Exclusively breastfeeding vs Pumping?

@robinrocks Once you're out of the 'newborn eating constantly phase' breastfeeding straight from the breast is really convenient - no worrying about sterilisation / bottles / warming / bringing it with you when you leave. But, as you've said, it is a MASSIVE commitment for the first 6ish months.

The snuggles are lovely too!

I have one boy exclusively breastfed (i.e. no bottles, he obviously is mostly food now!) he's 3 and still going (despite my efforts to stop!). My younger boy was partly bottle fed from 6 months on and is indifferent about breastfeeding now- does it occasionally. Emotionally, i would admit (only anonymously online!) that i feel physically closer to my breastfed boy- just an anecdote though!
 
@robinrocks https://www.ohsu.edu/school-of-medicine/moore-institute/breastfeeding-and-microbiome#:~:text=Breastfed%20babies%20have%20higher%20levels,babies%20who%20are%20not%20breastfed.

Fed is best. But since you asked, it seems like there is some additional benefit to being fed directly from the breast. I wouldn't stress yourself out about it though. If it helps most babies aren't good at latching in the beginning. It took my daughter getting a little bit bigger for her latch to improve. We did a lot of the football hold in the beginning and that helped a lot. Now she has a bigger mouth and stronger neck so most positions she is able to feed from.
 
@robinrocks The only other one that I have heard of us that your breast milk composition changes throughout the day to provide baby what they need. Ex would be higher water content in the morning, higher far content in the evening to stock up before bed. So unless you are timing your pumps and keeping them separate, then they would not be g er tying that perk.

Then in addition to the added labor of cleaning bottles and pump parts, you also have to deal with the fact that many pumps are not as efficient at removing milk as a baby is. So it can be very difficult to maintain supply long term when exclusively pumping.

However, all of that is really contingent on baby being a good feeder to begin with. If baby is struggling and pumping works better for you then definitely continue.
 
@robinrocks I don't have a link, but a nursing PhD told me that her research found that the benefits of breastfeeding may be mostly due to shared microbiome of skin to skin on the mother's chest. So perhaps continue pumping (continue doing whatever it is that gets your baby fed!!) but still do skin to skin?
 
@robinrocks About 15 years ago when I was nursing my first, there was a study that came out that showed that babies who nursed from the breast for either 6 or 12 months (I forget which) had better lung function at 10yrs old than babies who were bottle-fed. As it takes more effort for babies to nurse from the breast than take a bottle, it’s literally a form of exercise for them.

That said, there are a lot of other things that can be done to promote exercise and lung function in the first 10 years besides directly breastfeeding, and I would guess general activity levels from ages 4-9 would have much more impact.

I don’t have a link (15 years ago, people!), but I’m sure it’s out there if someone else wants to google it.

Personally, I had to pump a lot with my first two. My first spent a few days in the NICU and I brought my milk in with pumping, and we used a nipple shield for a few weeks until I was able to get her to latch directly. I’ve pumped in offices, vehicles, hotels, tents, fields, and closets. I’ve flown with my pump and pumped breastmilk. I’ve driven across the state with my pump and pumped breastmilk. I built up a stash to last for 2.5 weeks, where I had to pump and dump for that time, my supply went to zero, and I built it back up upon returning. I have experience with pumping!

With my third I was fortunate to finally be able to stay home. I built a small emergency stash, then put the pump away. My son took a few bottles a few times, but it’s just so much extra work when I could otherwise just feed him! I definitely understand needing to pump for various reasons. Having done it though, I would never in my life choose to pump if I didn’t have to. Feeding from the tap is so much easier! No pumping, no cleaning, no bottle prep, no storing. It’s just always right there, always the perfect temperature, always available. Nothing to pack or worry about bringing when you leave the house. No need to go to the kitchen for night feeds. Baby is upset? Boob fixes almost everything. It’s still magic at 2yo!

Obviously, whatever works best for you and your family is the right call. That’s just my perspective on why directly nursing is superior to exclusively pumping. While I never exclusively pumped, I did have to exclusively pump for a few days at a time before returning home. It is just so much extra work! I’d rather use that time for something else.
 
@robinrocks Pumping works really well if you have someone else around who can help and give the baby some bottles. It's harder if you're by yourself and you have to spend the time giving the baby the bottle and then spend the time pumping and managing your milk supply/bottles/pump parts/etc.

Like if you can breastfeed baby and that takes 30 minutes, you're done after 30 minutes. If you have to give the baby the bottle, that takes 30 minutes, then you spend 15-20 minutes pumping, then you spend 5-10 minutes dealing with cleanup, and now you've spent an hour dealing with feeding the baby instead of 30 minutes. It's a lot of extra time when you're doing it 6-10 times a day, and sometimes the baby's going to want a bottle at the same time you need to pump, which can be frustrating. (How do you feed the baby when you need to be pumping so you can feed the baby?! And you get bonus points if they refuse to nap for the next three hours. I guess wearables help here, but that's more things to clean later.)

That said, I do exactly the same thing you do. Pump and bottle feed most of the time, then offer a boob one or two times each day when baby seems to be in the mood for it and the pump schedule and nap schedule align. As others have said, it's nice to have the option to breastfeed straight from the tap if you're out and didn't pack enough milk, or if you don't want to wait for a bottle to heat up, etc. You could also use the boob to top the baby off if it seems like she's still a little hungry after finishing her bottle. Then she doesn't have to be on there as long, and she's probably less frustrated and hangry since she already got most of her meal.
 
@robinrocks I exclusively pumped every three hours for a year then slowly slowly went down. My baby is 15 months and I pump in the morning and at night. It has been very hard but also rewarding. I didn't think I would last two months. I just pushed through. I did formula for my other three children. Hugs. It's a lot to think about.
 
