Giving a bottle before 6 weeks?

stow2009

The general advice given by LC's at our hospital is that babies who are going to be breastfed should not be given a bottle before 6 weeks of age (even if it has breastmilk in it) because they will develop nipple confusion and have trouble nursing. I have two local friends who got this same advice, and followed it only to find that, after 6 weeks, the baby wouldn't take a BOTTLE and ended up always refusing the bottle. The two girls are now 8 months and 18 months. The 18-month-old ended up never taking a bottle and went straight to solid food. The 8-month-old is still nursing, and will not take a bottle.

My question is: has anyone else gotten this advice, and do you think it is sound? All I'm hearing from friends is that they regret taking that advice because after 6 weeks their daughters refused anything but nursing. Any LCs out there who know why this advice is being given? 

mrsrfwii

We were told with our first two, not to give them a pacifier. I have heard of the recommendation to not give a bottle, but I struggle with nursing and with my milk coming in, so with both girls we were given formula at the hospital to supplement with. I nursed, pumped and bottle fed both breast milk and formula, and we also used a pacifier. I say do what works for you and your family best.

laurasuzanne2006

Honestly if there are no issues with breastfeeding this advice is hokey. We introduced at 2 weeks. I went back to work at 7-8 weeks so I felt it was important not to wait til 6

fionalouise007

If I'm able to BF I'm planning to use a bottle at night so that my husband can give our daughter her last feed before bed.. So he can also be involved, as well as avoiding the whole 'won't take a bottle' thing.
Two of our friends have a gorgeous three month old who has been exclusively BF with no bottle and unfortunately in their case their daughter has a lot of trouble being looked after by Grandparents/baby's Dad.. She won't feed until Mum gets home as she refuses to take the bottle and is quite distraught and over tired/hungry when Mum does get home.
It's not a huge deal for some people, but even being able to catch up with friends who are interstate for dinner or go out for a few hours is impossible for this little girl's Mum. It opened my eyes a bit seeing that situation, as I had only read the scare mongering articles about nipple confusion and dummies. Now I've changed my mind a bit..

Joie80

We got the same advice, but didn't follow it. DD1 had no issues going back and forth between breast and bottle. She was first introduced around 2 weeks.

jesselayne8

I gave both my kids a bottle of Breast milk at 2 days old And they got a bottle about once every 5-7 days. Both kids went on a compete bottle strike at 8 weeks old. DD's strike ended at 16wks and then she would take either Breast or bottle. DS never took a bottle again after 8 wks. I couldn't leave him for more than 3hrs until he was about 8 months when I found a sippy that he would drink Breast milk from.

Kimk1616

There's no way I will be able to follow this advice. I have to go back to work at 6 weeks and she will have to be bottle fed. I also like the idea of my husband being able to get involved in some of the feedings. This might work for some people but it's quite impractical for others.

jorstad1

My lc actually said before 6 weeks because she gets all these moms who need to go back to work and try the bottle right before they have to be back and it's too late and the mom panicks which causes her low milk

I alternated from the beginning so my dh could help and my kids never had bf issues going back and forth

kcollins78

Mine alternated from day one without confusion. Good luck!

J0C0TX

I used pacis from day one with both - no issue. I used bottles intermittently from about 2 weeks with both do they'd be used to it.
One thing was dad always had to give the bottle not me. Baby would try to suckle if I tried to give a bottle... They never had an issue with the boob

stow2009

Thank you all so much for your advice and experience! We are planning to go back and forth pretty much from the beginning, so it's great to hear about how this has worked for you. 

KatieRu920

I was leery of giving a pacifier because of that reason and my LO was so good with nursing that my nurse said that it would NOT be a problem (and it never was). I also gave him his first pumped bottle probably around 3-4 weeks and it was completely fine. I was in my best friend's wedding when he was 5 weeks old so he took a bottle (of breast milk) that day from a few different people with no issues then ever between bottles and breastfeeding.

emmacake08

It really does depend. Mine were bottle fed with BM from the beginning for 4 straight months. Once they learned to BF, they stopped taking bottles all together which was shocking to me since I never exclusively stopped using them. I used to think it was solely based on whether mom introduced bottles early and frequently enough, but mine just stopped. Maybe they are more of a fluke though. I agree that having baby take both is good all around.

babywhaley17

I was told and plan on introducing a bottle of breast milk around 2-3 weeks, same with the paci. I will be pumping at work when I go back, but plan on BF'ing right before work, on my lunch break, right after work and an evening feeding. Baby will get a bottle mid morning and at night from dad. We were also told to introduce some formula around 6-8 weeks so that baby won't refuse it later just in case anything happens with my milk supply or in case of emergency.

cosplaymom

That advice is stupid. We gave my daughter a bottle on her third night because my milk had not come in yet and she was crying hard, hungry, and had lost weight. She had no confusion at all after that and was able to both nurse and take three different kinds of bottles.

I was nursing with a nipple shield early on, so a bottle wasn't any different.

kettlekitten

I gave my daughter bottles early on but then had a few weeks with no bottles. Due to chronic pain I decided to try mix feeding, but after that few weeks off bottles she would never take one again. She also never took a dummy/pacifier right from the start...but I used a nipple shield for the first 6 months and went on to breastfeed for another year or so.... So go figure! I think it has to partly depend on the baby....

laurasuzanne2006

babywhaley17 said:

I was told and plan on introducing a bottle of breast milk around 2-3 weeks, same with the paci. I will be pumping at work when I go back, but plan on BF'ing right before work, on my lunch break, right after work and an evening feeding. Baby will get a bottle mid morning and at night from dad. We were also told to introduce some formula around 6-8 weeks so that baby won't refuse it later just in case anything happens with my milk supply or in case of emergency.

Ehhh, Honestly I wouldn't give formula unless you actually need to supplement. Can decrease your milk supply. You can always mix brrastmilk with formula if baby ends up needing formula

Lalala2326

We introduced at 4 weeks but DD stopped taking one at around 6-8 weeks anyway and never would again. Babies do what they want... I was a SAHM so wasn't a huge deal though I felt a little tied down. My friend had the unfortunate occurrence of having a baby that wouldn't take one at all and was in daycare. She reverse cycled clear through till she weaned.

breezymeema7

I was uber paranoid about nipple confusion with DD1 which resulted in her refusing all bottles and me in tears several times. DD2 had to use a bottle at 1 week old due to some supply issues and had zero problems going back to breast. I think there's a lot of hype around nipple confusion but I'm not overly concerned about it.

buckleyk

I don't think it's nipple confusion as much as babies develop a preference for one versus the other. And it can work the other way, where baby prefers the bottle
Over the breast. Often times a bottle is MUCH easier to get milk out of so babies develop a preference for that. Due to a NICU stay we introduce a bottle right away and my son developed a preference for it. He nursed for comfort but didn't see it as mealtime- if that makes sense. It took a while to break that association but we worked it out.

And if your baby won't take a bottle, there are ways around it. (I'm not saying it's easy or painless but it can be done) When my friend went back to work at 8 weeks, her daughter was still refusing a bottle. Daycare fed her the first few days droplets of breastmilk at a time until eventually she took the bottle.

jesicabrennan

I was told by my midwife (also an LC) that there is a golden window around 3-4 weeks in which you should introduce a bottle. 6 weeks is too long. I breastfed for 2.5 years, baby took the bottle very infrequently (just wasn't necessary as I stayed at home) but the 3-4 week window worked for us.