Bottlefeeding an exclusively breastfed 7 month old

[puddinnpeanut]

Well the title makes me cringe...but I'm having gallbladder surgery on Thursday and so my exclusively breastfed, almost 7 month old will have to have EBM for the day. My mom will be taking care of him, so he will be in good hands, however I don't even know what to tell her in regards to feeding EBM. He is my fourth baby but I've never had to bottle feed in a situation like this.
My questions are about warming, can bottle be given at more than one feeding? I really have no clue. I could be gone for as long as 12 hours, but I'm hoping less. I pumped my first bottle tonight, which should be fine to keep with the use within 72 hour guideline in the fridge, right? I could only pump 3 ounces, I have no idea how much he drinks! I plan to pump at least 3 more bottles, do you think this is enough? Thanks! I know a lot of questions!
I just can't believe I have to leave him, (sigh)!

[_betsy_]

Check out www.kellymom.com for handling questions. Generally, the rule is if baby has started taking a bottle, it's done. You can keep milk in the fridge for 8-10 days. At 7 months old, my babe was taking 16 ounces over the course of a 12 hour period, but she was also getting some solids. Not enough to make a difference nutritionally, but it did take up some of the time, I guess.

HTH!

[cdahlgrd]

A sippy cup or straw might work better than a bottle. I would store your milk in 2 oz portions, so that you don't have to worry about it going bad. However, I didn't worrry too much about bm going bad, as long as it wasn't out for more than a couple hours after starting it.

Can your Mom bring him to you when he needs to nurse? If you are worried about the drugs, I had 2 c-sections and always nursed, so you can too (just talk to your doc. and anasthesiologist (spelling is wrong sorry)). Even if she can't, he will have a fun day with granma!

You might want to practice with the sippy cup for today and tomorrow.

Oh, you might want to have a pump handy, so you can pump while you are separated! Otherwise you will be at risk for mastitis. . . not fun while recovering from surgery!

[Mommy Kahdib]

I EBF DD for 15 months...but when she was 3 months I started going to tutor on Wednesdays and then we started shooting weddings and leaving her with her grandma. I would always leave her with way more milk...get worried about her intake and such...but honestly...if she didn't get enough that one day that I was gone because she didn't want to deal with the bottle she more than made up for it that night...tiring but at least she knew that she was hungry/thirsty and met her needs. I brought it up to our ped who said, "A baby will never starve itself...so while you're gone offer that bottle and know that she isn't going to die without milk for a couple hours and if she feels like she is going to then she'll give in and take the bottle."