Balancing bottle and breast

Charmedseed · April 2015

I'll be bringing home my preemie boy, Ben, in a few weeks and hope to both breastfeed and will need to bottle feed as well with fortified breast milk that I've pumped. Anyone else do this? How did you schedule or manage it?

mrsalvidrez · April 2015

My son has been home from the NICU for two weeks now and when he was sent home they wanted me to fortify 3-4 bottles of my breastmilk a day. They had me fortifying with neosure formula and I didn't realize that's not what they used in the hospital. My LO never had an issue with the fortified milk in the nicu, but I noticed he had a lot of gas and discomfort with the fortifier I was using at home. He was in a lot of pain and not pooping so I asked my ped and she said I still needed to fortify so he could gain weight. This may not be the right thing to do but honestly mothers intuition was telling me not to give it to him and that his system wasn't doing good With it so I stopped and just strictly breastfed and he gained one pound in the first week alone. Not saying you shouldn't fortify, but just figure out what works for you and your little one. If that means you can only get in two bottles a day so be it. And just make sure when you do give a bottle you pump so you don't lose your supply (sounds easier than it really is to keep up on).

KatWAG · April 2015

After so many bottles in the NICU, my LO would never take my boob. I tried so many times and it just pissed him off. So I EP.

allymas · April 2015

I've been doing both since my girls got home 2 weeks ago (born at 32.2, discharged at 36 and 37 weeks). They are also having lots of belly issues w gas and constipation. I am having a hard time keeping up w all of the pumping because they are so busy!!!! Still trying to figure it all out but it's definitely not easy. Good luck!

Charmedseed · April 2015

Good luck @allymas! Goodness, with two I can't even imagine!

@KatWAG: Ben seems okay with both - almost seems to prefer the breast (with shield, however, so maybe it's not so different).

It looks like we may get him home Thursday - I'm both really happy and really anxious!

earlybird20 · April 2015

My son was born at 36 weeks and was in the NICU for 10 days. We are spending about 10 minutes breast feeding 2-3 times per day before feeding him his bottle and then I pump for 15 to 20 minutes. My milk supply is slowly increasing so I also supplement with NeoSure22 and he also gets a multivitamin once daily

briannaba5 · May 2015

My little was born almost 3m early and was in the hospital for 5 weeks. He was tube fed. Tried nursing and he would never latch. Finally they started bottle and he hae to have a special bottle cause he didnt take well to that either. We still tired nursing but it wasnt going anywhere. They clipped his tongue as he was tongue tied and they thought that might help. Still at 5m hates nursing. So i now pump every three hours. It is very stressful cause i know when he is older and wantIng to play and crawl around ill be stuck to a machine and unable to play with him.

apbauer0615 · May 2015

With my twin 27weekers I breastfeed them 3times a day & then add neosure to my breastmilk in bottles for the rest of their feedings. Around week 3 of them being home they were getting horrible gas pains during bottle feeds, arching their backs, crying. I felt horrible. We switched to Dr Brown bottles & they got so much better. I pump for 30 mins while I bottle feed the second baby to keep my milk flowing. It's def a job & can be frustrating at times.

EmLove61 · May 2015

My baby Jack was born at 33 weeks, in the hospital for 6 weeks, and we've been home for 3 weeks now. When we left the NICU they told me to fortify with neosure to 24 cals, all but 2 feedings a day (straight breastfeed twice). But he has been so gassy an uncomfortable and I am so sick of pumping all the time that I have only been giving him fortified bottles at night (about 4 times) and breastfeeding all day. It seems to work okay. Then I just pump once before I go to bed and once in the morning. I was worried I'd be killing my supply by not pumping or nursing through the night but so far it seems to be just fine! We also give him PolyViSol with iron once a day. (Supposedly supposed to do that for a year?!)

Id like to add that I told my OBGYN how the NICU doctors suggested giving Jack bottles for all but two feedings and she said "off the record" that she would flip that if she was me. Because breastfeeding is so important (as long as he continues to gain weight).

Charmedseed · May 2015

I've gone ahead and switched to exclusively pumping... We've done a total 180 and where he was having trouble bottle feeding before, now we're having trouble breastfeeding. It was so frustrating for both of us that I've just chosen to pump exclusively, and we're still fortifying the milk, so might as well.

@EmLove61, we were also instructed to do the 2 breastfeedings a day, and it was going okay. We tried a bunch of different things, even a 24 hour BF only while trying to get his weight up.

I have to admit I'm not enamoured of breastfeeding like I thought I would be, but I think that also might be a side effect of the terrible PPA/D I'm suffering. I hope to maybe try it again in a few weeks.

EmLove61 · June 2015

mrsalvidrez said:
My son has been home from the NICU for two weeks now and when he was sent home they wanted me to fortify 3-4 bottles of my breastmilk a day. They had me fortifying with neosure formula and I didn't realize that's not what they used in the hospital. My LO never had an issue with the fortified milk in the nicu, but I noticed he had a lot of gas and discomfort with the fortifier I was using at home. He was in a lot of pain and not pooping so I asked my ped and she said I still needed to fortify so he could gain weight. This may not be the right thing to do but honestly mothers intuition was telling me not to give it to him and that his system wasn't doing good With it so I stopped and just strictly breastfed and he gained one pound in the first week alone. Not saying you shouldn't fortify, but just figure out what works for you and your little one. If that means you can only get in two bottles a day so be it. And just make sure when you do give a bottle you pump so you don't lose your supply (sounds easier than it really is to keep up on).

Same here!!
We've been home with our 33 weeker for 6 weeks now. I was instructed to give my LO bottles with fortifier for all but 2 feedings a day! A week after being home (and seeing my OB who "off the record" gave me this advice) I reversed that, and only fortified for two feedings a day. And last week I finally decided to ditch the fortifier completely.. My poor LO was SO uncomfortable all the time. And he has been doing awesome without it! Growing wonderfully and much happier!

EmLove61 · June 2015

Wow, just realized I've already replied to this thread.. Can you say SLEEP DEPRIVED?!

ccarrozza1 · June 2015

Yup, my baby was three weeks early and had jaundice so we were battling her being early and also having to be on the light table so breast feeding was and has been a daunting task. She is only getting a little bit better the past two days. But yep, we are doing the pump and feed plus one bottle of formula at night

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