Recently received this question, which is a very common thing that we get asked:
“I am a breast feeding mother and I have a 2month old daughter. I have an occassion to attend and will be away from my daughter for at least 1 and a half days. As this is the first time I will be away from her I would like to know how I could go about doing this. I have a breast pump already. Am just curious about whether this is a good choice. Will she still want my breast after being on the bottle for a day?”
In our experience as mothers, we would suggest that the best thing to do is start expressing now so that you can build up a supply in the freezer. You could also start to introduce a bottle feed with baby now, so that she learns how to take it. Then it will be less stress for baby while you are away, and less worry for you if you know that she is already happy to drink expressed milk from a bottle.
Most babies can switch between breast and bottle quite happily, but occasionally some babies don’t like going back to the breast. This is just because it is a lot easier for them to drink from a bottle, the milk just flows out of the teat, and they don’t have to work quite so hard to get the milk out. So yes they get a little lazy and will know a bottle teat is easier than mum. Even at 2 months your baby girl could work this out.
There is actually a bottle teat that we very highly recommend. It is different to most teats on the market, in that it works the same ways as a nipple and the baby has to continue the same way to work and get the milk out. The baby controls the flow rate too, and even if you tip the bottle upside down no milk drips out. They are quite expensive, but then consider that the same teat goes from birth to weaning so you don’t have to upgrade the size as baby gets old. These are called the Chu Chu teat.
Please let us know if you have any more questions
