Guest Post--Christy's Story

Bottle or Breast…YOUR choice is the best.

My name is Christy and I am a busy mother of four children. I have two girls and two boys (in that order) and they range from ages 5 ½ years old to 3 months. If you’re doing some math…that means I’ve been pregnant, nursing, or sporting a bottle for over 6 years. My story is not one in support of breastfeeding or bottle feeding but more one to urge you to do what is best for you and your family.

My first child, Jaci, was slow to take to nursing. She and I were new at everything and didn’t quite make the hook-up initially. I had some help from a lactation consultant after about a week and things improved. I had PLENTY of food for her and she quickly beefed up after dropping some weight. I refused to bottle feed her during that first week because I felt pressured to stick out the nursing. I was engorged, she was starving, and we were both in panic mode. Once we got things on the right track we didn’t run into anymore problems. That is, until I had to go back to work at 6 weeks. I decided I didn’t have the extra money to buy or rent a breast pump and truthfully I was embarrassed to nurse around other people and in public. I made the quick to formula bottles in a week (too fast to wean but that’s another lesson learned the hard way) and we never regretted it. We switched from formula to whole milk and vitamins at 10 months because she was too beefy.

My second daughter, Carli, was born 2 years later and was nursed until she was roughly 10 months old. While she would take a bottle she would have nothing to do with formula so I broke down and bought a pump. I pump to and from work in the car (yes, on the interstate) and during my lunch break. It was a miserable 9 months (I went back to work at 6 weeks again) but as a mother, I did what I needed to in order to have my baby healthy. We switched her to whole milk and vitamins at 10 months also. Mind you, with both girls they were off bottles when we went to whole milk.

Then came Troy 2 years later and he was quite a handful from the start. While I had quick recoveries with both girls I had an emergency c-section with Troy and struggled after returning home. We did not do well with nursing and I quickly developed mastitis. I was treated with four different antibiotics in the first three weeks and really struggled to keep things together. I wanted to nurse my new baby to build that bond I had with my girls but couldn’t even hold him to my shoulder to burp him because of the pain of my breast infection. So, we quit. Already in terrible pain I quit cold turkey (again, not something I recommend) and we went straight to formula bottles. He thrived, I healed, and the world was right again. I have no regrets. I went back to work at 8 weeks.

Now we have Luke, just 18 months after Troy, and he is a bubbly boy that loves his mommy and the bottle, too. I nursed him exclusively for the first 3 weeks and then began one formula bottle during the day. We are now at 2 formula bottles and nursing 4 times a day. This meets the demands of my work schedule which will resume in 5 weeks. I started Luke on formula bottles long before it was necessary but now can go on shopping trips, visits with friends, and lunches without having to worry about nursing in public. This has always been an issue for me!

I know there have been studies done that show breastfed babies are “healthier” than formula fed babies. I have no proof of that. In fact, my children have chronic ear infections and with the exception of Luke, have all had ear tubes at least once. Jaci had her first set at 11 months, Carli at 13 months, and Troy at 20 months has already had 2 sets. So…regardless of breast or formula if your child is going to get sick, it is in my opinion that they will.

Also, I know there are many people out there that argue that a mother is providing the best brain developing nutrients if she breastfeeds instead of formula feeds. My oldest daughter Jaci has been reading and doing basic math since she was 4 and my daughter Carli is already spelling basic words at 3. Does this mean bottles were better or breast was the influence? No. Parenting and proper stimulation is the influence. Paying attention to your children and giving them the chance to discover and be independent is the influence.

Lastly, I have found that it doesn’t matter if you bottle feed or breastfeed, a baby will sleep through the night on their own schedule. I was told a breastfed baby will take longer to do so but have not found that to be true. All my children have slept through the night by 4 months of age regardless of our feeding choice.

So, there you have it, my 2 cents. Feed your baby however you can. Feed them on a schedule, feed them an appropriate amount, and love them to pieces. You can’t hold them too much. Believe me…I have tried.

Guest Post--Bottle Feeding Breast Milk

This post comes to us from my dear friend Carrie--yes, I have a friend named Carrie. When she first started attending our church I asked someone, "Have you seen Carrie?" The lady I asked looked at me like, "Oh, she's lost it." :) Anyway, this is Carrie and her precious girl's story. Enjoy.


