Breast feeding vs bottles question

ashk7 · April 2012

Good morning ladies, well it's morning for me lol! My DD is 35 weeks 3 days gestational, she was born at 31 w 3 d. We have been working on BF and she latches great and tries her hardest to suck and gets some, but my mommy gut instinct is telling me she gets frusterated and wants that instant gratification. We haven't tried bottles since I told dr I wanted to BF. she is gaining weight maintaining, has luckily never needed any breathing support and Thankfully has had no major issues, she is IUGR. I guess my question is to you moms who have been through this, at what point do you tell drs you want to push for a bottle feed. I don't want to over do it with her, but I would like to see how she does with a bottle even if it's only a few cc's just to see how well she does with suck, swallow, breathe. I have no issues with how she gets my milk, as long as its my milk. I am putting her to breast 3-4 times a day. Would you ladies push for a bottle feed or keep doing what we are doing at breast?

snoangel79 · April 2012

I pumped mostly but put my daughter to breast too (I just stopped fully giving breast milk as my supply was not good enough to keep up with the demand). She has no trouble taking from breast and bottle (no confusion), but I have no way of measuring how much she is getting. She was IUGR also. I knew with pumping how much was going in and I felt better about that especially with my sketchy supply. If she is gaining weight and doctor is not pushing I'd continue doing what you are doing, just have her weight monitored very closely that she is "gaining" the right amount. Also, with breast feeding are you giving her iron or has her iron levels been checked?

ashk7 · April 2012

Yes, they are giving iron and have been for about 2-3 weeks, they also started to add a little protein to her tube feelings yesterday. I guess I should of said she is still has her NG tube to give her most of her milk since we are not sure how much she is getting from me. We have started weighted feeds last week. But I personally don't trust those all the way! I guess I am with you for now if I give bottle feeds I know what she is getting and I think less work for her, for now.

vsalt31 · April 2012

I guess my hospital was different, but they suggested that I try to BF for about 10 minutes, then if that isn't getting anywhere, they wanted to bottle feed the rest. To get discharged, my LO had to finish all 8 of his bottles over a 24 hr period. I guess that was my goal to get him home quickly, so that's what we did. We are working on BFing now, but it's not as smooth as I'd like, so I'm mainly pumping & giving him expressed BM in a bottle.
Not sure if this helps, but good luck to you!

ashk7 · April 2012

No that helps a lot! We are been working on BF for like spat 2 weeks and thats what is keeping her where she is at, I think because I said I wanted up BF the hospital is thinking I don't want to use bottles, when I go back up in a few hours I M going to explain that bottles are fine as long as its my breast milk. Thanks ladies!!!

Mrs. Alice · April 2012

Introducing bottles might help her get home faster when she has to prove she can take full nipple feeds. I've been able to successfully do both breast and bottle. I BF them as much as possible when they were in the NICU and then they recieved bottles when I wasn't there. They never seemed to have nipple confusion and will take food however as long as it's coming fast and when they want it! I think if you establish both in the beginning, it makes it easier. You can always transition to whatever works best for you once she is home.

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