bottle and boob

Natasha - posted on 02/09/2010

Hi i am currently attending school and i pump regularly on and off campus. I found that my son enjoys the First years breast flow bottles. They are Great. Try those out.!!! oh and you might want to go ahead and start giving him the cereal 3 times daily and milk in between and with meals... it helps.

Ori - posted on 02/08/2010

Have you tried cup feeding? My lactation consultant suggested this to me when I first started giving my girl expressed breastmilk. If you can get him to cup feed you may be able to skip the bottle and the sippy cup all together!

Misty - posted on 02/08/2010

I was curious about the sour milk comment so I looked it up:

A few mothers find that their refrigerated or frozen milk begins to smell or taste soapy, sour, or even rancid soon after it's stored, even though all storage guidelines have been followed closely. Per Lawrence & Lawrence (p. 781), the speculation is that these mothers have an excess of the enzyme lipase in their milk, which begins to break down the milk fat soon after the milk is expressed. Most babies do not mind a mild change in taste, and the milk is not harmful, but the stronger the taste the more likely that baby will reject it.

Lipase is an enzyme that is normally present in human milk and has several known beneficial functions:

Lipases help keep milk fat well-mixed (emulsified) with the "whey" portion of the milk, and also keep the fat globules small so that they are easily digestible (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 156).
Lipases also help to break down fats in the milk, so that fat soluble nutrients (vitamins A & D, for example) and free fatty acids (which help to protect baby from illness) are easily available to baby (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 156).
The primary lipase in human milk, bile salt-stimulated lipase (BSSL), "has been found to be the major factor inactivating protozoans" (Lawrence & Lawrence, p. 203).
Per Lawrence & Lawrence (p. 158), the amount of BSSL in a particular mother's milk does not vary during a feed, and is not different at different times of day or different stages of lactation. There is evidence that there may be a decrease in lipase activity over time in mothers who are malnourished.

What can I do if my storage problem is due to excess lipase? Once the milk becomes sour or rancid smelling/tasting, there is no known way to salvage it. However, newly expressed milk can be stored by heating the milk to a scald to inactivate the lipase and stop the process of fat digestion. Scald the milk as soon after expression as possible.

Rachel - posted on 02/07/2010

Hey there. When my breast milk started to dry up and my daughter was just 5 weeks old and refusing the bottle, I had no choice but to do the hard yards and not give her the breast till she took the bottle. The first time she didn't feed for over 12 hours, the second time more like 8 hours, the third the same, then it was fine. I had tried several different bottles, but from my experience, if they know they will get the breast after refusing the bottle, then why would they bother taking it. It was a truely horrible time, but when you have no choice, then you have to do it.
Good luck.

Christina - posted on 02/07/2010

Good luck! My 4 month old will NOT take a bottle and I've tried every nipple! Looks like I'm breastfeeding till she decides otherwise.

Laurie - posted on 02/06/2010

You mentioned being away at school for eight hours at a time and not wanting to be so full it hurts. I know the feeling of being too full but here's something to consider. I don't actually breast feed directly at all because I find pumping easier and less painful. I do feed directly on rare occasions that I am out with my daughter and she's hungry but I don't actually go out that much. Anyway, I am down to pumping 3 to 4 times a day only and I produce enough milk at those pumpings to keep my daughter fed. She drinks probably every second hour or so during the day. I probably produce on the order of 1,100 to 1,200 mL per day (about 40 oz). I can go for almost 8 hours during the day (7:30 start pumping to about 3pm start pumping to about 10:30 pm start pumping) if I need to. If you were supplementing with formula you wouldn't need quite so much milk so you could probably go longer before it was uncomfortable. Since he's eating cereal already I would try upping his consumption of cereal which will also decrease the amount of milk you will need to feed him. I found with my son that he started eating a fair amount of solids quickly and my milk production decreased to meet his lowered liquid needs.

I am curious about your milk curdling within minutes as well as I have never heard of that either. I assume you do know that your breast milk will start to separate right away as it has not been homogenized like store bought cow's milk and it will congeal once you put it in the fridge as the fats in the breast milk solidify and float to the top. This does look a lot like curdled cow's milk but the breast milk is not bad, just separated. I was rather startled the first time I saw this myself. Once you warm it up again and give it a good shake it is good as new. If yours doesn't that is very odd and I'd check with the doctor if you haven't already.

Olajumoke Medinat - posted on 02/05/2010

Hi,just keep tryin with the bottle.I'm already giving my 5months old formula milk twice a day and cereal,thou itz not easy @ first and i still breast feed.Keep trying every day

Alexis - posted on 02/05/2010

I have had the same trouble with my son who is about the same age as yours. It took lots of perseverance! I finally found that if I offered him a bottle as soon as he'd woken up from a long sleep he would take it. I'd tried staying away and letting Dad feed him, different bottles, expressed and formula, feeding cup and none had worked but suddenly last week he just started taking it! Good Luck!

Casey - posted on 02/04/2010

my daughter would not take a bottle either at first bc she was mostly BF, but i found a certain bottle that is more natural to them.. its called breastflow by first year.. they have them at target and babies r us... i would try those if nothing works.. good luck!

Stephanie - posted on 02/04/2010

Will he take a bottle for other people?Both my girls would not take a bottle from me but would from others. At first my first born would not take a bottle for my grandma when I went back to school. She just kept on offering her the bottle untill she finally took it. When they are hungry enough they will take the bottle.

Keshia - posted on 02/04/2010

thank you all for your advice. they all sound like good ideas. im going to try tonight. Coffee and just leaving dad with babe to bottle :) we will see how it goes!!

he loves his cerial so i will try to see if he will take it in a spoon :) or a sip cup!!

that is deff what we need to do, me away and no other option. It may be rough the first or seccond go at it but im sure it will all work out , Fingers crossed!!!

thanks everyone for the help

:)

Deb - posted on 02/04/2010

Keshia - trying bottle feeding is a great chance for you to go get some coffee. Let Daddy and baby work it out. ;-)

Katie - posted on 02/03/2010

I used to work in a childcare centre, and we had a lady who only breastfed and said she's never had a bottle, ok bye... and we battled and battled to get the baby to take the bottle, it just took a) the smell of someone else, b)squirting a little in their mouth, c) persisting persisting persisting! luckily my girl has been taking a bottle since a few days old, of expressed milk.. but why does your milk sour so quickly? and how do u know it has gone sour? if it coagulates, that's normal, and it's not meant to smell like anything at all...

Claire - posted on 02/03/2010

If the different bottles and nipples don't work then you might try one of those medicine spoons that have a hollow handle? Perhaps pouring in a few cc's at time and having him drink it from the spoon might work. just an idea as I have never tried it myself!

Keshia - posted on 02/03/2010

thanks. :)
my milk sour's minuts after it is expressed unless i heat it till it almost boils then quickly cool it. I cant remember what its called sorry. but it has to do with the antibodies.
:)
thanks for your help, im going to try to get my husband to feed him, and me scoot out of the house :) a good time to grab a coffe ! haha

Deb - posted on 02/03/2010

why do you have to heat your milk before storage?

Try diffrent bottles and nipples. Your son may not like the ones that you are using. Also let your husband try to feed him without you in the room. Babies sometimes dont like to take bottles when they know the booby is right there. As to your milk supply...your body will adjust as you reduce feedings. That just takes some time.