Can i express milk to bottle feed my baby, instead of actually breast feeding?
You absolutely can, and it’s definitely better than formula both health-wise and cost-wise. But before you make a final decision not to breastfeed, you should know there are additional health benefits from the baby feeding “from the tap.” Some pretty amazing things happen – your body responds to your baby’s saliva and custom-manufactures your milk to include specific antibodies your baby needs depending on what germs he/she may have been exposed to recently. There is also a difference between milk at the beginning of the feed and milk at the end. The first milk that comes out is more watery, to satisfy your baby’s thirst, and then gets more fatty during the feed so the hind milk is thicker and has more calories. This is a huge benefit in the summer when your baby might need some extra brief feeds during the day for thirst, but isn’t actually hungry. That’s why both formula and expressed milk may cause a baby to overeat. Another issue is colostrum, which is very hard to pump because it’
