Bottle feeding while breast feeding??

Victoria1210 · December 2015

I know this sounds crazy, but I am completely stressed out about breast feeding. I want to SO bad, but I'm so worried. One of my biggest concerns is my s/o feeling left out. I want him to be able to feed the baby whenever he wants.. But I know that may cause some confusion with baby if it's done right away. Any suggestions??

peppercorn16 · December 2015

From what I have heard (FTM) through researching the experiences of others, the 1-month mark is a good time to introduce a bottle. I am sure every baby is different, but this seems to be a consensus on what is not too early so as to cause nipple confusion, but it's also not too late to the point that they won't accept a bottle. I'm curious to see what others say!

SDaniels19 · December 2015

At our breastfeeding class (FTM here also), the instructor recommended introducing a bottle at 4 weeks. She also said it's good to keep giving one atleast every other day after that to give the baby continued exposure to it so that they will still take a bottle as they get older (especially important if you are going back to work or away are from baby otherwise).

I also read somewhere that having SO burp the baby after feedings is a good way to help them feel included while you are BF

ambercakes92 · December 2015

I'll probably have to go back to work at 3-4 weeks once LO is born, and I've been thinking about this more and more lately...hopefully I'll get a good four weeks with her so that I can establish breastfeeding, but I guess using bottles exclusively wouldn't be the end of the world. My mother will be caring for her once I return to work, so bottles are a necessity. I know certain brands of bottles promote that they can be used simultaneously with breastfeeding, so I'd research some good bottles/nipples! So far I just have the Philips Avent bottles (natural style). I don't want to buy too many in case LO doesn't take to them. It'll be a lot of trial and error.

Victoria1210 · December 2015

I also purchased them!

Cejiml · December 2015

STM... I understand you wanting baby to bond with dad. Establishing the latch is important and as long as you get that figured out you can introduce the bottle whenever. He will have plenty of time to bond with baby though. I was worried about it to but it really worked out fine. And I will say that having him give a bottle in the MOTN was really nice after a while.

EC2016 · December 2015

I was wondering this too more because I will have to pump and bottle feed when I go back to work and I've heard of you wait too long the baby will refuse a bottle. My friend did both right from the beginning with no confusion but maybe she was just lucky. 4 weeks sounds like a good plan though.

Achae · December 2015

Victoria1210 said:
I know this sounds crazy, but I am completely stressed out about breast feeding. I want to SO bad, but I'm so worried. One of my biggest concerns is my s/o feeling left out. I want him to be able to feed the baby whenever he wants.. But I know that may cause some confusion with baby if it's done right away. Any suggestions??

I would just like to add that in addition to waiting a bit and not stocking up on one type of bottle, anytime SO is feeding baby you should be pumping to replace that feeding to keep up with supply and demand. So it won't save you time or energy to do that, and if bonding is your only concern, SO can change diapers, burp, etc.

MeghaJake · December 2015

We started using bottles during the first week of life with both our kids and pacifiers too and there was no nipple confusion. I love breastfeeding but being the only source of food for a newborn is exhausting! Even though we started using bottles so early, my daughter refused to take one her first two days of daycare, which was heartbreaking for me. I am also going back to work after four weeks. I am worried more about being able to keep my supply up with pumping.

Jamilla9 · December 2015

Dad can do other things to bond besides feeding the baby. My pedi suggested with my son to introduce the bottle before 6 weeks old. We gave him a paci like at 2 days old and we never had any nipple confusion.

catgraz · December 2015

@ambercakes92 : Hi! You may want to check the mimijumi bottles (if you can get them im the US). Our daughter loved them! :-)

ambercakes92 · December 2015

catgraz said:
@ambercakes92 : Hi! You may want to check the mimijumi bottles (if you can get them im the US). Our daughter loved them! :-)

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into them

Mommyduclos · December 2015

I agree with above posts. Start offering bottles at 4 or 5 weeks. If you truly want baby to take a bottle you must offer one (or more) daily or baby could quickly decide bottles are no good after all. You also will need to pump the amount baby drinks if you want your supply to stay on par with baby, but you just give that milk the next day and so on. If you need baby to take bottles then this is important but I don't know why you breast feeding would make your SO feel left out. There are so many other things baby needs so I wouldn't stress if that's the only reason, but if you plan to return to work it would be a good idea to get baby used to bottles as my kids never take them even if I decide at some point I'm going nuts and want them too but for me it isn't worth the extra work since I stay home with my kids

willashbaby · December 2015

I'm going back to work at 6 or 8 weeks depending on how I deliver so baby will need to be OK with a bottle. As soon as his latch is good and consistent (hopefully) we plan on introducing a bottle at least a few times a day with Daddy helping. Once he goes to my Mom during the day it'll be bottles all day so he'll have to be used to it. I'm planning on using the Kiinde for pumping bags and bottles.

