Disadvantages of feeding breast milk with a bottle

In my country, the maternity leave for pregnant women is three months, which will be adjusted according to different regions and units. Therefore, many mothers have to return to work while still breastfeeding. They will use a breast pump to suck out a lot of milk and store it at home, and then they can only feed the baby with a bottle. This situation will lead to insufficient milk secretion over time, which is also the main reason why many working women have less milk.

Use both!

Is it better to breastfeed with a bottle or by breastfeeding? It is recommended that mothers use both. Firstly, more breastfeeding can stimulate the breasts to build up milk supply. Secondly, it is very easy for the breasts to be blocked or have lumps at the beginning. The baby has a super strong suction power that even a breast pump cannot match, so the mother's breasts will not have lumps or pain.

During the day, the mother can breastfeed, and for the two meals at night, she can feed the baby with pre-expressed breast milk so that she can have a good rest. Breastfeeding is indeed very convenient. There is no need to warm the milk, no need to worry about the milk going bad, and no need to carry bottles and jars when going out. You can do it at any time.

Be careful with weaning!

When the baby is older, he will distract himself when drinking milk. At this time, you can switch to feeding breast milk with a bottle to let the baby drink more. However, it is easy to wean your baby off by bottle-feeding. After all, a breast pump cannot completely simulate the baby's sucking action. Without stimulation, the body will think that it does not need breastfeeding and will wean its baby on its own. This is why many mothers are unable to feed their babies exclusively with breast milk for six months. So remember that even if you are bottle-feeding your baby, you still need to breastfeed him at least once a day.

Are you having a weaning crisis?

Many mothers find that they have suddenly stopped breastfeeding after returning to work after the confinement period! Based on my ten months of breastfeeding experience, I found that the supply of breast milk is not actually very stable.

Although the baby is stimulated enough by sucking every day, there will be a sudden "suspected" weaning every once in a while (about 20-30 days). The milk is not swollen and is soft all day long. When I express milk that night, the fixed output of 150-180ml drops to 50ml or even 20ml.

At this time, you have to believe that nature will not let you who are continuously breastfeeding suddenly have no milk for your baby. In fact, just relax, drink plenty of water, and you don’t have to eat any milk-producing foods deliberately (of course it would be better if you do). As long as you continue to suck your baby, the production will return in a few days. And only by drinking more water can you avoid constipation. When breast milk uses up all the water in your body, your bowel movements will of course not be smooth.

The key is to continue to suckle your baby so that he will not wean. If you only rely on a breast pump to express milk, then he will really wean. Another point is that prolactin is more abundant at night than during the day, so even if the baby has slept through the night, the mother must express milk once at night. If she does not express milk at night, the amount of milk will really become less and less. Similarly, if you want more milk, remember to get up at least 1-2 times in the middle of the night to express milk, which can help you produce more milk.

Breastfeeding precautions

1. Breast care: If a pregnant mother decides to breastfeed, she should start taking care of her breasts before pregnancy, pay attention to massage when bathing, wear a loose bra to avoid compression of the mammary glands and blockage. If there are problems such as inverted nipples, you can consult a doctor and try to correct them as early as possible.

In addition, the mother's nipples should always be kept clean to prevent nipple and breast diseases. If you use the right posture and method when feeding in the future, there won’t be any big problem. After each feeding, if the baby does not suck the breasts empty, the excess milk should be sucked out with a breast pump. This is not a waste. Emptying the breasts can promote more milk secretion, reduce the pain of milk engorgement for new mothers, and also has a health-care effect on the health of the breasts.

2. Start breastfeeding as soon as possible: Generally speaking, 30 minutes after delivery, although the new mother has not yet started breastfeeding and there may not be enough milk in the breast, you should still try your best to let the baby suck the breast and cultivate the baby's habit of sucking the breast as soon as possible. Otherwise, the baby may reject the mother's breast in the future.

3. Do not discard colostrum: The milk secreted by the mother within five days after delivery is called colostrum. Some mothers think that colostrum is "dirty" or has no nutritional value, so they squeeze it out and throw it away, which is a pity. In fact, colostrum is the essence of nutrition. It is rich in the highest human immune factors and growth factors, which can enhance the baby's immunity and promote the baby's development. Therefore, you should feed your baby whenever he is hungry within five days after delivery and try to give him as much supplements as possible.

4. Pay attention to insufficient breast milk: When the mother's breast milk is insufficient, the breasts often do not swell before breastfeeding, the baby swallows less during breastfeeding, the baby sleeps short and restless after breastfeeding, often cries, and the weight does not increase or increases slowly. At this time, the mother needs to find out the reasons and correct them.

5. It is harmful for babies to sleep while feeding: Do not let your baby sleep with the nipple in his mouth. This is not only unhygienic, but also easily causes suffocation and vomiting. It will also affect the development of the baby's gums and cause deformities.

6. Keep a happy mood: Mothers should breastfeed in a relaxed mood. If the mother is mentally burdened or very nervous, it will affect the secretion of milk.