to mess up my supply. 

jlsimon56

What bottles are you using?  And what kind of nipples?  You should be using the slowest flow nipples you can find.  Additionally, the daycare should be trying to mimic BFing with the bottle.  There is a page on www.kellymom.com that explains how to bottle-feed a BF baby. 

DoctorWorm222

I bought Avent bottles at the recommendation of a lactation consultant. We're just using the nipples that came w the bottles (#2). Thanks for the info - we'll see what we can do with the bottle feeding routine.

jlsimon56

We use Avent bottles too!  :-)  The nipples that come with those bottles are too fast.  Buy the #1 nipples.  You will use #1s for as long as she is BFing, no need to ever go faster unless she's sucking so hard that the nipple flattens itself (rare).  She might be annoyed at first but stick with it!  :-)  Good luck!

bluejetta

We're also using slow flow and encouraing daycare to feed her as PP suggests.  I also find that she seems "lazy" in not wanting to work for the letdown which sometimes is slow and other times not. 

The things that work for me are: dark/quiet room, lying down with her, feeding after naps on days I'm not working so she is sleepy and a bit more focused on food, offering to nurse every 3 hours (instead of 2) both because she doesn't seem hungry sooner and my letdown is better after a slightly longer time.  I still aim for 8 sessions total in 24 hours (either pumped bottle or breast) since she wakes 2 times at night.  I care about the total so that I'm not impacting supply.