@robinrocks Food is food for baby. However a few things come to mind for boob vs bottle. It seems as if a baby can get quite a bit of comfort suckling at the breast. It also seems as if a baby will get less gas breastfeeding vs bottle feeding.

Unrelated but sort of related, breastfeeding eliminates dishes. All the washing of the pumping parts can be very taxing on you, as you mentioned your baby is feeding very frequently and i am sure you do not have that much down time. You don’t want to be spending every waking moment washing dishes.
 
@christiansoldier777 I second the dishwashing comment!!!!!! We have to exclusive pump right now bc preemie baby needs fortified breastmilk, but otherwise I would be trying to exclusively (or mostly) chestfeed. The amount of time we spend washing my pump, mixing/storage bottles, and feeding bottles (plus sanitizing it all) is shocking. Would be much less for those who don’t need an extra bottle for mixing and aren’t washing the dr brown colic inside pieces, but I imagine still a lot of work especially for a baby feeding more often like OPs. My spouse does most of the pump & bottle washing and he says he spends at least an hour but probably 1.5-2 per day cleaning & sanitizing. Exclusive breastfeeding would eliminate this completely and we could have more time to sleep, snuggle, clean, etc.

I also want to add that you don’t have to exclusively pump OR chestfeed! You can do some of each!! Right now, we are finally starting to add more chest feeds and we do those during the day bc I like pumping less often than the frequency that baby feeds at night, especially since he’s hungrier sooner after a chestfeed. I end up pumping every 1.5-2 nighttime feeds while my husband does all the nighttime feeds using bottles. Let’s me have a much better sleep from 12-6 then I take over around 6-7 and he gets to sleep in. Baby’s feeds from 11-6 are going to be the last ones we switch from bottle to breast, which also works good bc they’ll still be fortified which lets our little guy sleep longer nighttime stretches so it’s a win-win-win for us haha

Doing it our way also makes my daytimes easier bc I can take baby out and just chestfeed if I didn’t pack enough milk or stayed out later than planned. Took a bit to get my pumping schedule synced up enough with his feeding schedule though bc he was in the NICU for 27 days so we had both developed independent routines and had to figure out how to mash them together.
 
@robinrocks The reasons, or added benefits I guess, for direct breastfeeding are around the skin to skin contact and resultant bonding and nervous system regulation for baby (as well as bonding for mama), and the ability for the mothers body to create antibodies for the baby in response to baby's needs, which is something the body detects through that direct contact. I'm not sure how though, I think it's something to do with the saliva. But basically your baby is more protected from any illness you or your family might be transmitting.

Baby will get better at it but she needs practice.

In saying that, mixing it with pumping seems like a good option so you can get some rest.
 
@robinrocks You’ll get a lot of comments here from people who chose to EP, and are happy with it. Ultimately if you enjoy it and don’t find it a drag, that’s the most important part. Just realise that now you have a very small, immobile baby who can be put down while you pump. I don’t know what your goals are in terms of duration, but trying to pump while your baby is crawling/walking around or trying to climb the coffeetable is challenging!

When we look at latching, pumping and formulafeeding, EP will be the most time consuming because you are doing double work: expressing the milk, and feeding it to her. With latching, that happens somultaneously. With formula feeding, you only need to feed (and prepare), not pump. Just something to keep in mind. Latching will initially require more investment, but around the 6-8 week mark will drastically decrease in amount of time spent on the actual feeding. Bottlefeeding/pumping times/prepping formula will stay pretty much the same throughout feeding. It is a massive commitment.

Like said by another commenter, drinking from a bottle leads to less jaw and teeth development. So later in life you might be investing more in orthodontics and dentists.

And finally, there is a higher risk of contamination because you are working with so many pieces that need to be cleaned, sterilized and stored (especially if your little one’s health is compromised), and you need to store/handle EBM very delicately to ensure no contamination.

Good luck OP, I’m sure whatever you end up choosing works for you. If you EP from the start, that will be your normal and ultimately you won’t be able to realise that latching would be less time consuming, so it might not be relevant to you.
 
@robinrocks I exclusively breastfed both my kids and for my first I pumped occasionally to build a small stash that he never drank cause it was Covid times and I never left his side. I did not like pumping. Neither of my kids could even drink out of a bottle. So it’s good for you to keep them familiar with a bottle because it’s not a skill everyone can retain.

But pumping is so much extra work I would have hated it and probably gone to formula if bottle feeding was my only option. You have to pump. Then have storage systems maintained. Then actually feed the kid the bottled milk, then clean the bottles. As opposed to EBF where you just sit down for 20 minutes every couple hours.

Bottle feeding has its benefits for reducing anxiety around if they’re getting enough or not gaining enough etc. but dang. So much work.
 
@robinrocks Hello fellow NICU mom!! My premie was in the NICU for 6 weeks so I exclusively pumped for 6-8 weeks. He eventually got better at nursing so would do both and by around 11 months old I quit pumping but still nursing at 15 months. Pumping made me nauseous for whatever reason but nursing didn't.

I had heard in a breastfeeding class that there is some connection to breastfeeding where the saliva of the baby sends a sensor to our body to what kind or immunity/antibodies our milk needed to produce to help keep the baby healthy. That's the only advantage I can think of to nursing vs pumping.
 
@jk1963 A blog post with an opinion and no evidence in support of that opinion doesn’t equal “debunked”
There is also far more recent evidence that does support the “backwash” theory.
 
@apers1 The link you shared references the same 2013 study that I am looking for, also giving a broken link. Does anyone have a working link to the 2013 paper?
 
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