You have heard horror stories, right? You gave your breastfed baby a bottle and now they will not breast feed anymore. It happens and can be very stressful for both mom and baby. But if introducing bottles is something that you want to do or need to do in preparation for back to work, here are some tips to help avoid this stressful situation.
Breastfeeding vs. Bottle Feeding
For babies breastfeeding, there is a lot of work involved in the process of baby getting the milk. It does not just freely flow into their mouth without much effort on their part. With bottle feeding, some of that work is taken away and made easier for the baby so it can become less effort on their part to get the milk they want. With breast-fed babies, we want to make bottle feeding as much work as possible to make it similar to the breastfeeding experience.
Which Bottle Is Best?
First things first, there are a million kinds of bottles out there. What is the best one? We have some bottles that we do prefer as lactation consultants. The shape and flow of the nipple are some of the things that we take into consideration when picking what bottle is best for a particular baby. We want a nipple that is a slow flow to help make it more work to pull that milk out for baby, like the work needed at the breast. We also want to avoid the short nubby nipples that a lot of bottles have. These do not allow babies to get deep latches and make it more difficult to switch between breast feeding and bottle feeding for some babies. We want to keep it as similar as possible with both experiences.
How To Hold the Baby
There are also different ways to hold baby and the bottle to make bottle feeding a little more work. Paced bottle feeding is a technique that we educate families on. It is a bit different from the more “classic” way that most people gravitate towards when feeding a baby from a bottle.
Conclusion
There are many different components involved when it comes to feeding a breastfed baby a bottle and we strive to make it an enjoyable experience for both baby and mom. We offer bottle feeding consults that help parents learn the strategies of bottle-feeding breastfed babies in the best way possible. Every baby is different and has different needs for what makes the perfect bottle for them. We would love to help find the best fit for both you and your baby!
