Breastfeeding and bottle feeding

[runningmommy519]

Can you share your experiences with breastfeeding and bottle feeding your preemie while they were still in the hospital?

DS2 was born 17 days ago and is finally nursing pretty good. I use a shield and they've been weighing him before and after feeds. He gets approximately getting about an oz from me each time.

I'm toying with the idea of letting them bottle feed during the times i am not there to nurse which is 2 feedings during the week and 3 on weekends. I'm afraid of it hurting our breastfeeding relationship but I know that we'll introduce the bottle feed eventually and probably before he gets out anyway because with DS1 at home I can't be at the hospital 24/7 to feed on demand. DS2 can't get out until he can successfully take all his feeding orally and continue to gain weight.

Please share your experiences, good and bad. Thanks!

[wicked22]

I was asked if I wanted the first feeding to be breast or bottle. I had decided to be an EP from the get go so I don't have the experience of the back and forth of bottle and breast.

[direy25]

We were really lucky, once DS started eating on his own he really didn't care where it came from - boob, bottle, breast milk or formula, it was all good to him. We concentrated more on bottle feeding towards the end of his stay because we knew that's what would get him home (68 day stay) but he transitioned to BF'ing without any issues. We still had to bottle feed a couple of times a day for awhile because we still needed some supplementing with high calorie formula though.

Not sure if any of that helps you or not!

[jense927]

We were lucky as well. DS didn't have any issues with preference on one over the other. We did a combo in the NICU and continued a combo at home especially initially it was more bottle feeding. Mainly because I was so paranoid over him getting enough and not knowing with breastfeeding. Once he was gaining better and eating more consistently we switched over to doing mostly breastfeeding with maybe one bottle a day. Good luck!

[tngrl3]

We were fortunate as well. I started introducing DS to the breast when he was just a few days old. He got the hang of it fairly quickly. I would nurse for every feed I was present during his NICU stay. Then I would pump. When I wasn't there he did bottle starting at about a week old, before that it was tube feeds. I lucked out and had great nurses that really worked with him on bottle feeds. DS never had issues with going back and forth between breast and bottle and he used a paci.

[motownthrowdown]

I don't know what size nipple they would be using for the bottle, but we were discharged Monday on ultra preemie and have been testing her on regular preemie. I was told that bf-ing can be very hard on them due to the flow. I was washing an ultra preemie yesterday and the flow steam is tiny compared to what I can see while pumping. We are also dealing with reflux issues, and I'm not sure what effect that might have had on flow selection in the nicu.

[magalinah]

My son was born at 34w2d. We were in the nicu for 18 days as a feeder and a grower. We started out EBF with DS nursing for 30min every 3 hours. On day 5 an ng tube was put in and he was initially put on a minimum feed order of 30ml. I would do a weighted feed first and then the difference would be put in his ng tube using pumped bm. We introduced the bottle that day, but he didn't take to it initially. We kept trying and soon were alternating between BF and bottle each feed. His feed orders were bumped up to I think 45ml. By day 12 he was meeting his min. Feeds all by bottle and the ng tube was taken out on day 13. He was supposed to come home on day 14 but had an apnea spell the day before and had to stay an extra 5 days.

When we came home, we went back to EBF and haven't had any issues or needed to supplement.

[wally3]

My DS1 was born 34w. They bottle feed him pumped breastmilk and then after 3 days we started alternating bf and bottle. Once he was home I slowly eliminated the bottle feeds to he was all bfed. I bf with a shield until he was shield until he was just passed his due date. Bfing was hard sometimes but he didn't have any major problems going back and forth. Once he passed his due date things got much easier.

[mmooki]

Both mine were early birds. Dd at 33+3 and Ds at 35+2. 12 and 6 day nicu stays. Dd wouldn't latch until day 11, and that was only with a shield. We had tried previously and she wouldn't, so I did with the shield. She nursed for 22months.

Ds is currently 9m and still nursing with a shield. I was much more informed and proactive the 2nd time round but he still wouldn't latch.. So we go with what works.

[runningmommy519]

Thanks everyone! We've been home for over a month now and are EBF with no shield.

[jense927]

Yay runningmommy519! Great to hear