Best way to get bub used to feeding from Breast AND Bottle

[~mamaspice~]

I will have to be heading back to work part time in January when bub will be about 4 months old. I'm intending on expressing whilst at work so bub can continue to have breastmilk. When a friend of mine went back to work she had an awefully hard time getting her bub used to drinking from a bottle so I was hoping to get bub used to drinking from both breast and bottle very early on.

Any suggestionson the best way of going about this?

I have a little double electric breastpump so I thought maybe from when bub is born I could pump for a few minutes after each feed and store the milk then just get bub used to drinking from a bottle initially one feed a day or something?

[MantaRay]

Hun, many people will say that starting babies on bottles early works, but it didn't for me. I think they are either going to take one or not. But luckily for me I found that my boys could drink from a sippy cup from about 3 months, so we never needed a bottle. Worrying about a baby being able to drink enough while you are at work is a very common worry (I know from experience!!), but it always seems to work out. Try not to worry about it just yet - it will sort itself out when the time comes. Start by establishing breastfeeding, and then maybe try a sippy cup a couple of weeks before you start work. Sometimes it takes mum being away for the day for a cup or bottle to seem appealing, so don't stress too much if your first attempt doesn't go well. I do recommend starting to build up a stock of EBM early though - maybe start expressing about 4 weeks before you are due to start work. All the best hun.

[~Kaz~]

Hey Spice, I'm no expert but did combine EBM with breastfeeding in the early months due to supply and weight gain issues. I would steer clear of a teat until you hit the 4-6 week mark and you feel like your supply has settled down and bubs knows what he is doing at the breast. That's just me though. Hopefully those wonderful women with more knowledge in this area will stop in. I started doing top up bottle feeds when DS was about 3 weeks old and there was constant stress that he was going to start to prefer the faster flow of the teat. Get the slowest flow teats possible and stop and start (putting it in and out of his mouth with short breaks) to try to mimic the breastfeed rate at first. You should only need to give him a bottle once every 1-2 days but be aware that some bubs don't like taking the bottle from mum cause they know the real thing is right there. DS never had this issue but we always followed a bf with the bottle so it was a little different.

The ABA helpline will have some great advice too.

Having said all of that, it might be best to just play it by ear once bub is here. You have 4 months to work it out and until you know what kind of feeder he's going to be, it can be hard to plan too much in advance.

ETA - Great idea about trying the sippy cup MantaRay!

[black_rose]

I am with MantaRay on this one, dd1 was more than happy to do both, but dd2 refused, she was ok in hospital before my milk fully come in but after we got home we had no luck she would refuse any type of bottle. She only started to take a bottle once she weaned herself at 8 months.

[jaskie]

Every baby is different so you don't know how yours is going to be until it happens. My bub was on BM for a week then had to be on EBM exclusively for 2 weeks - very, very damaged nipples - and was then back on the boob with the occasional bottle. She was absolutely fine with it. Yet I know other babes who would not handle this at all! I think what helped (possibly, who knows??) was having a bottle that resembled the breast as closely as possible. I am in love with the Adiri Natural Nurser. It is certainly worth checking out. The best part is it contains no bpa, phthalate plasticisers, latex, or vinyl chloride!!
Best of luck!!

[Mummato2]

Every baby is different - however I introduced a bottle to my DD from 3 months for a lot of different reasons and that almost finished our BF'ing relationship.

We don't comp at all now and she is back to BF'ing 100%.......my advice is to get another method that doesn't involve a teat....unfortunately the teat is an easier feed and they will take preference to it.

Hang out til bub is 3 months then spend a month introducing another method like a finger feeder or sippy cup

HTH xxx

[MummaSue]

I had to introduce a bottle (EBM) early on due to horrible damage to my nipples while breastfeeding. She took it no problem at all. When I healed, we didn't have such a need for it so didn't give her bottle for weeks. I then tried to go and get a spa treatment and left DH with some EBM and she screamed blue murder. Totally got herself in a state and now will not take a bottle for love nor money. *sigh*

So, she took it when she was tiny but now all she wants is boobie.

But like everyone says, see how you go and despite me being told that giving baby bottle early on interferes with breastfeeding, I certainly didn't find that to be the case and know a lot of mums who found the same.

Good luck
Sue x

[helle]

Every baby is different - however I introduced a bottle to my DD from 3 months for a lot of different reasons and that almost finished our BF'ing relationship.

We don't comp at all now and she is back to BF'ing 100%.......my advice is to get another method that doesn't involve a teat....unfortunately the teat is an easier feed and they will take preference to it.

Hang out til bub is 3 months then spend a month introducing another method like a finger feeder or sippy cup

HTH xxx

is a bottle really an easier feed? Once let down happens the milk usually flows on it's own...?

[Shanti]

Hey Spice, I'm no expert but did combine EBM with breastfeeding in the early months due to supply and weight gain issues. I would steer clear of a teat until you hit the 4-6 week mark and you feel like your supply has settled down and bubs knows what he is doing at the breast. That's just me though. Hopefully those wonderful women with more knowledge in this area will stop in. I started doing top up bottle feeds when DS was about 3 weeks old and there was constant stress that he was going to start to prefer the faster flow of the teat. Get the slowest flow teats possible and stop and start (putting it in and out of his mouth with short breaks) to try to mimic the breastfeed rate at first. You should only need to give him a bottle once every 1-2 days but be aware that some bubs don't like taking the bottle from mum cause they know the real thing is right there. DS never had this issue but we always followed a bf with the bottle so it was a little different.

The ABA helpline will have some great advice too.

Having said all of that, it might be best to just play it by ear once bub is here. You have 4 months to work it out and until you know what kind of feeder he's going to be, it can be hard to plan too much in advance.

ETA - Great idea about trying the sippy cup MantaRay!

I could have posted this exact thing Kaz As we had similar experience to you..... it really does depend on the baby Mamaspice. The girls have given some great advice, good luck
I would however really try to stay clear of using a teat for the first few weeks to get bub used to BF etc first....