Bottle vs. sippy cup, and other questions

[cookster9]

We would like to get our son started on ebm, he isn't very interested in a bottle so we have tried a sippy cup. Yesterday, he wasn't interested in the cup either until he BF for a couple of minutes, then he took the cup and drained 1 1/2 oz very quickly (approx 1 minute).  We are trying to do this so Mom can have a couple of nights out to play soccer, so we wouldn't be doing it everyday.
Here are some questions I have :
1.  I have a read a number of other posts that only talk about giving bottles and was wondering if we shouldn't be giving him the sippy cup if he is going to drink it so fast ?  Could this cause a gas problem ?
2. I am thinking that if I don't start him on a bottle, we won't have to take it away (when he gets older) and will only have to worry about the sippy cup.  For those of you more experienced, is this correct or am I mistaken ?
3.  How much milk will a six month old take ?
4.  How much milk can I expect to express ?  I have an electric Gerber and I only seem to get approx 2 oz from one side on a good day (I haven't been expressing consistently - a few times a week for three weeks.)

Thanks for now,
Patti

[ryan's mum]

i have no experience with breast feeding but i do have experience with a bottle lover !  . i would say stick to using a sippy cup , at least you are cutting one process out .if your son is happy using a cup then keep it that way . my son will not stop using a bottle , it's a nightmare . he can use a sippy and a cup and straw but won't drink enough for me to take the bottle away . he is on a med that he needs to drink a lot of water with 

[daisymelan]

Ok, I think by what you said in your post that your little one is 6 months old.  I think if you can get him on a sippy cup, then that's ok.  I hadn't heard about the gas thing, so maybe that is a concern.  I gave my son a sippy wiht his meals from 6 months on.  And good work getting him to take 1.5 oz.  I guess I would suggest that you get him to be able to take the sippy without you're priming him beforehand, because maybe this is why he took it.  I just dont' want you to be out enjoying your soccer game and then have to take an emergency time out because hubby and son showed up on the field for a feed.   

To be able to express more, you will have to do it each day and preferably a couple times.  Your supply will likely go up much faster. 

I really don't know how much your lo will take in a bottle, I think my son took anywhere from 4.5 oz to 6 around that age, but he's not a super big guy and it differs for each babe.

I hope this helps.

[JacobMarksMummy]

I cant help you with how much milk he sould be taking but I'd definatly skip the bottle and go straight to a cup. It took my LO around 6weeks to master one properly and he drinks out of it like a fish, be patient and perisitant with it. You might want to try giving him one feed from it everyday until he is more used to handling it. As for expressing I always struggled and 2/3oz was a pretty normal amount for me to express. You could try expressing first thing in the morning whilst your LO nursing off the other breast as this is when your breast are fullest and having a let-down on one boob really helps with the let-down on the other. Or you could introduce a time each day when you express, after doing so for a few days your body should strat to think of it as a new feed and produce more milk exclusively for this time. It depends how much time and effort you have. Good luck!!!!