When To Introduce The Bottle to a Breastfeeding Baby
- May 14, 2012
- by Melissa Lawrence
Hello Moms!
So you’ve finally got the hang of breastfeeding and are now wondering if your little baby is ready to take the big step to bottle feeding? When is the right time for introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby? Keep watching my video for more details!
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In order to avoid nipple confusion and other problems, I follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ advice on when to introduce the baby bottle. They recommend that you are in a solid rhythm with breastfeeding, that your milk supply is up, and you are no longer dealing with engorgement and other such breastfeeding problems. This would probably be around 3 or 4 weeks, depending on your situation.
It’s also important to note that doctors recommend the first baby bottle to come from someone other than the mother! This is actually really good news, Moms! It will let you have a well-deserved rest and may even let you get some extra sleep at night.
Keep watching my video for more on my own breastfeeding and bottle feeding experiences and more advice on when to stop breastfeeding!
Hope my video on baby feeding tips helped you! For more information on breast and bottle feeding, check out my videos here!
What worked for you? Please add your comments below! I’d love to hear from you!
Comments
karawillemsen
We introduced a bottle at 2 weeks. I had expressed some milk because I was engorged and he couldn’t eat on the one breast. My mother had him while I was napping and he acted extremely fussy and he had just eaten an hour before (normal I know). She decided instead of waking me to get the 1 oz that was in the bottle and give it to him. He drank it and slept for 2 hours, longest he had slept since he was born. He never had nipple confusion since we also tried a pacifier. But he did refuse bottles after a while since he knew it was formula (when I supplemented) and not the good stuff. He got spoiled.
hoyarn
The only one of my three to even entertain the bottle was my middle child, my daughter. I utilized the bottle at the three month mark intermittently when I needed to leave her during feeding time. I only fed her breast milk with the bottle and it was either my husband or my mother who did the feeding. HavIng someone other than myself giving the bottle was part of the success. Breast fed babies seem to associate the scent of the mother with the breast and can lead to challenges in getting the baby to take the bottle, regardless of what is in it.
My two boys refused the bottle under all circumstances and went right from breast to cup without any difficulty.
mburbank
Knowing my son Oscar was going to be bottle fed when I went back to work full-time, we introduced bottles at 4 weeks (our lactation consultant recommended to do it around then). Our breastfeeding was in a good rhythm at that point and he did not have any nipple confusion. My husband would give him a bottle of expressed milk (2-3 ounces) then a bath every night which in addition to getting Oscar into a routine was a great break for me! I have heard it’s difficult to introduce a bottle when they are older so I am really glad we did it when we did.
mama2flowers
All 3 of my kids started with a bottle at the hospital and they had bottles (while I pumped) during the wait for my milk to come in. After my milk came in, they still had some bottles of pumped milk because I was so sore.
They never had any nipple confusion and I was glad I went with my gut at the hospital to give them bottles even though I planned on breastfeeding. By my third, it made things less stressful.
After 3 months, my kids all got 1 bottle per day to give me a break to go out and exercise or have a glass of wine or whatever. I need off-duty time.
I think it’s all personal preference, but I’m glad that I gave a bottle very early on (within the first 24 hours) because it is very nice to be able to have a break. No harm ever came out of it for us!
episk02
my first baby took a bottle really well, starting at 6 weeks, right before i had to go back to work part time. after my second was born i quit my job to stay home full time. i was pretty lazy about pumping and giving him a bottle. he did not ever take one. now i have a third baby who is 3 months old. i would like him to take a bottle, but am wondering if it’s too late? i’m looking forward to reading everyone’s tips and advice.
mommyoftwo
With my first son I started the bottle after the 1st month with expressed milk because I knew I had to go back to work. Now I am a stay at home mom and just had our second child in may. I had tried a bottle twice and then became lazy with it, know he won’t take one at all. I guess we will go straight to a cup in a couple months. It’s just difficult now if I ever have to leave him. I think starting the bottle early and even doing one once every couple of day with expressed milk would have been good.
LoriS
My son didn’t have any issues taking the bottle for the first time and I don’t recall him having any trouble switching back and forth from breast to bottle as needed. I did eventually switch completely to bottle, however, because he turned into a biter and it got very painful. I was glad to hear that you had no trouble starting your third child off on a bottle right away, as I’ve been considering pumping and bottle-feeding from the start for our second child. My sister has been giving me a hard time about this, however, and tells me I should at least attempt to breastfeed first, but for me the important thing is the breastmilk, not the way in which it’s delivered.
Paula
Hi Melissa, I have a 8 weeks baby who has been eating only from the breast.
I want to start using the bottle, using a pump and pumping milk like you suggest in your videos… But my question is HOW MUCH MILK should I feed him?
One full bottle? How to know that?
Octavia Galloway
Hi Melissa, I have a 8 weeks baby who has been eating only from the breast.
I want to start using the bottle, using a pump and pumping milk like you suggest in your videos… But my question is HOW MUCH MILK should I feed him?
One full bottle? How to know that?