Baby Bottle

Question: Confused about baby bottles!!?

(Posted by: pinkcyprusalfie on 2010-07-30 11:32:59)

Please can someone help as I& #039;m a little confused! I would like to breast feed my baby when he is born in October, however my partner and I have bought a pump and bottles as we would like my partner and the grandparents to take a turn in feeding the baby but switching from breast to bottle wont confuse him will it? Also we have 4oz bottles and 9oz bottles, what age does the baby use which bottle? Also we have purchased one brand of bottles but I have found out that my partners mother has purchased another brand - will this confuse the baby?

Posted by: Heather B on 2010-07-30, 11:35:05

If you want to breastfeed you should get breastflow bottles, I wanted to breastfeed my son but he got bad jaundice and I had to stop for a few days because my antibodies were making it worse. So, I didn 't want to do a bottle and get him nipple confusion so we fingerfed him which made him used to the wrong shape for breastfeeding. The breastflow bottles are bigger around mimiking the shape of the breast and also the double nipple inside makes it so that the baby has to move their mouth as if they were breastfeeding in order to get anything out of the bottle (compress and suck at the same time, not just suck). Also, you should use a very slow flow nipple because it will encourage the baby to breastfeed since nursing on you will be a lot easier than nursing on a slow flow bottle. With the amounts, your baby will stop eating when he or she is full, but with my son he started eating more than 2 onces around week 3 but that seemed like a bit much but I let him eat until he was content. When breastfeeding, you can 't tell how much they get to eat and they just stop when they are finished so don 't be too worried about measuring how much they are eating. As long as they are having a good amount of peepee and poopoo diapers then you know they are getting enough to eat. I used the breastflow bottles for 5 weeks and kept trying to get my son to breastfeed, he eventually breastfed and then didn 't want to eat out of the bottle anymore. You should choose which one you want him or her to do and stick with it, either that or the baby will choose for themselves. I hope everything works out for you and your baby!

Posted by: DM on 2010-07-30, 11:35:17

We didn 't introduce bottled breast milk for a while and I have to say once you know baby is able to latch on you should start. Our son didn 't want to breastfeed once he knew how easy a bottle was for him to use. He self weened. I don 't think the brand matters in the least. You 'll find a type of nipple that baby likes best and stay with that.

Posted by: ChibiOkasa on 2010-07-30, 11:42:12

Depending on how many bottles you have just keep them all out. My son used the 4 oz until he was about 5 months old (he was a tiny eater) however his cousin was born 3 months after him and was drinking 2 8oz bottles each feeding! So keep them all out. Use 1 type of nipple becasue that can confuse your baby. But keep both out because some babies are very picky about nipples. Swtiching breast to bottle MAY confuse him. I mean my son never had an issue we switched from breast to bottle no problem. Try to get breastfeeding astablished before you go to bottle. I don 't care breast vs bottle but it 's a LOT less expensive. Good luck

Posted by: baby_diablontko on 2010-07-30, 11:48:00

If you want your parents feed your baby as well you dont need to buy formula.just pump milk in to bottle and baby will drink it. Small bottles are for newborns and babies up to 3 months,later they can drink from them tea,juice or wather.. Older babies start use bigger bottles because they drink more milk. Your baby mey be confused and not takeing any more of bottle or breast.You have to know exactlly what you want for ur baby

Posted by: Ethan's Mommy ~ 1 year old :) on 2010-07-30, 12:17:02

Two different brands won 't confuse the baby. However they say that you should exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 weeks and wait to introduce bottles after that time for 2 reasons. One is to establish your milk supply and the other is to prevent nipple confusion which is where the baby will sometimes refuse to nurse because they can get milk from the bottle faster and easier so they don 't want to work at it. If I were you I wouldn 't worry about pumping or using a bottle for the first 6 weeks and nurse nurse nurse. The reason I say this is because i was forced to use both bottles and breastfeeding after my son was born and he never really went back to the breast and would just scream for the bottle and I ended up having to switch him to formula completely at 2 months. If you are just wanting to use the bottle to let other people feed him wait the 6 weeks and then do that.

Posted by: Pickle on 2010-07-30, 12:43:01

It isn 't recommended to combine feeding until breast feeding is well established as babies do get confused. Most women have got a good breast feeding pattern after about 2 or 3 weeks with baby latching on well, plus your colostrum will have turned to milk. Then you just have to be very careful until you know you 've got the combination working. There are a lot of things to think about. The bottle you use is very important. I personally used the Avent Airflex bottles because they have a valve which lets air back in so that baby doesn 't have to release suction on the bottle which is one of the most confusing things for a baby. My son never was able to drink from a regular bottle because he couldn 't figure out that he had to let air in and would get too frustrated. The Airflex bottles were wonderful for me but now Avent have bought out the new BPA free ones there are a lot of reviews to say they leak badly and from the only BPA version I 've tried, I 'd have to agree. However some mums say they 've not had a leakage problem. I think Tommee Tippee do a version which lets air in too which I think I 'll try next time around. Overall it is important to try to stick to the same bottle and if you start using formula for the bottle feeds, then the same formula too. Expressing breast milk is brilliant if you can get the hang of it but it can be hard work and it 's not for everyone. I bought a pump but found it easier to do by hand. The other thing to think about is that your breasts make as much milk as baby is drinking and you can find that especially if you use formula, there will be a slight reduction, which if you later change your mind is hard work to get back. On the plus side, combining feeds is a brilliant way to give you a break and get some rest. If you use formula occasionally you will find baby sleeps longer. I breast fed all day but would give a bottle of formula just before bed and I 'd almost get a full night of sleep. Prior to figuring this out he was up every 2 hours for the first 6 or 7 weeks and I was like a zombie. Just keep to a routine if you start with formula and do it yourself to begin with to make sure that baby is accepting it ok before letting anyone else have a turn.

Posted by: ccole on 2010-07-30, 15:23:11

I breastfed my son exclusively for about 4 weeks then i pumped some for bottles every now and again e.g if i was going out or for daddy to feed and he would drink from bottle and be fine back on breast , i used the tommee tippee closer to nature which are nice and big an round like breast and he was fine with that teat and fine with breast. i think he didnt care as long as milk was coming out of watever he was sucking lol :)