when to introduce a bottle of breast milk to a preemie.

[StrongFeather]

typing one-haded here
ok so i am new to this, 1st time mommy, and my little guy decided to come 4 weeks early(36weeks 3 days). after a low glucose test at birth, and supplimental formula feedings until my milk came in, we were finally sprung from the hospital only 48 hours after birth armed with tubes and syringes for finger-feedings, and (of course) a bunch of formula..but also a rented hospital grade pump, old, but it gets the job done.

so Sam is 10 days old and we are on day 4 of exclusive feedings at the breast. dumped the formula, my milk is in, and i even have some frozen and some in the fridge "just in case". So all seems good for our breast feeding future.

i think dh feels a little left out and i know he looks forward to when he can give LO a bottle of breast milk. i read that you should introduce a bottle at 4 weeks, but with him being a preemie should i wait longer? how do i figure out how long to wait?

just thought i would throw this out there for the BTDT moms..any help/suggestions are welcome!

[annekh23]

Here's barely a preemie, my daughter was born at 37 weeks by LMP, but I suspect was actually 36+3, just like your son, being a good weight and not officially a preemie, she skipped routine testing, but then had symptoms of low blood sugar, confirmed by testing and was in the NICU for 48 hours. She was also tongue tied, so after being exclusively at the breast, my milk vanished and she had to relearn how to latch effectively after the tie was snipped, so she was supplemented by tube and syringe whilst she figured everything out. My husband was strongly against giving her a bottle until she had figured out breastfeeding, in the end, our last syringe broke at 7 weeks, so we offered a bottle.

The usual recommendation is 4-6 weeks, I'd shoot for the latter end of that and be sure that he really is nursing well. Also make sure you get good info about how to bottle feed a breastfed baby, you want to make sure they take the feed over a similar length of time it would take them to feed at the breast.

Meanwhile, there is still plenty of things your DH can do with the baby, bathing a newborn can be great fun, even changing a nappy and clothes, you can stroke and even tickle them. No need for them to feed to bond.

[lisa133]

that is totally up to you and your situation. I only started a bottle b/c I was going back to work. I waited until 12 weeks and I went back at 14. I was freaking out that I waited too long but he got the hang of it.

I think it depends on whether you just want him to have some bottle b/c you might be out for a little during one day or if you need him to be bottle-fed regularly, you know.

you might decide to never give a bottle and DH might be satisfied with bathing and changing diapers.

good luck!