2016
Gradually cutting down breastfeeding reduces the chance of your breasts becoming uncomfortably engorged and leaky. It will also reduce your risk of developing mastitis. If you substitute a breastfeed with a formula feed, it will take around three to seven days for your breasts to adjust to missing that one feed. If you ‘top up’ with formula at one or more feeding sessions, rather than replacing an entire feed, this is likely to extend the gap between breastfeeds, which will signal to your breasts to make less milk. You can then drop the breastfeeds you want to drop, replacing them with formula. On the other hand, if you are advised to ‘top up’ as a temporary measure and want to return to exclusive breastfeeding, you can express milk between feeds to increase the amount of milk you make.
WELLBEING
Introducing a bottle to a breastfeed baby
If you have breastfed your baby so far, they may be reluctant to take a bottle at first. The different sucking actions needed may confuse them and they may not take it from you. There are lots of different things you can try to help your baby. To begin with, maybe ask someone else to offer a bottle and you could also try softening the teat with warm, boiled water. Another tip is to hold your baby in a different position from your usual breastfeeding one. It may help your baby get used to the new way of feeding. If this doesn't work, there are a variety of bottle teats which may make a difference. For more suggestions, read our article about introducing bottles. You could also ask your midwife, health visitor or
breastfeeding counsellor about using a nursing supplementer, as an alternative to bottles. This is a gadget which you use at the same time as your baby is at the breast – the supplementer delivers formula, through a tube attached at one end to the teat on a bottle, and at the other end, it’s taped to your nipple. The baby gets formula (or expressed breastmilk) through the supplementer, at the same time as breastfeeding.
More information
NCT breastfeeding helpline 0300 330 0700, NCT.org.uk Healthtalkonline.org BestBeginnings.org.uk
BRISTOL NCT
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