How to bottle feed your breast(milk)fed baby

Yes, it is possible! My baby learned to feed from breast AND the bottle. He has always preferred direct breastfeeding over feeding from a bottle. If I had a choice I’d rather not serve breast milk using the bottle. But for working moms like me, letting baby to take the bottle is inevitable.

It’s the next most natural and convenient means of feeding breast milk. Before I went back to work I agonized because I thought he’ll go hungry. But after six months since my leave, baby has learned to adapt and learned to feed from me AND from the bottle.

Baby’s transition from breast to bottle and vice versa isn’t always seamless. My pedia says no synthetic nipples are soft enough to imitate a mama’s nipples. For this reason feeding problems like bottle refusal and nipple confusion are expected.

Here are some important points when giving the bottle to you breastfed baby:

Direct breastfeeding is still the best feeding choice.

Most of our hospitals are still not breastfeeding-friendly. Although WHO discourages the use of bottles on the first few weeks of baby’s life, doctors from private hospitals still instruct moms who can’t direct breastfeed to use a bottle instead of a cup. I’ve noticed the breastfeeding policies are more strict in government hospitals. Feeding bottles and pacifiers are banned in East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City. 

I gave birth in a private hospital. Our pediatrician instructed me do use bottles.  She says she’ll have to check if baby can efficiently suck since he was a preemie. I guess this all depends on the pedia’s assessment of the baby. I did not know any better so I summoned hubby to buy a preemie bottle. I was allowed directly breastfeed him on the fourth day already.

I did attempt to directly breastfeed baby in the NICU, but just shortly because he was always dozing off while i held him in my arms. I did not then yet that i can wake him so he can get a decent feeding. Read my post on getting ready to breastfeed. 

My sister's baby, who was delivered in another private hospital, was also bottle fed in the NICU.

Could the pedia be instructing bottle feeding because it's much more convenient for the NICU nurses? Cup feeding can be cumbersome for NICU nurses who look after more than one babies at a time! This system is far from the ideal for breastfeeding hospitals!

Introduce the bottle only when breastfeeding has been established.

Well in my case, i had to reintroduce the bottle. We struggled a bit to make him suck my nipple, but all ended well. Babies are smart, they learn to adapt.

Train your baby to take the bottle weeks before your scheduled return to work. I reintroduced him to the bottle, this time Avent small bottles with newborn nipples about 6 weeks after. Initially, I just let him take one bottle per day. I increased  bottle feeding as i neared the end of my maternity leave. Remember to pump for those missed direct feeding!

Use slow flow (newborn) nipples.

With Avent, those are number 1 nipples. It’s slow flow and has only one hole. This will encourage babies to suck, like how we would extract milk from your breasts. Up to now that he’s 8 months he’s still using Avent# 1 nipples.

Babies on fast flow nipples can get used to the faster release of milk from bottles. This may cause baby to refuse your nipples, which releases breast milk only at baby's suckling.

Using slow flow nipples will lessen risks of  choking on breast milk. A pedia explains that the difference between a mothers ’s nipples and synthetic nipples is the flow of milk.  Milk keeps flowing from synthetic nipple, even if baby does not suck on it. No milk is released from the breasts if baby stops sucking. That's why it's a big no-no to let baby sleep with feeding bottles.

Test a variety a feeding bottles for baby. See which works best. We were lucky baby did not reject Avent bottles. My sister uses First Years Breastflow feeding bottles.

Use smaller feeding bottlers for breastfed babies.

Breastfed babies need more frequent feedings than formula fed so give smaller bottles. I’m still using Avent 4 oz bottles, even if baby’s 8 months already. This system  works for me so I did not bother giving him bigger bottles.

After 6 months, baby has to be given solids so can expect a decrease in the volume of his breast milk intake.

I figure it's best to serve breast milk in smaller quantities, since breast milk has a short "expiry period".  It's safe to leave breast milk at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours.

Prepare his feeding bottles for the day. 

This helps your caregiver a lot. She won’t have to thaw then transfer breast milk. This will also make it easier for you to measure his breast milk intake daily. You’ll feel closer to baby, even while you’re out because you personally prepared his meals for the day.

Number your breast milk bottles so they’ll know which ones should be served first. This will be of great help if you serve thawed milk and fresh expressed breast milk. Thawed milk must be consumed first since it can only be used within 24 hours.

Find out how many feedings and amount breast milk your little one takes on a daily basis. I’m at work from 1 pm to 9pm. I estimate that baby feeds three times a day. So I leave him 4 bottles (just in case)  with 4 ounces of breast milk each.  If you’re exclusive breastfeeding, use KellyMom’s milk calculator.

Clean your baby feeding paraphernalia

Bottle feeding poses great risk for contamination so be on guard. I’m really OC when it comes to feeding baby so I personally clean his bottles and nipples.

I wash them in warm soapy water. I use mild cleaners from Messy Bessy. I  sterilize using Chicco Electric sterilizer. Until baby receives all his immunization shots, I’ll be sterilizing his feeding equipment. This will reduce any risk of diarrhea, stomach flu or any other gastric diseases.

Regularly inspect the nipples. Look for holes, tears or cracks. Replace worn out nipples to prevent choking.

There are several alternative breast milk feeding  choice. 

Hospitals with good breastfeeding policy highly encourage feeding from a cup. That’s if and only if mommy can’t latch. Direct breastfeeding is the priority.

There are several feeding choices to serve breast milk. You can use medicine dropper or rubber or silicone baby spoons. This manner is more tedious for your care giver since she has to serve in one milliliter container. Imagine how many times she’ll do this for a decent feeding. Older babies can also start feeding from training cups.

Serve bottle when baby’s already sleepy. 

This is my MIL’s technique to feed using the bottle.  Babies comfort suck, so make use of this by giving him a bottle. This mimics me nursing him to sleep.

Nurse directly when with baby.

My baby seldom, more often does not,  take the bottle when with me. As i said, babies are smart. He might be thinking, Why would you give me this bottle when i can have the real ones here?  So I never bothered preparing bottles when i’m with him. I don’t bring bottles when we travel. It’s much more convenient!

Don’t worry to much. When baby gets hungry, he’ll learn to suck the bottle!

We used to bottleed with EBM while waiting at  the pedia's clinic.

Is this too harsh? Well kinda. But it’s true, babies adapt. My baby did. When he’s still full he doesn’t see the need to suck. When he gets hungry, he’ll munch on anything. Give him time and look out for hunger cues.

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