Giving one bottle of EBM a day

[jishjashjosh]

Hi
My DD is 3.5 months and for the last week she has naturally transitioned into a 4 hr EASY and doing well. She is EBF. I dreamfed her with a bottle of EBM from 2 weeks to 12 weeks. When I stopped dream feeding her at 12 weeks she started sleeping right through the night til 6.30/7. Now she is on a 4 hr easy, she only feeds 4 x a day. I would like to re-introduce a bottle of EBM for one of her feeds so DH can feed her if he is working from home, and I quite like the idea that I would be able to leave her with a family and she won't fight the bottle. Will reducing the breast feeds from 4-3 reduce my milk supply for the other feeds?  I know I would need up pump for the missed feed .
Any advise appreciated!

[michaeljacknnugg]

It shouldn't do, as your body's supply should be established by now.

Will you be pumping in order to make up the bottle for her? That was a killer for me as it was much quicker to just feed!

[jishjashjosh]

Yes I will be pumping and will prob need to pump more than once a day to get enough milk out. To be honest I would rather just feed from the breast but I'm really worried that if I don't introduce the bottle no-ish, when she is 6 months ( which is when I *think* I will stop breast feeding), and she needs to take the bottle, I will have a really hard time weaning her off it.
What do you think?

[michaeljacknnugg]

Given our experience (I couldn't manage to sterilise-pump-bottlefeed every day, it was just too much. DS ended up refusing a bottle), if I could go back I would have given him one bottle of formula a day. Many people feel very strongly about continuing to breastfeed exclusively, so it's not for everyone, but it would have helped me immensely to know that I could be away from him occasionally. I felt trapped by the exclusive feeding in the end.

So if you're open to it and you really want her to take the bottle, it might be worth considering formula once a day.

[Shdef]

I pump in the morning before the first feed (the sleeping through thing really lead to sore boobs, so I pump only from one side and then feed from the other) and then again in the afternoon. That is more than enough and DS doesn't even finish it all.

I find it important that DS takes both. We use Avent pump, steriliser and bottles. No nipple confusion in sight.

[*Ali*]

Yes I would offer a bottle now rather than wait if you want her to be taking a bottle at 6mo. I never really persisted with either of mine and they quickly decided they didn't want a bottle anymore. It didn't really bother me but I guess it would have been convenient to be able to leave a bottle if I wanted to.