Great article about BF vs bottle feeding (even if its EBM)

I thought that this was really interesting, so I had to share. There have been a lot of posts lately about the benefits of extended BF, but this is a benefit that babies get even if they BF shorter periods of time.


Breast-Fed Babies Know When to Say When

 

I know that most of the moms on here (or at least most of the moms who post regularly) are formula feeding, but this article makes some very interesting points. It mentions a benefit of BF that is not one of the better known benefits, which is preventing obesity in the future. For those moms who bottle feed (even those who feed EBM), it mentions things they can do to approximate this benefit. It Thought people might be interested.

Breast-Fed Babies Know When to Say When

 

Yeah, I totally buy that argument based on my own experience with the boys. I was giving tons of bottles in the beginning, and I did have one twin who gained weight way too fast. Once I realized the problem, we really had to watch him anytime he got a bottle of EBM or formula. Just as an example, this baby could polish off 8 ounces at only 4 weeks old, and he didn't even throw up afterward. Once I realized he had gained over a pound in a week, and I met with my LC right around that time, we started getting him to the breast more and regulating his bottles. His weight gain was much more normal after that.

 

Great article! And so true:

I think there's a huge tendency to push babies to finish a bottle (not waste any EBM or formula, want the baby to stay full a long time, etc), which is super early training in "clean your plate" eating, which everyone knows (or ought to by now) sets you up for getting overweight. Feeding schedules are another culprit. If you have it in your head that your baby is only going to eat at 9, 12, 3, and 6 --- or 8, 12, 4, and 8 --- or only after waking up, and never right before going down for a nap --- you bet you'll be trying to shove in every last drop so they'll make it until the clock says they're allowed to eat again.

Another thing I've read that the article didn't mention is that when BF babies are full but still want to nurse for comfort, they switch over to a different kind of sucking, so that even if there's milk left they're not really getting it. (Which is so cool!) If a bottle-fed baby just wants something to suck on, the milk is going to come, like it or not.

I also liked that the article talks about how to watch out for full-cues when bottle feeding, because you absolutely can - and everyone can tap into this, whether they're bottle feeding by choice or by necessity.

 

I'm kinda pissed that my post on the FY forum got moved here! Maybe I should have titled it different, but I think that the moms who choose to formula feed should understand that they need to avoid overfeeding as well. There is a reason why the body of my posts had two different contexts depending on the audience I was speaking to.

 

I agree! These feeding cues are very important. And a fair number of us bottle feeders have NICU grads and have had to transition from "make that tiny baby eat as much as possible" to "baby is now old enough to regulate her own intake." So learning about feeding cues is vital in that context.

 

I didn't have a problem where it was located b/c it was posted to be informational, but I can tell you that just the title made me cringe like I was screwing up once again for not nursing b/c I had to pump and provide EBM. I agree that it is important for parents to know those cues, but so many parents of twins have feeding issues, reflux, etc. that it's just so much to try to grasp in the beginning especially for a new parent. I had a kiddo with reflux that I was asked to provide EBM and add in a certain amount (I think it was a tablespoon) of a high cal. formula to up his weight and help thicken it. When you're trying to do everything you can to get something in your kid that automatically pulls away from the bottle after an oz. and only drinkk 12 or 14 oz. a day those cues that they aren't hungry aren't what you're looking for. You're trying to get as much as you can in the kid. But in general for those babies that don't have any issues, the article has some good information. I think a lot of people are just trying to stay away from this whole breast vs. bottle thing...it always hits a nerve with people either way.

 

I should have picked a better title, since the point of the article had nothing to do with BM vs formula. I know a lot of people have feeding issues early on but as the pp said, at some point you have to switch gears. I saw 4 month old twins in my office who were former 35 weekers and one twin was almost 20 lbs! She was taking 8 oz bottles and the mom looked at me like I was a horrible person when I told her she was overfeeding. She said "how can I feed her less, she'll cry". Obviously for this mom, bottles equalled soothing.

 

I found the title to be absolutely appropriate. Whether you are providing formula or bm, if it's in a bottle you have to be more on the lookout for feeding cues. This has nothing to do with whether you are a bad mom for choosing to--or having to-bottle feed, and it's really not fair to the OP to turn it into that. She was trying to provide some very useful information that ALL of us can benefit by knowing, because even the "I don't want any more" baby (BTDT) is eventually going to be eating more. Mothers don't "screw up" when they choose to--or have to--use bottles and that was never implied in the title. So thank you Slug for posting this.

 

I think for some people that may have just looked at the title without reading the article, they may not have wanted to "go there". It says "BF vs. bottle feed (even if it's EBM)" and THAT is what made me cringe. Part of that is my own issues with not being able nurse like I had wanted, but have always felt like I did what I could to provide breast milk in other ways. There's a little bit of guilt there and so just that statement made me cringe or rubbed me the wrong way a bit. I was not attacking the OP and I hope she didn't feel that way. I was more trying to provide a bit of my own personal experience and actually admitted there is some good information in the article and parents do need to recognize those cues. But, it my case with one of my kiddos (not all), he showed many of those same cues but some of those are also associated with reflux and he was not taking in very much so I just can't imagine he was trying to tell me he wasn't hungry. I know that's just one personal experience and I do believe many times a child is just given a bottle whenever they cry and some of those other cues are not recognized. Again, I was not trying to say it's a bottle/breast arguement, but that for some people may have read the title only may have just passed up the article entirely regardless of how informative it is simply b/c they may not want to rehash that issue again (based on the title alone). Sorry for the rambling and personal stories thrown in there, but wanted to explain why I said what I did.

 

It got moved because of site politics. If it wasn't moved, it would probably be a big blow up, so maybe it's a good thing.

I've heard people say that you can't overfeed a baby, and I just don't agree with that, if nothing else based on my first hand experience with Eli. Part of the problem we had was the combo feeding. I was underestimating my milk supply, and my DH is a notorious bottle overfeeder. He was having a tough time differentiating between the baby's desire to suck and hunger (he was giving them most of the bottles, and I was breastfeeding them). Now with the new baby, we've got him with the program.

 

Again, I wish I had picked a better title. I think that it is important for moms who choose to bottle feed for ANY reason (and I'm one of those because I work full time) to learn to watch feeding cues. Obesity is such an epidemic and if moms can reap some of the benefits breastfed babies get by just carefully watching, then maybe less kids would have issues. I guess I feel passionate about this after countless 60 lb three year olds I have seen as well as 4 month olds downing 50+ oz formula a day!

 

It was moved and merged because TS does not allow duplicate posts. Plain and simple. There are no politics involved. ardon: