Breastfeeding

When to start bottle feeding?

First time mom here,

I plan on breastfeeding but still want my husband to be able to feed our daughter. When is it recommend to pump and let him bottle feed for the first time? weeks or months?

Re: When to start bottle feeding?

  • Many people recommended to me 3 or 4 weeks, based on their experience with multiple kids. Just a couple a week at least, just for practice. We started at 3 weeks, and DS has done great with the bottle, and had had no problem taking them from me either.
    photo 997d7ce2-9f44-4a90-b78f-0ddf5f488d41_zps82d963f4.jpg
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • We were late to the game because I was scared of using the pump and really sad about not being the one to feed DS. We started at week 6. Most people start week 4/5 that I know. About a week after the first bottle, we took LC advice and have 1 bottle a day for 3 days in a row. DH gives the bottles and we do the paced bottle feeding method and it works well for us. Now we are giving him a bottle once a week. Initially I pumped 10 min after first feeding for about a week to get get up a supply. Now I pump every few days and when DH gives him the bottle. Hope this helps!!
    "Sweat is my sanity". Sarah Palin "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised". Proverbs 31:30 Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • Loading the player...
  • 3 to 4 weeks is good. I gave mine one at 2 weeks. We didn't have problems with latching so I went for it. I'd imagine if you were having latch difficulty then you should wait.
    Lilypie Pregnancy tickers
  • We did 5 weeks and she is doing great!
  • Assuming there is no medical reason to pump, you should wait until your baby is 4-6 weeks old before introducing the bottle.  There are a host of reasons for this, but the big ones are:


    * Waiting to introduce the bottle means your baby is nursing from the breast only, and this really helps to build and strengthen the breastfeeding relationship.


    * Nursing is based on supply and demand.  The more you nurse, the better your supply.  And those first couple of weeks are all about building a supply.  The pump is a fabulous tool - especially for us working moms, but it is a "baby substitute" and not nearly as effective as the baby is at building supply.  Babies are much more powerful/efficient at getting milk out, because that's what they were created to do!  There will be days that it feels like your little bundle of joy never unlatches and is constantly eating.  Especially during that 3 week growth spurt.  But that constant nursing is exactly what your body needs to create a great supply for your baby.


    * As I said, there will be days when you seem to nurse constantly.  Which makes finding time to pump a big issue.  This gets a little better after the 3 week growth spurt.  I'm not saying that at 3 weeks 1 day your child will go for hours without eating, but they will space out a little.  Enough where you can squeeze in a pumping session.


    * The dreaded "oversupply."  This sounds like such a great thing, right?  Loads of milk.  Except when it comes to breastfeeding, oversupply is awful.  In general, breastmilk is a mixture of watery milk and fatty milk.  This helps the baby grow big and strong.  But in cases of oversupply, a woman makes too much of that watery milk, and not enough of that fatty milk.  Without the fatty milk to help slow it down, the watery milk rushes through a baby's digestive system.  This is really painful.  It causes cramping, gas, discomfort, and a very fussy and unhappy baby.  And it takes a lot of work to correct itself.  Some women naturally have this problem, but many others create it by pumping too early and sending the wrong message to their body that they need more milk, and because the pump isn't quite the same as the baby, sometimes this means the body just produces the watery stuff.

    June '15 January Siggy Challenge.  Pinterest Fails
    image

     Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
    BabyFruit Ticker
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"