During my pregnancy, I had every intention to breastfeed. It's natural, healthy, always available, and my biggest selling point – FREE. My daughter was breastfed. At least in the sense she did drink breastmilk, but she almost 100% received it in a bottle.

Carrie feeding her girl in the NICU

My daughter was born three weeks early via c-section due to low amniotic fluids and the fact she was breech. She ended up staying in the NICU for eight days in order to regulate her blood sugar the nurses and doctors wanted to record her intake every three hours. When a child feeds at the breast it makes it harder to record the nutrition in ounces.

I began pumping the evening she was born. I pumped every 2-3 hours for the next several days only to receive a few cc’s of milk. I would draw it up in small medicine-like syringes and have her drink it. I supplemented with formula for those first few days. At five days old, my milk came in. I continued to pump every 2-3 hours even at night and my daughter began taking breastmilk in bottles.

Breastmilk from a bottle.

I did try to breastfeed. The nurses did finally allow me to try in the NICU, but my girl wouldn’t latch on. I had very little success in the hospital, but I told myself it would easier at home. I would be more comfortable and I could relax a little more.

I went home continuing to pump about every three hours. By the time she was three weeks old I already had an abundance of “extra” milk in the freezer. At my peak I had 144 bags with 6 ounces of milk in each bag in the freezer. That equals to 864 ounces of breast milk.

I know the idea of pumping 6, 7, or 8 times a day can seem daunting, but in reality it wasn’t. My daughter was a breast fed baby who was fed like a bottle-fed baby. My pumping and feeding schedule for the early months 0-4 was as followed:

6 am pump and feed (pumped around 10 – 15 ounces of milk)
9 am pump and feed (pumped at least 5 ounces of milk)
12 noon pump and feed (pumped at least 5 ounces of milk)
3 pm pump and feed (pumped at least 5 ounces of milk)
6 pm pump and feed (pumped at least 5 ounces of milk)
9 pm pump and feed (pumped at least 5 ounces of milk)
12 pm feed
3 am feed

Pumping took between 10-20 min. I pumped between 35 – 40 ounces a day. My daughter never took more than 25 ounces of breastmilk in a day. That satisfied her. I know some will say that is not very much, but I could never get her to take anymore than 25 ounces. Bottle feeding only took 20 – 25 minutes. Many breastfed babies easily take 40 minutes to breastfeed at the breast. As you can see from my daily schedule I only pumped during the day. My body adjusted and produced more than enough breastmilk during the day to feed her for a whole 24 hours. Eventually the 12 and 3 am feedings became only one feeding and by around three months old the night time feeding disappeared.

I loved my breast pump. I would say it was the one manmade possession I couldn’t live without. I have the original Medela Pump and Style. It pumps both breasts at the same time.

I feel there are benefits to breastfeeding in a bottle. I like numbers and I like knowing exactly how much my daughter would eat. My daughter slept through the night long before the traditional breastfed baby. Dads can easily participate in the feeding process compared to traditional breastfeeding where mom is the feeding source 24 hours a day every 2-3 hours. I received a lot more sleep than the traditional breastfeeding mom. I also think sleep = good. I never had to try to discreetly breastfeed in public. I had a lot of soreness and pain after attempting to feed at the breast. I’m sure I was doing it incorrectly, but I had very little support at traditional breastfeeding. I did see a lactation consultant once at a support group. She didn’t approve of my “breastfeeding in a bottle" method. My mother (who gave up breastfeeding me at two weeks old and didn’t even try with my younger brother) thought I had the best of both worlds (breastfeeding and bottle feeding). Pumping wasn’t much of an option in 1982 (when I was born). Manual breast pumps were the only options and they weren’t very effective.

I continued breastfeeding in a bottle for 9 ½ months. She took formula in her bottles for approximately 10 weeks. I don’t know if “Breast is Best.” I have never done the research. I bet if we had a room full of grown women we wouldn’t be able to pick out the ones that were breastfed and those that were bottle fed.

Carrie & her daughter, Mother's Day 2009