Breastfeeding & Bottle Introduction

[Mommy2Be!]

I am going to breastfeed my son as soon as be is born, but I wanted advise on when I am suppose to or I should say when is a good time to start introducing him to the bottle? I plan to breastfeed at least a year and as frequent as possible, but I would love my husband to be able to feed our son a couple times a day so they can bond as well. And one I go back to work, I will need to pump and then I just plan on doing the morning and evening breast feedings. I really want my hubby to be able to feed our son, I think it is important. Some advise I have been given was to start as early as 6 weeks. Will that confuse my son starting so early? I was also told to just start right before I plan on going back to work, but then that really eliminates my hubbies chance to feed our son. RRRR...all the little details that can drive a person crazy!:)

[ra11en]

I was told not to introduce anything but the breast for the first 2 months so as to make sure she wouldnt get confused. However, my best laid plans didn't work AT ALL, so be prepared to change on the fly! My milk wasn't enough for our little one, and I wanted to sleep a little at night so that meant daddy needed to give her a bottle. Our dr. said one or two bottles of formula shouldn't be harmful, and it wasn't. She still latched really, really well. However, my friend's son stopped latching as soon as he was given a bottle and never latched again so she had to pump for 12 months, uggghhh. But he wasn't very good at latching onto the breast either. So, it depended on our little one's own plan. I had to stop breastfeeding at 6 weeks and move her over to the bottle completely, even though I had planned on BF as long as possible (I thought a year was a good plan). Great things about babies, they change your plans without asking you first!!

Good luck and congrats on the little one!!

[myboysmom]

It could have been first-time mom insecurities, but I couldn't get my first one to latch on after we left the hospital. I pumped and fed him with a bottle for two weeks, I think, all while trying to breastfeed. Finally, he decided he would do it, so I breastfed him for 5 1/2 months, until those first 2 teeth came through and he bit me! LOL I was done after that.

[ShutterbugMommie]

The lactation consultants at my hospital said not to introduce the pacifier or bottle for 4 to 6 weeks to make sure your baby latches on correctly and does not get confused. Apparently they suck on the bottle different than they do you. I exclusively breastfeed for 2 months than I pumped and introduced a bottle. My son only liked the AVENT bottles. After I found a bottle he liked it was easy sailing from there. Though I exclusively breastfeed him unless I was going to go to the store then I made sure there were bottles for my husband or mom. I ended up not really pumping that much, only for trips and when I was going out of the house and leaving him with my husband or mom to watch.

My son is 8 months old now and has five teeth. I have been bit a couple of times but I just unlatched him and sat him up saying "No you don’t bite" firmly. He seemed to get the picture and hasn’t bit me since.

Check to see if you hospital offer you services to help. The Hospital in Holland, MI has a wonderful support group for first time parents. There were many different services to help. One great service was lactation consultants on staff. The lactation consultants at my hospital called me after being home for two days to make sure the breastfeeding was going well, then after a week, then after two weeks, and the last time they called was the one month mark. If I was having trouble, I could schedule an appointment and go back into the hospital so they could assess the situation and see how to best solve the problem.

[myboysmom]

ShutterbugMommie, I agree with you about the Avent bottles! Those are what both of my boys really liked too. They seem to be most like the breast somehow.

And as far as the pacifier, my 1st son had it from day 1. My other son never took one, but I also didn't breastfeed him very long.

[chrystal.k]

I felt the same way that you do.I wanted my husband to be able to feed her and help me out when I needed a break but I worried that if I gave her a bottle too soon,she wouldn't breast feed anymore.My plan was to wait for 6 weeks per the consultant's recommendations and then give her the first bottle once she was nursing well.That was until one night she screamed for an hour(acting starved) and I grew concerned that she wasn't getting enough milk from me.So I gave her a bottle at 2 weeks old!To my surprise,she nursed well and I am still nursing her today.She is almost 7 months old.However,I stopped giving her a bottle once nursing grew easier and now she refues a bottle!You have to pick and choose I guess.If you plan to return to work,I would suggest making sure that he will take a bottle before that day comes.That will be a hard day and that will only add to the stress.

[naturalmama]

My experience has been with my 1st is that I pumped and introduced a bottle at about 5-6 weeks and all went well with my husband and/or grandma feeding my daughter 2-3x a week. Then we didn't bother so much and when we tried again a few weeks later, she refused every type of nipple....so we had to cup feed anytime I didn't nurse. Overall it was easier to nurse...and we did until she was 2.5 and my supply changed with my recent pregnancy....

A BIG thing to keep in mind when having someone else bottle feed is that you MUST pump during that feeding so your body still knows to keep producing enough milk and recognizes that the baby ate a feeding at that time....otherwise you will begin having supply problems and feel uncomfortable too. Soooo, it's really not an easy or good idea to offer bottles at night, or you will be pumping in the middle of the night rather than the ease of nursing.

Go to www.kellymom.com and read up on this and also there are tips for other ways Dad can bond other than feeding...there are soooo many! Also, hook up with a good nursing support group, especially for 1st time around :-) and keep the number of your local lactation consultant close by... it will prove so helpful and play a big part in succesful breastfeeding. Lots of myths about moms not having enough milk, baby needing more, etc is often the result of mom not getting good, current professional advise and the help they need to make it work....and it is work, but Oh, so worth it!!!! Best of Luck to you and your little one...you are doing the very best thing you can for him!

A good reference is the LLL book and Dr Sears for breastfeeding....