If you nursed and also fed breast milk from a bottle

[Anonymous]

When did you introduce the bottle and how did it go? Is there an age you think is ideal?

[Anonymous]

A few weeks in. My sister gave the bottle while I was in other room (peeking around the corner). Hormones def made it emotionally charged, but my nipples were thrashed and I needed a break. It was a huge help to see babe would take a from someone else, she would not from me.

Her dad started giving a bottle when he got home for work after that so I could shower, nap, whatever for a bit while they hung out. It was lifes and ta ta saving plus they bonded better.

We used newborn nipples, paced feeding, advent and life factory bottles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few weeks in. My sister gave the bottle while I was in other room (peeking around the corner). Hormones def made it emotionally charged, but my nipples were thrashed and I needed a break. It was a huge help to see babe would take a from someone else, she would not from me.

Her dad started giving a bottle when he got home for work after that so I could shower, nap, whatever for a bit while they hung out. It was lifes and ta ta saving plus they bonded better.

We used newborn nipples, paced feeding, advent and life factory bottles.

Adding it made it easier to get out of the house too if i timed it well. I could leave milk and bring my pump. I did nurse in public, on demand but liked the flexibility of bottle feeding in some situations - she did eventually take a bottle from me.

[Anonymous]

I think DS was 3 weeks old when we introduced the bottle. DH gave it while I showered. I'll be honest and say I never saw breast feeding as this emotional bonding thing. Like I felt the same bond when I nursed him and when I fed him from the bottle. I want to say it was probably a week or two before he would take a bottle from me though.

[Anonymous]

I was already pumping before we left the hospital. I guess I introduced bottles on day two of my twins’ lives. I didn’t have any bottles at home, so I bought some from a lactation consultant who visited my house when I got home from the hospital. She had a specific recommendation. It was $45 per bottle, 15 years ago! My kids did just fine with both nursing and bottle feeding.

[Anonymous]

Right away. He had a bottle in the hospital. They said his sugar was low and nurisng was not happening at that point. It never was great so I nursed and supplemented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When did you introduce the bottle and how did it go? Is there an age you think is ideal?

Like, from the beginning after a few days. One bottle a day. Occasionally more if I had to be out (she was even bottle fed for a few days at 4 months while I was away for a few days). When I went back to work (wfh) when she was six months, she had a couple of bottles a day and I nursed the other feedings. She initiated weaning around nine/ten months

[Anonymous]

One kid, from birth bc NICU. Nursed him for a year.

Other kids - I have one bottle at three weeks and then forgot to give them another bottle u til I went back to work at six months. BIG MISTAKE. If you are not the primary caregiver for the first year, keep using bottles.

[Anonymous]

Probably the sooner the better. The first one I gave a bottle to early on, maybe by 2 weeks and he would get one pumped bottle a day and nursed the rest of the time and would take a bottle as needed. With the other 2 I kind of forgot about bottles and the time flew by and then were a month old and NOPE! Wouldn't take a bottle from that point until they were about 7 months old and also just starting some finger or spoon fed foods. They are a little more open to new things in their mouths then but not before, IME.

[Anonymous]

I don’t remember with either kid, but you’re likely going to hear a wide range of answers. I do remember my oldest was fine with the bottle for a while, then refused it, and started daycare refusing it. It was so incredibly stressful, also because she went back to doing most of her nursing at night. But we got through it.

You will too, OP. Do what you can and what seems to work best for your growing family. If it doesn’t seem to be working, try something different. You’ll make some mistakes, you’ll try things that aren’t a good fit, and you’ll figure it out. Then it’ll be onto the next thing. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

As early as possible. Seriously. Nipple confusion isn't a thing you should worry about but bottle refusal - esp if you work - is a nightmare. I think we did our first bottle at 5 days old.

Bottles = a break for mom, whether it's breastmilk in the bottle or formula.

[Anonymous]

Some additives bal tips, OP: I had someone else in the house feed baby the bottles because she wouldn’t take it from me (mom)

Also, it took a lot of trial and error to find a bottle she would take, even early on. I ended up with glass lansinoh bottles that were made for breastfeeding babies. She hated comotomo and dr brown bottles. She didn’t like the fake boob bottles at all. The lansinoh ones have longer nipples and she used those until we transitioned to a sippy cup around 18 months.

I did move up in nipple flow sizes as she got older but some some breastfed babies don’t need to- sometimes there’s a fear that they’ll start to prefer the bottle because of faster flow. So just figure out what works best for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some additives bal tips, OP: I had someone else in the house feed baby the bottles because she wouldn’t take it from me (mom)

Also, it took a lot of trial and error to find a bottle she would take, even early on. I ended up with glass lansinoh bottles that were made for breastfeeding babies. She hated comotomo and dr brown bottles. She didn’t like the fake boob bottles at all. The lansinoh ones have longer nipples and she used those until we transitioned to a sippy cup around 18 months.

I did move up in nipple flow sizes as she got older but some some breastfed babies don’t need to- sometimes there’s a fear that they’ll start to prefer the bottle because of faster flow. So just figure out what works best for you.

These are all great tips. As others have mentioned, if you are planning on starting baby in a daycare, get them used to the bottle as soon as you can.

[Anonymous]

from the hospital- low blood sugar and jaundice so they wanted me to supplement with formula at first. even once my supply was adequate at 2 weeks postpartum the lactation consultant said to give a bottle at least once a day everyday to prevent bottle refusal

[Anonymous]

Around 3 weeks had the overnight feed be a bottle (my partner gave) of milk i had pumped before I went to bed so that I could sleep longer through the night. (Lansinoh bottle with slow flow nipple per lactation consultant recommendation) That stopped around 2 months when baby started sleeping through the night. We didn't reintroduce bottles until 5 months, a few weeks before baby was going to start day care. She wasn't very interested in the bottle at first and didn't take them well the first 2 days of day care, but after that got the hang of it quickly. The report we would get from day care was always "she loves her milk!" Overall it worked out well for us and we just tried not to stress about it too much. Day care workers are amazing and will probably get bottle to work eventually if you have been struggling at home.