question about bottles..?

4 weeks is a pretty good time to do it because shes already well established on your nipple. One thing that messed me up was not using a slow flow nipple... she really liked the fact that the milk was coming out with no work at all and it was hard to get her to work for my milk. 12 hours isnt a long time to confuse her too much so you should be good! Good Luck!!

I had some difficulty when I introduced a bottle to my son to get him to nurse properly again. But it wasn't impossible either. It was almost like trying it for the first time again. He didn't want to latch on well, and it was a little difficult. Since it will only be 12 hours, I wouldn't see that it is going to cause such a big problem, as for me, I wasn't able to for about 2 days straight due to falling very ill with the flu. But I was able to pump during that time, and he still got breast milk.

I hope it all works out for you, just don't give up!!!

I'm not sure who told you that you can't breastfeed, but I doubt it's necessary. If it's because of the anesthesia, remember that if it was still in your body, you'd still be asleep! I suspect that most of the drugs you'll be given are the same as those for a surgical birth (Cesarean section), and newborns go to the breast as soon as their mothers are able to hold them.

If the baby doesn't take the bottle, remind whoever is taking care of her that she can be fed with a spoon (which is less likely to be a problem anyway). And breastfeed as soon as you can and as much as you can. It should not be a problem.

I had to give complimentary feeds from about 9 weeks with all of my kids. They were able to swap between breast and bottle each time. When I was in hospital, my third child wouldn't latch on and instead of trying him on the bottle, we fed him with a medicine cup with expressed milk in it. Totally different experience for them and they don't associate the feeding with sucking. He eventually latched on during day 3 and fed for 10 months. I wouldn't be concerned about baby not going back to breast feeding. Just be relaxed about it yourself and baby will be relaxed. As you said, if you refuse to give the bottle, I'm sure she will breastfeed.

Good luck.