Biting my tongue

[smeep]

My friend was never very set on breastfeeding. She wanted to do it, but was okay with formula feeding if breastfeeding just didn't work out. So far she's still breastfeeding which I'm very happy with (her baby is about 3 weeks old). Unfortunately she's already given him bottles and now it sounds like he's got nipple confusion...his latch has worsened and he pulls off and screams sometimes. So I told her to just cut out the bottles and it should correct itself. And I want to tell her the many risks of supplementing but I also don't want to alienate her. It'd be a lot easier if she were a client and not a friend. Blah. I hate biting my tongue.

[BlueBella]

It is possible that she may want to stick with the bottles, and I think if someone is determined to bottle feed for whatever reason, then it's best to give them info on how do it so that it will least interfere with BFing. Kellymom has a section on the "alternative feeding methods" page that talks about how to bottlefeed the breastfed baby (sitting baby more upright, using slowest flow nipple etc., using a nipple that most emulates a breastfeeding latch - which is probably different for every baby). Also to give info on the whole supply/demand relationship, and let her know (if she doesn't already) that mothers should be pumping for every bottle that their dc has so as to not jeopardize their supply. It's also possible that giving her some info on how bottles can affect latch may make her rethink using them (rather than just telling her to ditch them which may make her defensive?). Good luck.

[lissabob]

Yeah, Kellymom has a page on combo feeding too, that could be very helpful. She could also look on her strike page for tips on how to get her baby bfing again.