Breast/Bottle Feeding?

[Ma(tt)Daddy]

My wife seems to be having difficulty keeping up with her pumping at work. When she does pump, she expresses very little. she's very worried. We are afraid we will have to begin supplementing with formula very soon, because I keep running out of our milk supply.

I have also had to dump a few of the bags of milk because of a strange soapy/metallic taste that the baby hates (yes, I've taseted it . . .) Bottle feeding used to be a breeze for us, but now, at almost 4 mos, there's a lot more fussing, fighting and air-gulping at the bottle then there ever was. And this makes putting the baby to sleep very difficult (which was never easy to begin with), becasue the bottle used to be a primary source of soothing to sleep.

Sometimes I feel he just misses the breast . . .

Anyone else with similiar issues after breastfeeding wife's return to work?

[Weston]

We went through something similar at about 4 months... at 4 months we introduced formula (and he had no problems with it) and just used the milk we could until it became apparent that the wife wouldn't be able to produce enough for him to keep nursing. At 6 months he was completley on formula.

He made the transition ok, but it was bad on my wife mentally because she felt like she wasn't providing as a mother (I think the pumping at work gave her a feeling of being in touch with her motherly side during the day)

[justinpowell]

We had twins, so my wife opted against breast feeding and we went right to formula. We would alternate nights getting up with the boys, so it was far easier to deal with formula than it was breast feeding/pumping (not to say that anything with twins was easy...)

[Jackson's Dad]

We switched to bottle feeding after just a week. But from friends who stuck with it longer, they seems to encounter a similar time frame as you are, and ended up switching to formula anytime around 3-5 months.

Have you tried a different brand of bottle? Some babies prefer one over the other. Or, with some bottles, they have different flow-rate nipples -- your kid may not be getting the volume he's used to.

[Ma(tt)Daddy]

but it was bad on my wife mentally because she felt like she wasn't providing as a mother

Yeah, my wife's feeling pretty bad right now as well . . .

[dad305]

Like in the previous cases, my wife too had trouble bresstfeeding both of our kids. It was very frustrating and painful. We moved to the pump and it was a little better but still it was a problem.

After consulting with the physician we switched to formula about three weeks later because she wasn't producing enough at a fast enough rate to satisfy the baby.

[Bollux]

but it was bad on my wife mentally because she felt like she wasn't providing as a mother

Yeah, my wife's feeling pretty bad right now as well . . .

I get the same thing, my girlfriend says that she is a bad mom cause she leaves him home all the time while she goes to work and that I am a better parent than she is. True she does need a little polishing around the edges, but she does her best and I tell her that.

[Ma(tt)Daddy]

Have you tried a different brand of bottle? Some babies prefer one over the other. Or, with some bottles, they have different flow-rate nipples -- your kid may not be getting the volume he's used to.

We use the AVENT bottles, and just recently discovered that there are different nipples for different ages. But the problems with the bottle began after we bought the new nipples, so we switched bottles a few times and nothing changed.

What I discovered today: he had no problems with the bottle whatsoever when I used it with formula. (Big day for us today, as we ran out of milk quite early . . .) He took the formula DOWN with no spitting or gulping or crying . . . I had to dump another bottle of breast milk (pumped from yesterday) down the drain because of the bad taste . . .

Anyone else have problems with expressed milk going bad, even after, like, A DAY?

:?: :?: :?:

[dad305]

have you check with the doctor?, it could be related to something on mom's diet.

[Weston]

have you check with the doctor?, it could be related to something on mom's diet.

Good point. My wife really had to watch what she ate... I had to cut back on the spicey cooking - garlic, onions, and such.

[jeffus]

Finally, a post about BOOBS! :lol:

Since my wifey was practically cut in 2 during the C-section, she had no desire to breast feed. Needed drugs for the pain. Needed to sleep. Didn't want to pass on the morphine to the baby...

She gave the breast feeding thing a try, felt a little sheepish about not be able to provide, and then asked for her pain pills. I can't blame her a bit.

Needless to say, we summarily took up formula.

