I’ve been trying to introduce a bottle since week 1 with my daughter, to enable me to have a break from breastfeeding for one or two feeds a day as I have a 2.5yr old also. My baby girl is 5 weeks old now, and I’ve only ever managed to get her to take 1oz maximum, which she takes very badly, screaming and agitated. As soon as I offer her the breast she is fine. I’ve tried using breastmilk in the bottle but it ends up down the sink. I’ve tried different teats and formulas with no success. She is very unsettled in the evenings anyway, but I’m going to give your sandwich method a try if you think it will work with such a young baby.

Also do you have any tips on settling colicky babies as she is taking at least 2.4 hrs to settle in the evenings, and I’m finding it really hard as I don’t want to upset my 2.5yr olds bedtime routine, so am currently keeping my baby downstairs with us in the evening to avoid disturbing him, but would really like to be able to get them both settled together upstairs.

Thanks
Best
Goody

Sorry to miss you on Baby Expert this morning.

Sometimes the stress of expressing for a tiny baby in intensive care can take its toll on milk supply. It is therefore really important that you do everything you practically can to ensure the survival of your milk.

Express both breasts frequently. The more frequently you stimulate, the more they will expect to produce.
Express both breasts at the same time if you are able to, as this will increase your prolactin levels and thus milk supply.
If you can’t double pump, switch pump, swtiching to the other breasts when you are no longer able to get any milk – right – left – right – left. This way both sides will be stimulated more than once in any expressing session = the more they are stimulated the more they produce.
Compress the breast during the session to help push the milk down toward the nipple.
Ensure that the pump is not indenting the breast, but rather just resting on the breast enough to create a good suction.
Don’t stare at the pump whilst pumping – distract yourself and try to relax if possible – plan a holiday or something to take your mind off pumping. Some mums are able to focus on their newborn, but often this is incredibly stressful, so find what works for you.

Make sure you are eating and drinking enough during the day. Hospitals are hot and it is easy to dehydrate which will affect your supply. Food willnouish your body and give it the strength it needs to produce milk.
Speak to your midwife about increasing your supply – each hospital will have a different policy.

Lastly – remember you are human. You will have days when you simply produce less than the day before. You are doing a great job expressing milk for you little one – don’t push yourself too hard.

Please get yourself a copy of the Low Milk Supply eBook – http://www.letsbreastfeed.com/instantonlinehelp/ as it has tons of practical solutions to help you on your way.

I hope this helps and please touch base if there is anything further I can help with.

Kind regards,

Geraldine

What I do in these circumstances, is to try and find a regular time when dad can get home and then teach him to bath his baby before bed.

This has two great achievements:-
One, dad has one to one quality time with his child and his baby gets to know that it is their special time of day, and
Two, this gives mum some time to do something else.

The fathers who do this, arrive home from work with a smile on their faces, looking forward to that special time that awaits them.

Sometimes there is something going on that you may not be aware of that suddenly changes a baby’s tolerance of bottle feeding.

A sneaky bug or cold creeping in, maybe a new environment or one of the parents away on business, Christmas/New Year, all those sort of things can make a baby feel unsettled. When a baby feels unsettled, they desperately cling to what they know and reject any change, which can and has made bottle feeding more difficult. I have seen that by reducing variants and keeping things simple and constant, babies feel less threatened and more amenable to bottle feeding.

Choose one bottle, one teat and one time to reintroduce the bottle. Try the sandwich feed, starting with breast then bottle then breast again. Don’t lock horns, regain your baby’s trust and then you will start to move forward. This way of introducing the bottle has worked for thousands of clients and I am only aware of 1 baby who refused bottles but accepted a beaker. The primary difference is the time taken to win a baby back round to bottle feeding, so be patient and persistent.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Geraldine

Thanks for this post, I will try your suggestions. What’s the success rate of your clients?