When and why did you introduce a bottle?

[faroutbrusselsprout]

DS2 is 8 weeks and a breast feeding champion. He's put on loads of weight and is a gorgeous chubby contented little boy :goodvibes:
We demand feed during the day and he's only up once at night. So things are going really well..
However I don't even OWN a bottle and was wondering if I should maybe get one for just in case.
DH thinks it would be great for me to get some more sleep, go out for more than 2 hours and for him to be able to help more...however I'm very protective of my feeding and am not sure I'm ready for DS to have another option.
I'm thinking it's because I had such a terrible birth experience where my control was ripped away from me...? Whereas I am so in control of this and can do it so well :confused:

Anyway... when and why did you introduce EBM in a bottle?

[LittleBug'sMum]

If I were you I wouldn't bother with the bottle at all, unless of course you will be needing to go back to work or for some other reason needing your son to be drinking EBM from a bottle.
I had loads of trouble with BF at the start (cracked nipples etc) so expressed quite a bit and gave him bottles (from the first week), but now find that it is just so time consuming, everytime you give a bottle of EBM you have to then express (so doesn't really help with getting more sleep). However I had to go to the dentist the other day and DH had to give DS a bottle of EBM, so it can come in handy...
You might find that your son wont want to take a bottle, my DH had a bit of trouble convincing DS to drink from the bottle the other day, as we hadn't given him a bottle for a few weeks.

[Milliner]

I didn't. DD 20 months has never had a bottle, EVER! There was one attempt when I had an Op but she didn't want a bar of it.

[CrazyCatLady]

I know someone who gave a bottle so she'd have another feeding option and possibly get some rest and her DD decided she like the bottle better and refused the breast.

After seeing her go through that I thought I'm much happier being the only food source than the slightest possibility of not beeing the food source at all.

[workin'mumof2]

my ruby doesnt take a bottle very well. but i choose the TT closer to nature bottle only for when i cant be near her which isnt very often.

she now drinks through a straw cup. but loves spitting it :rolleyes:

so im happy with just breastfeeding because its what she wants. lol.

[Herchy]

I introduced a bottle of EBM to DS when he was 2 weeks old. I never had an issue with nipple confusion at all and BF him until nearly 11 months.
I introduced my first bottle of EBM to DD last week. She has had no problems at all.

I don't and never did give either of the kids bottles all the time.... it was a just in case kind of thing, like when I go to my exercise classes, I am an hour's car ride away from home so there's a bottle of EBM in the fridge just in case DD gets hungry, although most of the time she doesn't.

[HarvestMoon]

I introduced bottles at about 8 weeks cause i went back to work. I only worked short shifts though.. usually 3 hours so it was pretty rare that he needed a feed when i was gone.. he usually just slept and i made sure i fed him right before i left and when i got home. He was never particuarly interested in a bottle and it took alot of trying to get him to take it.

With my first DS i introduced bottles pretty much straight away because i was having huge issues with breastfeeding. It was a big mistake looking back on it.. cause he took preference for the bottles and made breastfeeding even harder and i ended up just giving up bf altogether.

[EmmasMummy]

ummm I think it might of been 2 months .... We had a BBQ with some friends and wanted to a gave a couple of drinks .... so had a stash of EBM for her for the night and next morning.... She never had a problem with it.

[peanutbutter&jelly]

I did at around 7 weeks, because my DS had reflux and completely refused the breast for a few days, then the only way I could get him to take it was to give him 60ml EBM, then the rest of the feed on the breast :D
He loved his booby more, that was just him... till he tried to wean a few times, it worked at 13 months though...

[Lillynix]

17mo and no need for a bottle :)

DS is still completely demand fed straight from the boobie :D

[Alisonp]

With DS (exclusively bf) I think he was a couple of months old? (sorry can't remember exactly). I liked having the option to express so I could go and have my hair done, have some quality "me" time or go out for a few hours to the movies with a friend. It worked well for us and didn't cause any problems when he was little although he rejected the bottle for a while before retaking it when he about 6mo. He probably didn't have one often enough though as I think he forgot what they were for and I had to reintroduce the idea by letting him play with it before he worked out there was EBM inside!

IMO the odd bottle of EBM is unlikely to interrupt a solid bf relationship especially once everything is well established.