PACED BOTTLE FEEDING
You may be using bottles because you are mix feeding or it's time to go back to work or because you want to share the load a bit. Whatever the reason, when you introduce the bottle, you want to make sure you do it in a way that supports breastfeeding rather than undermining it, so that we don't undo all the hard work you've done.
Officially, the recommendation is to hold off on introducing bottles or pacifiers for baby’s first 4-6 weeks to prevent issues with latching and milk supply. In all fairness, if we're going to give this a go, let the baby have a shot at mastering the skill of breastfeeding, before we rock the boat by teaching them another skill like bottle feeding.
Here at Pacific North Breast we have your back! We are mothers, we are realists, and not everybody waits for the magic 4-6 weeks. Ultimately that's okay! Studies tell us that if you bottle feed in the right way, you are less likely to create these problems and babies actually do much better, going back and forth between breast and bottle.
Back in the day we used to talk a lot about nipple confusion. As if the baby couldn't handle the difference in texture and shape of the nipples and got lost along the way. As it turns out, it wasn't the nipple! It was the rate! It's the flow of milk coming out of the bottle. If I just held a bottle upside down, it would start dripping wouldn’t it? Gravity takes over and that milk just flows. Baby can't stop it, or control it, or slow it down. They have to swallow that milk, or they're going to drown. So they gulp it down and that bottle gets emptied in five minutes flat. When that milk hits the tummy (at a 100mph!) the first thing that happens is it all comes back up.....Barf.
Studies show that with slow-flow teats and holding the bottle horizontal to the ground, rather than vertical, we can slow the flow of milk, more in line with that of a breast. This means the milk slows down and doesn't hit the tummy so fast and we see lower rates of colic reflux, gas and wind. More importantly, the baby is now in control since we've taken gravity out of the equation. They are now free to suck the milk through at their own pace, taking natural pauses in between sucking to catch their breath, just like they would do on a breast.
The other benefit of pace bottle feeding is that we make the baby work for it. In that vertical position with gravity pouring the milk down, baby doesn't have to work at all, they just lay back and swallow. One thing is for certain, babies love the path of least resistance.
They get used to the free ride, then we offer them a breast and suddenly they're like, “WHAT?!? You want me to work for it? No no no… no thank you! I'll take that lovely thing Daddy gave me instead”.
When this occurs we call this “breast aversion” and that can be very challenging to try and correct. With pace bottle feeding, baby has to use those amazing suckling skills that they've learned on the breast in the same way that they do on the bottle. They’ve got to work for it. When we look at the evidence, babies who are fed with a pace bottle feeding method are less likely to develop breast diversions.
OUT! WITH A FULL, PACE FED TUMMY!
If you want to learn more, here's a great video on how to hold baby to get the bottle horizontal.
If you want to know more about what type of bottles are best for supporting breastfeeding, check out our next blog post!! Any questions? Send us an email at info@pacificnorthbreast.com
HAPPY BOTTLE FEEDING,
THE BREASTIES!