Bottle warmers...breast milk too?

Question

Hi there,

I plan on breast feeding but expressing after a few weeks once breast is established so that my fiance can feed the baby too. I was just wondering if those bottle warmers i've been seeing are okay to use if it is breast milk you are heating or are they only meant for formula? sorry if this seems like a silly question!

Answer 1

My daughter was very sick at birth and never properly latched so she was fed expressed breast milk only for the first three months of her life. The bottle warmers worked wonderfully for the breast milk! Make sure you experiment with it a little to find out how long it needs to be heated- it will vary quite a bit based on how long it has been in the fridge, etc.  

Answer 2

You can not heat expressed breast milk in the microwave, it kills all the good things in the milk.  So Yes you can use a bottle warmer with breast milk

Answer 3

I wouldn't even consider giving her a bottle if you want to breastfeed..

Babies are born knowing how to suck, but they use different techniques to get milk from a breast and a bottle. In general, breastfeeding requires more vigorous mouth and tongue movements, and greater muscle coordination than bottle-feeding. Your baby uses 40 facial muscles to breastfeed effectively and only four to suck on a bottle. If you offer bottles or even pacifiers to your baby before she has perfected the art of breastfeeding (about 5-6mos), she can forget how to breastfeed properly. This confusion can lead to a reduced interest in breastfeeding or even breast refusal, which can be distressing for both mother and baby.

He can feed the baby when she is 6 months old and starting solid foods..it'll be lots of fun for him to see her silly faces and reactions to food..but for now it is best for her just to have the breast..

You may end up having to pump and bottle feed if you do this and that is the hardest way because you have bottles to sterilize and clean and breast milk to store and express...

I only gave my daughter 2-3 bottles in between breastfeeding while in the hospital waiting for my milk to come in and she started refusing the breast..I had to finger feed her, and eventually got a nipple shield that got her latched again after 5 weeks, but it was a lot of hard work to pump and keep up my milk supply, sterilize bottles, warm bottles etc...extremely frustrating that 3 feedings caused me so much trouble..

just want to give you some forewarning..but bottle warmers are ok for breastmilk yes..

good luck and congrats :o)

Answer 4

Just wanted to say maybe you should hold out a little longer than three weeks before offering your baby expressed milk in a bottle. Some babies take a little longer than that to get use to breastfeeding and you wouldn't want to risk confusing him/her and have them reject the breast altogether. Maybe after two months you can make your partner do some night shifts!

In the meantime he could help by bringing the baby to you for a feed while you stay in bed and in the morning he could get up and play with him/her while you go back to sleep for a while.

Good luck and good on you for making the decision to breastfeed!

Answer 5

you can use bottle warmers  

Answer 6

They'll work on breastmilk too, but I honestly never bothered with them.  I just have a bowl of hot water I set the bottle into for 5 mins and the milk is room temp.

Answer 7

there is no such a silly question