BF exclusively

H&Dmay21

I've been BF exclusively since Claire was born.  DH is anxious to have me pump so that he can feed her with a bottle.  I know I'll probably eventually have to do this, but I'm having trouble accepting that.  I've read it's easier for them to eat from a bottle, so I'm worried she'll like it better than me and won't want to BF anymore.  I also just really like BF - the closeness, the time I spend with her, etc.  I think it's helped me get over missing being pg. 

 Anyone planning to BF exclusively for a year, and how did you do it/convince DH? Anyone intro'd a bottle?  Tips to avoid nipple confusion?  I read that you can feed her with a medicine dropper, too.  Her one month check up is Friday, so I plan to talk with the pedi, too.  Thanks,

lilyvalley

We FF but I know my pediatrician suggests introducing a bottle around 4 weeks because if you wait longer they sometimes refuse to eat from one.  I really love to watch DH feed my DD.  I think it may also give you an option of having a break / some alone time that may be appealing further on down the road.

mrs_ross07

I BF exclusively and once per day I pump so DH can feed Conner. He feeds him one bottle per day; it's the one right before bed.

KatieG.07

I don't know how much help I can be, but we waited until ds was around 7-8 weeks to give him a bottle of bm to make sure we really had BFing under our hat.  We've only given him maybe 10 since then and it's been really hit or miss on whether he'll actually take it.  We started with the Avent bottles and we recently switched to the playtex drop-ins original nurser.  DS does much better with the playtex.

It's definitely weird for dh to give ds a bottle so I understand the anxiety.  I just try to find something else to do when he does and relax a little by myself. 

confused25

We had planned on BF exclusively, but after DS surgery, I wanted to make sure I knew how much he was getting to eat. So we Bottle fed and breast fed from the time he was 15 days old until now and he has no problems with either. As long as he is getting food he doesn't really care what form it comes in. I'm not sure this is the norm, but the LC had me scared to death that he would have nipple confusion and once we gave him the bottle he would never want to BF - but that just wasn't the case for us.

Crazycrustacean

We ebf, but that's because she won't take a bottle at all. You can try a bottle that is similar to your breast, but there's no guarantee baby will even accept it.

I told dh that i didn't want her to starve. there was no argument from him. lol?

neen01

We introduced a bottle around 4w - I heard to try around 3-6w so that bfing is well established but they are more open to taking it.  DD took it in a second.  In fact I can feed it to her and she doesn't care.  She still is bf except when I am at work and does great switching between them.  We use Playtex dropins too. 

sdkrlm

(side note: I dont like the nest tickers because I can never figure out how old the kids are.  when I saw yours I thought "wow, her baby is 11 months old and she has EBF without even pumping or ANYTHING for nearly a year?  wow!")

 Anyways, I plan on BF for 6 months but with that being said, I am pumping as much as I can and letting DH give Avery a bottle.  It was REALLY tough for me the first time but you have to tell yourself that YOU still provided the milk for Claire and you still will be able to nurse.  But think about how cool it is for your DH to be able to bond with her like you have?  It's not quite the same but very similar.  They are still bonding as well. 

Avery took to the bottle (pacifier, thumb, arm, cheek - whatever her hoover mouth can attach to) like a pro and didn't have any issues with it.  A bottle nipple is WAAAY different than a breast nipple.  So it's just different.  Sort of like eating with chopsticks.  Still gets the job done but just in a different way.  

Good luck!  It's really tough the first time but I think its good to be able to get them used to taking both a bottle and a breast young so that they don't get finicky later.

 

sdkrlm

oh and if it helps at all.  I pumped for about 2 weeks (1x a day) and saved it.  That got me used to pumping.  Then I pumped into a bottle to give to Avery.  It was hard for me even to start pumping.  I don't know why but I felt like even pumping was going to screw something up (it didn't). 

Gwyn1030

First off, technically, exclusively breastfeeding just means giving no other foods or fluids besides breastmilk. So even if you are pumping, you are still EBF.

I EBF up to 6 months, then started solids about a month ago. I first gave DS a bottle of EBM at 3-4 weeks, and he took it just fine. After that we gave him a bottle a few times a week to keep him used to it. I had friends who waited until the child was older and couldn't get them to take a bottle, so we wanted to get him used to it early.

 Never had any problem switching between bottles and breast. I would recommend giving a few bottles of EBM a week - it gives you the freedom of leaving the baby with a family member while you go out and have some me time. Or you can have DH do one of the night feedings and get some more rest!!