advice on introducing expressed breast milk

[CurleyShirley]

hi all - can anyone answer some questions on introducing expressed milk in a bottle? I am a bit confused! here they are!

1. my dd is 4 weeks tomorrow and i plan to try for the first tonight - does that sound about the right timing?
   
2. i gave expressed 50ml. at the moment dd often feeds on and off for a couple of hours in the evening, so i plan to get DH to give her the bottle this evening and also feed her from the breast - to introduce it slowly.
   3 i expressed at lunchtime today and put it straight in the fridge. should i get the bottle out at some point soon in order that it will be at room temp n, say, 4 hours?? or do i give it straight from the fridge?
   thanks for any advice!

[lailasmum]

I don't think there is any rule as to when you should start expressing or when it too early. I think some women like to wait until 4-6 weeks but I certainly didn' I expressed from very soon after birth for many reasons. Its just whatever suits you. You will need to warm the milk up from refrigerator temp because that would only be about 4 degrees. You could leave it out to warm to air temp or put the bottle in a bowl of warm water to speed up warming up. Some babies don't mind it air temp some like it warmer at body temperature.
I wouldn't panic to much about introducing it slowly. Its the same after all as what your baby is getting from the breast but some babies prefer one style of bottle to the next and that is more likely be the challenge. My little one was quite happy with a bottle of expressed milk until I slowly reverted back to full feeding straight from the breast but I know some that aren't and don't like bottles. Just do an experiment and see what your baby likes and doesn't like.

[callmeovercautious]

I did the same at this age and DD will take bottles if I need her to (although she has a cup now as well as she is 11m). I have excBF with occasional bottles of EBM from DP.

You will be suprised how quickly she drinks the 50ml.

You can take the bottle out a few hours before provided the room is not too hot. If you have had a hot day like we have here I would leave it another hour or two. Or you could take it out 10mins before and warm it in hot water as you would with formula.

Have a look at Kellymon.com for some good BFing and expressing tips (how long milk keeps etc - I was suprised it keeps better than cows milk!)

HTH

[HermyGrain]

How much would you expect a baby to take at this early stage if not being topped up in that feed by bf?

[lailasmum]

Its a bit difficult to know. Some babies do drink a lot some don't.

[prettybird]

If your dd does take to the bottle of EBM, I owld quickly try to get her used to cold milk stragiht from the fridge. it make life much easier!

Ds was on EBM for alternative feeds from about 2 weeks (to encourage weight gain). I soon stopped bothering to warm the milk - and he was fine about it! I think for a while we did a cursory "run the bottle under a hot tap" to take the chill off it, but we soon stopped doing even that!

[lailasmum]

I think you should warm it to body temp fist time round. Chilled stuff isn't exactly calming on the stomach specially if she has just had a nice feed off you then you give her ice cold milk.