Combining both breast and bottle?

Gmother29 · March 2015

I am about to be a Young mum and I am still going to be attending school. I am wanting to breast feed her while I have 6 weeks off from school (as she cant attend child care until shes at least 6 weeks old) and then when I send her to childcare which is just over the road from my school, I am wanting to still be able to give her breast milk by expressing and giving it to the childcare. During the 6 weeks I have with her I was wondering if I could do mixed feeding between Bottle and Breast, so when my partner wants to feed her during the night he can and when for some reason im not there to breastfeed her, or we are out we can just give her a bottle. Also when I got back to school, she will be bottle fed and during lunch breaks im allowed to go over to the childcare to feed her if she needs it, then when I get home she can go back to breast again. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can manage both bottle and breast and how early I can start mixing them? My midwife didnt really give me much help with this question at all so wondering if anyone could help me at all as Ive only got 2-3 weeks left.

SDJohnson26 · March 2015

My breast feeding consultant says if you pen to mix then wait about 2-3 weeks before introducing the bottle but to introduce bottle by 4 weeks old so to avoid the nipple confusion and she also said for mom (you) not to bottle feed have dad borrow feed when you first start introducing the bottle to baby this is my plan add in in school add well full time
Kellymom.com was recommended to me as well and seek out a consultant before baby gets here they are awesome with so many ftm questions

juliaandpatrick · March 2015

I have no advice for you other than to ask your pediatrician/lactation consultant.
But if it's going to take you over a month to get back to check on this then please don't post new questions. Use the search function instead as this topic has been discussed before.

cloudedskies · March 2015

The only problem is if you introduce a bottle too early you can get what's called nipple confusion , which means bub basically decides the bottle is easier because there is less effort and then decides it doesn't want the breast , talk to a lactation consultant , but if you want to breast feed for a while you may need to make sure it's well and truely instilled in bub that that's the main way she will be fed , before introducing the bottle ... I'm a ftm too and this is something that I have been informed can happen. Xxx

lilann2011 · March 2015

For my first i breastfeed for about the first month then started pumping as well and doing bottle. I continued to pump and bottle feed during the day and breastfeed at night. He never had nipple confusion but every kid can be different

make sure to stick with slow flow nipples so they do have to put forth some effort! Hope it all works out

MrsS728 · March 2015

I plan to breastfeed for as long as I can. I've been told that you shouldn't introduce a bottle or binky for at least 3 weeks in order to prevent nipple confusion.

xuxachi · March 2015

Should be no problem to do both as others say, but also watch your supply. If you start to introduce formula or expressed bottles then you 'll need to pump unless you decide to permanently get rid of a feeding. In other words, you can't decide to do the 3pm feeding as a bottle one day or for several days and then try the breast at 3pm here and there and sustain the milk supply for very long at that feeding. Milk supply is based on demand and you need to be consistent especially when mixing in formula or expressed bottles (if you have a stash). Hope that makes sense.

A good resource is kellymom.com.

*edited for typo and clarity

Gmother29 · March 2015

Thank you, I'll check out kellymom. Just really want to keep her on breastmilk and not formula not really a fan.

topaz7777 · March 2015

I introduced bottles around 4 weeks very occasionally. Just a FYI though, any time DH is feeding with a bottle, you still have to pump... so it's not like you get more sleep. Oh and then you have to clean the pump parts. Lots of fun in the middle of the night.

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