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Sometimes despite our best intentions we find that we can not breastfeed as we so desperately wanted to. When I was a first time mom I was convinced I would just breastfeed and that was that. Well stuff happens, unfortunately.
The first steps I recommend is knowing your facts.
If you want to breastfeed get help from a lactation consultant, read the The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and cover all your breastfeeding angles before moving on. Also take a look at my 10+ Tips I learnt about Breastfeeding from my 3 Babies.
The next option is to use a breast pump, express your milk and then bottle feed it to your little one. Take a look at my thoughts on How to Choose the Best Breast Pump and Usage Tips if you are going this route.
If you are unable to use a breast pump and express your own milk for baby, I would recommend donor milk. If donor milk makes you uncomfortable the next option is goats milk. Yes, I said goats milk. Goats milk is the closest you can get to human breast milk before going onto man made formulas.
When stopping to breast feed you need to slowly stop or ask your DR for some pills. Just stopping will likely cause pain and in some cases mastitis, which is very painful and makes you feel horribly sick.
Which ever you decide you will need bottles.
My friend who had a premature baby and went through so many different bottles swears by Dr Browns bottles. These helped her little one with reflux as well as colic. You are able to read about her preemies birth story here.
For my first child I used Avent bottles, I found that for newborns the flow is way too fast so would only personally recommend these from about 6 months onwards. Don’t screw the lids on extremely tight either this causes leaks, you just want to secure it.
For my 2nd child who I expressed for for 8 months I used Tommee Tippee bottles. I did pick up a trick with these bottles as well. Make sure the air vent on the teat is functional before screwing the lid onto the bottle by pinching the valve, also keep the air vent up top (by baby’s nose) when feeding baby. I love that Tommee Tippee makes slow flow teats for the bottles, this is especially great if you are trying to get back to breastfeeding or duel feeding.
In my experience I found that babies are more likely to get colic related symptoms when bottle fed. I wrote an ebook about all sorts of ways you can help your little one at this time of life. My Ebook The Colic Solution by a Mom, for a Mom is 70% off for the duration of this event. Click here to apply the code:ULTIMATEBABY. (only $1!!)
Tips for using your new bottles.
Now that you have bought one or two bottles to try out there are a few things you need to know.
Firstly, you will need to sterilize the bottles if your baby is still very young. Nasty germs and old milk residue is not something we want to be feeding them.
One way is to use a sterilizing solution and soak the bottles in it. Personally I can’t stand the smell of it so I use the other way which is a Microwave steaming kit.
When feeding baby a bottle keep the head higher than the stomach.
Lalymom has excellent advice if you are trying to get your baby to take a bottle for the first time. Have mom be out of the room or house, perhaps try draping a shirt that mom wore over your arm. One babysitter noticed our son would always try to grip onto something while she fed him and suggested we introduce a lovey and that helped with bottle feeding as well as sleeping.
Take a look at these other feeding resources for your babies first year.
Ultimate Guide to Feeding Baby ~ Lemon Lime Adventures
Breast Feeding
- 9+ Tips for Breastfeeding (Twins or Single Babies) ~ The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide
- My Best Breastfeeding Advice ~ Bare Feet on the Dashboard
- Tips to Avoid a Breastfeeding Burnout ~ The Realistic Mama
- Do You Give Her Water? Changing Times, Changing Advice ~ Let the Journey Begin
- Our Feeding Stories ~ Trust Me, I’m a Mom
Starting Solids
- Top 5 No-Cook Baby Food Recipes ~ True Aim Education
- Making and Storing Your Own Baby Food ~ Peace but Not Quiet
- The Best Baby Food Recipe Books ~ Still Playing School
Baby-Led Weaning
- Why I skipped purees ~ Dirt and Boogers
Take a look at the entire collection for The Ultimate guide to baby’s first year! Also check out the Pinterest board for this event. And Enter for a chance to win 1 of 8 fabulous prizes!
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