People really do get worked up over breastfeeding and bottlefeeding. But whether you go the formula route, or the pump, dads giving the kid a bottle, especially in the middle of the night, provides a real and concrete benefit to everyone involved:
Where Max slept through the night at 10 weeks, Ella got up at least once every night for an entire year.100% formula success and 100% breastfeeding bunk for this lady's kids? Well, then, that settles it.I was so grateful that David and I could share those duties; grateful that I occasionally was able to sleep through the night while my daughter was awake in her father's arms; and grateful that we cared for our daughter as a team, equally responsible for keeping her fed. It made all of our lives sweeter and more rewarding.
And, as for all the dire warnings about the calamities that would befall my babies if we headed down the hedonistic bottle-feeding path? It was all bunk.
Sorry--you can't guilt trip me about bottle-feeding my kids [jezebel via felixsalmon]
We were lazy about pushing a bottle and by three months he wouldn't touch it. Pumped milk or formula, didn't matter. We were both very disappointed that my husband didn't get to take part in the early months of feeding my son. This is something I wish more lactation consultants would mention, along with the warning of not introducing a bottle to early, a warning not to introduce it too late.
Best trick we learned was to be as generous as possible with our definition of "through the night." When sleeping from 12AM-4AM is considered "sleeping through the night" much of the pressure and anxiety around this goal is eased.
@seth - yes! we do the same thing and we feel great when our 4 week old sleeps 9-3am eats then goes back to bed for 3 hrs. nothing like having vague definitions to boost morale.