Can I do this? Breast feed one minute then bottle feed the next.

Re: Can I do this? Breast feed one minute then bottle feed the next.

• elissa808

  October 2010

  We did this and its fine, just don't try the bottle till 4-6weeks. we did his first bottle at 5 weeks
  

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• hollowstar member

  October 2010

  We added a bottle when he was a little over a week old. We've only used it a few times now but we absolutely go back and forth. Sometimes I'll BF for awhile and then just a few minutes later my husband will finish up with a bottle. I would wait until breastfeeding is well established but my baby was so good at it that it didn't seem like (and wasn't) a problem for us. We use Born Free bottles and love them.
  

  Alternative Housewife - Mama style on a budget

  Mama to Sebastian, born 9/2010

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• mchell9 member

  October 2010

  We have been doing both since LO has been a week- there has no been no issue.  We use Dr. Browns.  If BF is going well in the beginning- no latch issues, and LO is responding well to it- I personally believe it's better to expose them to bottles/paci rather than waiting.
  

  

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• snansley

  October 2010

  DS took a bottle and a paci pretty much from birth.  We didn't have any issues with nipple confusion since he was only getting one or two bottles a day.

  Now that we are weaning, he does have the occasional struggle to latch when he forgets to open his mouth wide enough. 

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• cindybaf

  October 2010

  Since my LO had to have formula in the hospital, and then as a supplement to my BM, LO has had to adapt to both bottle and nipple. The problem we have is that she puts up a fight latching on, but definitely knows how to(this still might be just a positioning issue, but I suspect she prefers the long bottle nipple). DH feeds her a bottle in the middle of the night. The nanny feeds her once during the day with expressed breast milk. I agree it's a good bonding time for DH and LO-since she sleeps the rest of the time and he can only change a diaper so many times. The rest have been me directly feeding her, and so far she is pooping and peeing aplenty, and sleeping 3 hour stretches(she has to be awakened sometimes). This is still a work in progress, but it is possible. Good luck! 

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• ebmartin

  October 2010

  Wait until BFing is well established first but absolutely do this!  I introduced a bottle at 3 weeks (DH gave it to her first, not me) and she did great with it, no nipple confusion at all.  I'm back at work now and DD does great BFing and at the bottle.  We started out using Tommee Tippee but those made her dribble A LOT so I got rid of those and now we use Avent and Medela...works like a charm!

  

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• christina1776

  October 2010

  elissa808:

  We did this and its fine, just don't try the bottle till 4-6weeks. we did his first bottle at 5 weeks
  

  This!  you never know how your baby is going to do re: nipple confusion, so just make sure LO gets a good solid start and good nursing habits and that your supply gets established before pumping and feeding from a bottle.  A lot of babies do fine switching back and forth, but some don't and if you want to be able to nurse this is your best shot.  I had no problem with DS, but DD would have none of it!  For her it was one or the other, not both, thank you very much!  LOL  At one point she totally refused me, and it took a week to get her to nurse well again... I had to convince her it was her only option if she wanted to eat!  HAHA but it worked, tho it was very hard at the time.

  On the other hand, a friend knew she was going back to work so her LO was gonna have to take a bottle, so she decided to start earlier and accept that if she refused the breast she would just pump.  Fortunately her LO nurses at night fine, so she can do both.  Every one is unique! 

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• gptmomma

  October 2010

  Well, thank you so much everyone! Your opinions have been very helpful!
  

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