Does breast milk from a bottle have as many benefits as nursing?

10 responses so far ↓

• 1 karzta7 // Aug 11, 2008

  IDK?

• 2 chloe // Aug 11, 2008

  Breast milk right from the source comes first. Pumped breast milk is the next best thing. Breast milk from another mommy comes third, and last is formula. And yes, if you're unable to nurse full time because of work, or whatever, pumped milk for two years, will still give the baby all the nutrients and antibodies.

  I hope this helps

  Edit: However, if you mean exclusive pumping, you should know that pumping is twice the work, and a lot of time that a new mother doesn't have. And also, it's really important for the baby to nurse in order to establish milk supply. Some women have a really difficult time letting down to a pump. It can be accomplished with practice though, and some mothers have no problem with it right from the start.

• 3 pink moon // Aug 11, 2008

  I don’t see how breastfeeding can have any other benefit, its the same liquid.

• 4 Bobbi // Aug 11, 2008

  Breast or bottle it doesn’t matter if it’s still breast milk they’re getting. breast milk from the breast or a bottle is the healthiest milk for a baby. giving a baby breast milk for 2 yrs is a good way to ensure the child’s good health.

• 5 Mystical Illusions // Aug 11, 2008

  The health benefits would be the same, and 2 years would be optimal if you could do it. The only way it would differ is because there’s just a bit more mother/child bonding with breast feeding, but as long as you’re holding your baby while you’re feeding them you’ll still develop a strong bond.

• 6 tini // Aug 11, 2008

  The baby will drink it quicker which means; she will fit more in before she falls asleep, (which means she will sleep longer); may not fall asleep as she does on the breast, so may need a pacifier or a cuddle to do the job; and she may need a bigger burp from all the air bubbles in the bottle. The benefits to the mother are great (although you feel like a bit of a cow doing it) because someone else can do it for a change, and lets face it you can get a couple of hours of your life back! Not sure about nursing for two years though, 12 months was enough for me.

• 7 McMom // Aug 11, 2008

  While it is so much better to pump and feed your baby the breast milk rather than feed them artificial milk, it is still much better to feed a baby directly from the breast.

  Breast milk changes throughout the day to specifically suit it's baby's needs, not only that, but it gos in a certain order — fore milk for the start of the feed, and hind milk follows, this helps their digestion — when the milk is pumped, the fore milk and hind milk is mixed together.

  If mom gets sick, and the baby is getting previously pumped milk, he is not getting the antibodies his mom's milk is trying to give him so he can fight off the sickness also, so he will not recover as well.

  It's fantastic for a mother to pump if she is returning to work, and feed the baby directly from the breast whenever she is with him — but if the mother is there with the baby, and does not need to pump, she should be feeding the baby the natural way.- for many reasons.

  There should be no reason for a woman to choose pumping over the real thing — but if she does, as with breastfeeding, the benefits keep going, and the longer the baby gets breast milk the better.
  But it is much easier, for both mom and baby to feed directly from the breast, how it is meant to be done.

• 8 mommy_2_bella // Aug 11, 2008

  http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bf-links-excpumping.html
  http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVFebMar01p3.html
  http://www.llli.org/NB/NBJanFeb02p9a.html
  http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/maintainsupply-pump.html

  take a look at these links. they give excellent advice/support for exclusivley pumping mothers

• 9 mystic_eye_cda // Aug 11, 2008

  No it does not.

  For one thing the physical act of suckling is beneficial regardless of milk transfer. It develops jaw and tongue muscles; bottle feeding increases the risks of needing orthodontia and speech problems -ANY breastfeeding will reduce the problems cause by bottle feeding. Scientists have also shown that breastfeeding (vs expressed milk) improves hand-eye coordination though they can’t explain it.

  Also when breastfeeding directly the baby passes mom any disease causing organisms that baby has been exposed to. Mom’s breasts immediately start making immunities for that illness. Mom’s breasts make antibodies separate from mom’s immune system so that baby gets them faster and is guaranteed enough.

  Storage of breastmilk will reduce the levels of certain nutrients, and reduces the levels of antibodies in the milk, the fresher the milk the less the loss (in general). Depending on the choice of storage container and the choice of storage location different things are effected in different ways. Fat can be lost to the storage container.

  And then there is the simple fact that even with the best pump and the best information not every woman can maintain their supply through pumping. Pumping is simply not as effective as a baby drinking directly. Exclusive pumping is also way, way more work so it takes time away from mom and baby. So exclusive breastmilk pumping can cause failure which not only gets rid of baby’s source of food, but can reinforce the feelings of failure/shame that lead some women to exclusively express breastmilk feed their baby.

  However expressed breastmilk would never stop being superior to any other source of food, including cow’s milk and formula. Breastmilk from breast or bottle is still beneficial at age 2, 3, 4, 5 or even 6 years of age. Expressed breastmilk is being used to treat chemo patients because of its superior nutrition, antibodies, and ease of digestion. And the have found breastmilk on its own can destroy certain tumours. Breastmilk has been used as a weight loss supplement, and on and on.

  I’ll put up links later, as my bookmarks are currently unavailable (stupid husband)

• 10 good2balive // Aug 11, 2008

  I doubt you’d be able to pump for 2 years. Most women who pump only and give it to baby in a bottle find their supply dwindling much earlier. There’s something about baby nursing on his or her own that does a better job of keeping supply matched to demand. That said, as long as breast milk isn’t stored too long (you can freeze it) and isn’t microwaved (that destroys some of it’s unique properties), it’s nutritionally just as healthy.

  As far as other issues go, there isn’t quite as much physical contact as there is with direct nursing. And the breast milk is always ready, always the right temperature and just as portable as a bottle, if not more. Though you won’t feel the need to go somewhere private to offer baby a bottle, as you might if you were breastfeeding.

  My very best friend had a baby a couple years ago and she had every intention of nursing. However, certain things (she’d had a breast reduction years earlier) prevented it from working as well for her to do direct nursing. She did manage it for a couple months, but had to switch to only pumping/bottle feeding. It worked great for her until the baby was about 8 months old. She was very diligent about pumping ALL the time so there would be extra and it helped keep her supply up longer than she’d expected. But if a mother works or has other children, pumping all the time is too time consuming.

  I hope that helps!