On Wed, 19 Oct 2005, PATRICA A Bucknell wrote:

> My experience has been that if the baby has a chance to establish BF
> well (lots of practice at the breast) and bottles aren't introduced for
> 3-4 weeks, most babies transition back and forth fine.  Moms only need a
> couple weeks to pump and get some milk frozen for their first day back
> to work (and usually moms think they need enough for 2 days!).

My experience was a little different.  I went back to work at 10 weeks,
and my son had never had a bottle before then.  We had tried introducing a
bottle the last week I was home, but he balked at it pretty much all the
time.  However, once he got the hang of it with the careproviders - which
took about 3-4 days, he balked at the breast!  I had to "trick" him into
taking the breast by first offering a pacifier, then taking that out when
he realized all rubber nipples didn't = milk... and then latching him onto
the breast immediately.  It was a bizarre approach, tried out of
desperation, but it worked!  ;)  I was a single mama so I HAD to work
outside the home, but I was also determined that he would get breastmilk
exclusively for at least 6 months... plus... I couldn't AFFORD non-human
milk!  After a couple of weeks of this routine, he not only switched
easily between bottle and breast but he grew to HATE that pacifier.  YAY.
;)

As far as pumping in advance... I didn't.  I had just enough bottles for
the first day when I went back to work, and I never got more than a couple
of days ahead.  It was a little nerve-wracking, but it also meant that
Trevor got relatively fresh, unfrozen milk every day.  I pumped twice a
day and went over to the onsite daycare center at lunch to nurse him - the
best part of every workday for a couple of years!

> So I guess my answer to your question is--if baby gets a chance to learn
> how to breastfeed well and practice it a while before a bottle is
> introduced, baby can do both once a mom is back to work.

I agree with that completely.

> And I also encourage mom to try to only pump when she's at work, when
> she's home, baby gets to eat from "the original container".

Definitely!

Cee

PS - Tiffany, if you want to read about my experience combining work
outside the home and breastfeeding, check out my website
http://www.kjsl.com/~cee/working.htm - you can also click through
from there to my page on nipple confusion if that would be helpful to you.

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