[Patrickz]

My wife had a hard time as well with the breast feeding but it took off after a short time of discomfort. Alex fussed the first couple of days with me after the wify went back to work but buy the end of the week he was fine.
I also found that the warmer the breast milk the more Alex gulped it down. If the milk is not the right temp for him he wants nothing to do with it. We are still going strong on the breast milk as my wife is still producing plenty. We are lucky as my wife seems to be a milk factory! :lol: I know from my chart on the fridge that booby milk will last only about an hour at room temp after it has been chilled. Also be sure that the milk is kept chilled from the time your wife pumps it till the time it comes home or it will loss its freshness as well.
I also agree from the other posts that diet from mommy is a big facter it the taste department. Is your wife taking iron supplements of any other suplements? I would ask your doctor if that would make a difference in the taste or quaility if she is taking any suplements.
Oh my wife says the best thing for sore nipples is warm salt water. Let them soak she says.
Cooool were talking about boobs 8)

[tt3]

We had milk starting to turn within a day as well with Leah's meals. I did a big ol' boil. Everything that came into contact with the milk got the bejeebers scrubbed out of it and then boiled. It was probably only one or two peices that I might have missed something on, but it was enough to wreck some milk.
I've got more to add later.
oh, a serious discussion about boobs, whats this forum coming too? ;)

[young-blalock]

My son is 10 months old and has never had formula. My wife has been committed to breastfeeding. She has successfully pumped at work. We had a good lactation consultant :wink: at the hospital who gave us some really good information.

My wife makes sure that she feeds him from the breast several times at night and lots on weekends, this way her supply remains high. This would be my suggestion . . . just to make sure that she breastfeeds enough when she's home so that she builds up enough supply to pump a good amount at work and to feed the baby when she gets home. You can also time it so that you minimize the amount of bottle feedings that are given during the day. I've heard that some breastfed babies will even refuse the bottle until mom gets home, meaning that's it's not so important the amount the baby receives during the work day as much as the total amount received in a given day.

[Bollux]

Well, my son never had any sort of formula whatsoever. She stopped breast feeding around the one year mark. It was a bit rough for her at times to pump at work and all. Thankfully, the pediatrician let her borrow her electric "on the go" pump. Basically a nuclear powerpack with a suction cup. lol

Also have you tried freezing the milk? You can, the milk is good in the freezer for like 3 months.

Though my one true blunder came last fall when we were going apple picking up state and he started to get cranky. I took out a bottle and was warming it via the heat in my hands and shaking it. Lets just say... I made breast milk butter. lol I churned it too much during shaking and it actually got clumpy. :roll: :-s

[Jackson's Dad]

We use the AVENT bottles, and just recently discovered that there are different nipples for different ages. But the problems with the bottle began after we bought the new nipples, so we switched bottles a few times and nothing changed.

We use the same system. What's funny is that we never switched off the size 2. We tried a size 3 once but he did not like it (fussing, refusing to eat), so we switched back. Since he can suck down the bottle pretty quick, we never bothered to switch again. My guess is that each kid has his own flow preference, and the sizes are good for finding that.

What I discovered today: he had no problems with the bottle whatsoever when I used it with formula. (Big day for us today, as we ran out of milk quite early . . .) He took the formula DOWN with no spitting or gulping or crying . . .

That's good news. As our favorite RN told us: whatever it takes to get food in them.

[Indy]

For us, it was important that our kids be flexible when it came to feeding. Both kids were given a bottle or two while still in the hospital. Primarily, our kids breastfeed for the first six months, save for the one bottle of formula given just before bed time. The formula bottle helped them to settle into a routine, and keeps them "fuller" longer, allowing for a decent stretch of sleep during the night. The iron in the formula also helped to reduce the number of dirty diapers.

Once the wife goes back to work, she'll pump at work and I'll feed the kid via a bottle. Her company is kind enough to have pumping rooms throughout their facility and they consider it paid time. We regularly switch bottle and nipple types (and even pacifiers) so the kid doesn't get picky about it.

It all worked pretty well with Rachel. She'd take a room temperature bottle of formula, a warm bottle of milk, or feed straight from the source--it didn't matter to her.

With all the traveling we do, a set schedule is hard to come by. I don't know if it's a lucky stroke of genetics, or if we've done something to foster it, but both our kids seem to handle disruptions in schedule or procedure pretty well.