ainverso · December 2015

We started offering a bottle a 4 weeks once a day, using dr Browns bottles. It worked out great and husband fed him the bottle while I pumped to replenish the milk he was drinking and to keep my supply up. Also the best thing I did in the beginning for my sanity going back to work was to pump first thing in the am, after I fed baby to build up a supply and make me not worry that much at work if I had a rough day or didn't produce as much. I had stock in the freezer and could pull from that if needed. I breastfed until almost 14 months when he decided he was done and weaned himself. I still have him breastmilk from the freezer til it was gone and it worked out great.

BAUMGC39 · December 2015

There are plenty of ways for Dad to bond. I was also worried with my first, but they are now inseparable. Dad's can do diapers, burping, baths, and getting you something to eat

I also recommend introducing a bottle at 3-4 weeks, once you have your milk supply regulated. Good luck!

OrangeFox · December 2015

I was in medical school when my first was born and was only able to take two weeks off in order to keep up with classes/etc. We introduced the bottle a few days before I went back and had no issues. I know that every baby is different but it was never a problem. We bought LifeFactory and Pura Kiki bottles because I was trying to avoid plastic. Both nipples were fine and baby never cared what he was given so long as there was milk in the bottle.

We also introduced the pacifier when he was about a week old. My midwife wasn't thrilled but I was feeling desperate one night and went for it. It worked wonders and never had any negative "nipple confusion" consequences.

Let your husband change the diapers for bonding. :-)

ashs88 · December 2015

My DS had some trouble latching at first so we had to supplement with bottles right from the beginning. Even in the hospital they had us use bottles. Also because of the latching I had to use nipple shields, which almost make your breast seem more like a bottle nipple to baby. Eventually DS learned to latch and I was able to stop using the shields, but we continued to bottle feed when we needed/wanted to. That was a life saver on those nights when DS was getting up every 1-2 hours wanting to eat - DH was able to take one or two feedings. It also allowed me to leave the house every once in a while without having to take DS with me. I still breastfed the majority of the time, but it was nice to have the option of the bottle. I went back to work at 7 weeks and pumped and continued to breast feed when I was home. DS never had any issues with nipple confusion and I never had any supply issues. I personally feel like he so easily went between breast and bottle because we did start him on both right from the beginning. I know this goes against what a lot of lactation consultants say, but this is what worked for us, and I know of quite a few people who have waited too long to introduce the bottle and they have had a really hard time getting their babies to accept it.

bbrownlee1 · December 2015

With my first I exclusively breastfed when home. My husband didn't ever seem upset that he couldn't participate in feedings. He would sit by me sometimes though. He ended up creating this amazing bond anyway though. We found out very quickly that Mom was the nurturing parent (in many aspects) and he was the one who has the play bond. We actually tested it when she was still an infant. He was holding her and I would start to talk and she would go right to sleep. He would take her back in the living room and play with her and she would get all giggly.

MamaHolland · December 2015

I'm planning to introduce bottles of pumped breast milk once we get the hang of our latch. No matter what anyone says about dads bonding other ways etc I know what our lifestyle & schedule is like and it will be important that both he and I can feed her.

momma2char · December 2015

He can always do skin to skin with baby at home, having baby sleep on his chest until you have your latch established and then introduce the bottle? I'm lurking from the October board. My baby girl had jaundice when she was born and we had to spend a couple of days in the hospital from when she was 2 days old until 5 days. We needed to push fluids on her to bring her bilirubin levels down but my milk supply wasn't really in yet so I had to pump as much as I could and supplement the rest with formula from a bottle.. She did get confused going between breast and bottle and I suffered from her having a bad latch for a couple of weeks and it was really painful for me.. But it was also really frustrating for her trying to figure it out. We had to see a lactation consultant to reestablish a proper latch and at 6 weeks we began introducing a bottle for night time feedings for dad to do. They bonded really nicely by the skin to skin for the first weeks though!

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