Introducing bottles?

BridgetThoams · November 2014

LO is 2 weeks old and doing very well BF. We want to introduce bottles so H can feed him when he gets home from work at midnight and let me miss 1 feeding at night for a bit of extra sleep. Not to mention we are moving soon and bottles would be a bit easier for the move.
LO has no interest in bottles. I didn't know if anyone had any tips for introducing bottles to a BF baby.

vvvvvfee · November 2014

kellymom has a page with great info, including a PDF you can print out and give to your care provider: https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

FYI, this early on, you would need to pump to replace any feedings you miss or it will affect your supply. also, you would risk getting uncomfortably engorged (possibly leading to a clogged duct or mastitis) if you skip the feeding in the middle of the night.

TheBorg7of9 · November 2014

Your first step is to start pumping once a day at the same time everyday. Get a little stash built up. A good time is after the first morning feeding. Then when you are ready to give a bottle, you'll have to pump at the same time she is getting the bottle. That's in addition to your normal daily pump.

BethanyAnn27 · November 2014

I went to a BFing class while pregnant and the lactation consultant teaching it suggested introducing a bottle when your LO is 4-6 weeks old. Any earlier or later they tend to take a preference to one or the other (according to the class).

My LO is 8 weeks old now and here is what worked for us: I started pumping 1 hour after the first morning feed every day when she was 2 weeks old. At 4 weeks, DH started offering her a bottle every evening before bed. DD, though a little unsure, ended up taking the bottle without difficulty...it just took a little more time to feed her! I would pump again when DH was feeding her to add to the freezer supply and so I wasn't hurting my supply. Now, I need to build up a significant freezer stash because I will be going back to work and DH will be staying home with our LO, so you may not need to pump as frequently as I have.

2 weeks does seem early to introduce a bottle. I would suggest waiting until your LO is 4 weeks old if you can. GL!

mommatotwo2 · November 2014

As the others said, you will not be able to get the extra sleep even if DH gives LO a bottle, you'll need to get up and pump.

As far as easier while moving, I'm sorry, but I'l have to disagree there. With bottles you'll need a place to store the milk, a place to pump when you give the baby that milk (so all of your pumping supplies), access to soap and water to wash up before pumping, etc. Breastfeeding- just the boobs and the baby

BridgetThoams · November 2014

Thank you for the advise! I had not thought of all that obviously! Ugh

TheBorg7of9 · November 2014

That being said. I have created a little more sleep by nursing at 8pm, pumping at 9, go to bed, have DH give bottle at 1030 or 11, then nurse again at the 130 feeding. That way I got to sleep from about 930 to 130, which was nice. I did this a few times starting at 4 weeks

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