Pedi says I "need" to do it by the time he's 4 weeks old, or he may never take one. He just turned 3 weeks yesterday. I'm still a little scared to do so, because he still hasn't perfected breastfeeding yet. Still working on getting a good latch, although it seems a LITTLE better the past week. Also, dealing with what seems to be some reflux issues. She put him on Zantac b/c he seemed so miserable, and it actually seems a little better now.
Just curious for those of you who needed to introduce bottle for when you go back to work, when did you do it and do you have a rec. for a good bottle to help with gas, reflux issues?
Re: When did you introduce a bottle if you breastfeed?
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Abigail Taylor 09.18.2008
My LLL leader recommended waiting until 6 weeks (obviously that's not always doable if you have to go back to work ASAP).
DS has never really been interested in a bottle, but we've never "forced" him to, either. I always just plan to be home within 2-3 hours of feeding him if I leave. I always leave pumped milk, but he isn't really into it.
Joseph Henry was born at home on March 9, 2009
Nora Mae was born at home on October 30, 2011
I had to go back to work at 8 weeks (C section) so I started at 7 weeks. Nate was a major acid reflux baby (still is on medicine). Nate was very good at transitioning to bottle to breast. He latched on the 1st time. I didn't do it 100% either. I gave my 2 week notice when I came back. I used Born Free bottles which worked fantastic with us. We were at the dr every week with Nate since he was 2 weeks old. Zantac never phased him. Just remember witht he Zantac they give the dosage per weight. So if you see if he is getting worse again take him back for a new measurement in dosage. We got put on Prevacid at 6 weeks old.
Since he is already having issues in latching I would wait until your both are 100% comfortable with it if you want to do it for a long time. He may like the bottle better and never want to go back to the breast.
We too have reflux issues. DD started out on Zantac with no relief and is now on Prevacid and it's working well for us. She will be on Prevacid for a while until she starts solids.
As for the bottle, due to the reflux issues she had what sounded like chronic nasal congestion (but after seeing a pedi ENT we learned its inflammation of the larynx which is common with reflux). Needless to say, we first introduced the bottle at 4 weeks using the Playtex drop-ins with their slow flow nipple. The slow flow nipple was SUPER fast for DD and she would just choke on it and much of the milk would run down her neck. We then switched to the Nuk bottle with the Nuk Slow flow nipple and it's much better. We give a couple of ounces at a time once or twice a week. We've also learned that she does better taking the bottle earlier in the day, in the evening she's a bit too fussy to be interested in the bottle.
GL!
Abigail Taylor 09.18.2008
Ava didn't have reflux but we introduced the bottle at about 5-6 weeks and had a really hard time getting her to take it. We went through 4 bottles until we found one she would take. We use the Breastflow by The First Years. Good luck!! I hope things are better with the latch!