?s for BF'ing mom's - When did you introduce bottle/pacifier?

mrs.wildman

DD is officially 2 weeks old today! Dr. said feeding was going so well (based on weight-gain at the 1-week appt) that we should introduce the bottle this week.

Part of me is thrilled in that DH can take over one of the night time feedings, but then there's a bit of me concerned that she's she'll have nipple confusion. Should I be concerned? What marks baby being "established" enough in feedings that I would know that she's physically ready for a bottle? Also - I'm also interested in introducing a pacifier and wondering if she's ready for a bottle now, if that means that she's also ready for a pacifier? She keeps falling asleep during feedings - taking the boob as comfort I think, and I think the pacifier might help quell this... Any input/feedback/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! TIA!

brideonjuly8

DS got a paci in the hospital and a bottle at 5 days.  Nursing was going well, no issues or latch problems so I felt comfortable with it.

KittyFX

I guess it depends on what your plans are for bf-ing. Are you going to pump the milk for the bottle? I can't remember when we finally introduced a bottle but I think we waited 4 weeks. We had a bunch of different issues though so I can't say our experience was typical but our DS never really learned to suck effectively at the breast because we had to supplement in the hospital- we used a supplemental nursing system or whatever instead of the bottle but he got used to the fast flow of this and never got used to the breast, eventually we started on the bottle because the SNS was such a pain to clean.

We never did a pacifier so I can't comment on this.

 

Congrats on 2 weeks and successful weight gain!!!

ebat

paci in the hospital,  bottle at about 4 weeks.  We never had any problems with a latch either

s-a-r-a-h

We introduced the paci around 3 or 4 weeks and the bottle around 2 months. H never had any latch problems and took both the paci and bottle like a champ.

ACR

bottle at about 2 weeks. I desperately needed DH to take over a feeding at night. I figured that, since DS never had any trouble latching, it would be okay to introduce a bottle. He's generally had at least one bottle a day since then, and he's been just fine switching between bottle & breast.

smb29

We did a bottle at 2-3 weeks, same with the paci, although it took him a long time and a couple of different brands before he got the hang of the paci. 

The LC at the hopital told me you want to look for when they are "milk drunk" to know when the baby is done.  If you can lift her arm and let go and it just falls back down like a heavy limb, she is probably done.  Some babies are slow eaters, but she also said that anything beyond 20 minutes per boob is probably just comfort sucking. 

rssnlvr

DD got a bottle in the hospital and has never had any trouble going back and forth. She never really took to the paci, try as we might.

JezcaM

gave her the pacifier at the hospital, then started having problems with her sleeping at the breast. took away the pacifier until she was a month old, she nursed like a champ, then reintroduced pacifier without any problems.

we also used ONLY breastflow bottles. the normal fast flow nipples/bottles that came with the pump or from the hospital were way too easier for her, so then she'd expect the breast to be just easy and didn't really suck. the breastflow bottles were a lifesaver.

https://www.learningcurve.com/breastflow

JenniferL923

We had a bottle and paci introduced at the hospital.  I was so engorged she was having trouble latching properly and we had to supplement with formula because she wasn't getting enough bm.

We've been giving her at least one bottle/day so DH can help with night feeding and she hasn't had a problem switching back and forth.