in breast-feeding and formula feeding support

How to go from ebf to pumping and bf?

My baby is exclusively bf and currently 8 months old. She'll start nursery when she's 11 months old. They have advised us to get her used to bottles now. Until she was about 2 months old, we gave her a bottle a day until she refused to take them. Since then, she's been ebf. Now, we're gonna try again, but I don't really know how this will all work. In the beginning, my boobs were constantly full and leaking, so I'd pop a haaka over the one that baby wasn't feeding from and collect enough milk for a bottle that way. I'm not leaking as much anymore and when I pump now, I get maybe 60ml per breast. I admittedly probably don't have the best pumps (some cheap ones from amazon). I have loads of questions now. - could I still just use haakas? I seem to collect the same amount that way and I can just leave them on and do stuff. With my pumps, even though they're supposed to go in a bra, it's super uncomfortable unless I hold them in place. Plus, if I'm on a Zoom call, haakaas would be less noisy. But worried my supply might drop - how can I get baby to like bottles again? Last time we tried, she just chewed on the teat and then spat it out - how often do I need to pump once back at work? Probably as often as baby feeds, but right now, this can be anywhere from every 20mins to every 3hrs. It will probably change once she's closer to 11months, but she's never followed any rules around how often babies are supposed to feed - I'm really worried about my supply taking a hit once I start pumping all day most days, any advice? I've about 100 more questions, but maybe it's just good to start somewhere

Show your support

I wouldn’t say introducing a bottle at 8 months is sound advice tbh. Most would advise putting breastmilk in a sippy cup or open cup and feeding that way. I’ve been advised not to bother getting my 6 month old to take a bottle and just go straight to sippy cup which is working sort of well so far lol. Otherwise I’ll just feed him in the morning and night instead.

@Skye that'sinteresting, thank you! The nursery said they also had sippy cups, but would prefer giving a bottle until 18 months. Maybe because it's less messy? I've also heard bottles at this age aren't good for the teeth. Might try the sippy cup instead. Thank you!

Following

I also wouldn't introduce a bottle. When she goes at 11 months it won't be long before she technically doesn't need milk so much anymore anyway. I'd go with a cup and try not to worry about it! I'm nearly two years into breastfeeding now and my youngest goes to nursery four days a week. He's been there since he was about 12 months. I don't pump at all - I exclusively pumped with my eldest so can't stand it 😆

Oh wow no way! I’ve never heard of a nursery preferring to do that over a sippy cup! Good luck either way I’m sure baba will figure it out!

We introduced bottle from EBF at 9 months (just got my partner to give it while I was out for the first time, and she took it no issues despite rejecting bottle completely when younger). We then switched to a straw cup a little after 1 year old. I typically got c.120-150ml in total (both sides) per pump. (I was worried it wasn’t enough but came to the conclusion it was, breast milk is less volume than formula equivalent). I initially pumped 3x while at work, then gradually reduced to 2x and then 1x, then finally stopped pumping and only did morning and night feeds (still breast) but cows milk during the day. Stopped altogether at about 22 months. My supply was fine as long as I pumped at regular intervals and as they increase solids they need less milk.

@Jennifer thank you so much for your detailed response! That's all really helpful! Yeah, I might just need to leave the house and leave my partner to try and feed her

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌

‌

‌
‌