For a breastfed baby, is it easier to bf or drink out of a bottle??

[Trinityrhino]

gecko has been having some bottles of ebm over the last few days
she will sink 4oz really easily and then seems satisfied, more so than when I bf her
so is it because she is drinking more from the bottle because it just keeps coming at her IYSWIM
mind you my let down is really fierce and sprays over her head if she unlatches when it is letting down so its not like she has to work that hard to feed.
now that I've seen that she drinks 4ozs from a bottle I'm starting to wonder if I'm not feeding her for long enough
she will have a boob, it will let down and she gulps and gulps and then it calms down and then she sucks abit more and then comes away, I burp her and then dont offer the other one and thinki now that I should be
I do seem to be feeding her all the time
she doesn't sleep through at all
settled at 10pm last night was up and fed at 1am, 2.30am, 4.20am and then fed again and thought it was time to get up at 6am
I'm worried that I will start expressing loads to feed her more from the bottle and then affect my suppply because I can't get it top let down when I express yet.

[Trinityrhino]

babble babble, sorry

[Trinityrhino]

[witchandchips]

hard to tell: how long does it take you to express 4oz?

[BandofMothers]

Try offering her both for each feed and see what happens.
She will be feeding a lot faster now she is older and getting more than you think.
Plus she may just be having a growth spurt.

[Trinityrhino]

witchandchips - about 20 mins to express 4 ozs

[witchandchips]

Thats really fast and gecko will be more efficient than a pump so you can assume he is getting at least 4oz from each feed. As others have said, guess he is going though a growth spurt and/or simply enjoys being bf and likes to use it to get back to sleep

[mistlethrush]

You don't say how old dd is?

Perhaps she is mainly getting the fore milk rather than the hind milk - so she's quenching her thirst but not getting the bit that will satisfy her more? (there are more experience people that will advise I'm sure). But it sounds as though she's probably getting more from you than you think anyway.

I found milk was very changeable day to day and even during the day. Sometimes when I expressed it was very thin, othertimes it would be really thick - which I took to be more hind milk.

Ds was a good feeder, but did take longer than 10mins to have a proper feed when small, and yes, sometimes got burped in the middle, but I often tickled his tummy or toes to keep him awake. I only ever offered one side as more likely to get hind milk this way. But they are all different.

Even though he fed well, ds didn't go without his 2am (and 4.30am sometimes) feed until abou 9 - 10 months (sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear!) and sometimes waking was much more often when having a growth spurt.

Expressing does get easier - being relaxed helps.

[Trinityrhino]

I just gave her 4ozs, she took 2 and then burped then took the other two.
then as an experiment I made sure she was burped and then ofered her the boob. she latched oin and then took it when it let down, maybe not as much as she normally does but not a huge difference. she is now hiccuping and chewing the remote
I'm confused

[Trinityrhino]

I hand express witchandchips
she is 6 months
it just feels that she doesn't seem to stay very long on the breast at all, maybe only 6 or 7 mins and I know they get quicker and more efficient but when she takes 4 ozs from a bottle it takes longer than 7 mins and she seems more satisfied

[BandofMothers]

Some days they eat like pigs, some days not so much.
She is weaning age now and will take less if you are giving solids too.

[Trinityrhino]

no solids yet BOM
it just feels that I can satisfy her with the bottle but not with the breast at the mo

panicking about starting weaning and dont want to end up trying to shovel loads of food in when I know that it isn't neccessary (sp?)

[Trinityrhino]

I'm fighting the urge to give her some banana porridge

[Katy44]

What teat are you using on the bottle? We ocassionally give DS ebm from a bottle, he's nearly 14 weeks. Yesterday I realised, looking at the avent teats that we'd had him on 'newborn' teats until about 10 weeks, and then had the bright idea to move him to the next teat up - which I now realise is intended for a 1 month old! He used to feed in 15-20 mins from me or take 45 mins to an hour from a bottle, now I can see why
Anyway, sorry for rambling, just wondered if it could be that the bottle feeds are long rather than the breast feeds being short iyswim?

[BandofMothers]

She may be waking more cos she's hungry tho, as she is the age to do solids.

You don't have to shovel it in. Just a wee bit of porridge before bed at night to start. At least that's how I started. But at 18 weeks

[witchandchips]

Does she hold the bottle herself? could be that she wants some more control over how she eats so you could try doing blw.

How many feeds does she have during the day, it could be that she is waking up at night because she needs feeding more often during the day. The other explanations is that she is starting to depend on you to get back to sleep

[chipmonkey]

I Agree with Katy44, whether it's easier or not will depend on what teat size you use. My instinct would tell me that nature knows best and I wouldn't start comparing yourself unfavourably with any bottle!