help to combine breast and bottle

[gowergirl]

My daughter is twelve weeks and I would like to start combining breast and bottle, any tips ?

[Fran1]

Every child is different, some may take to it fine, others may struggle to get used to a bottle.

Of friends i know, this is a tricky age, it is advised that you introduce a bottle at 4 weeks if you are planning on mixed feeding.
An alternative if your dd really dislikes the bottle is cup feeding. Let her sip milk from the lid of the bottles.
Are you going to express? If so try and express a little after each breastfeed and obviously at the times shes due a feed but you are not going to be feeding her. As well as keeping your supply up, this will allow you to express some to store. I used to freeze mine in those little bags you can get. I only ever got a few ounces at a time, so when i was going to work and needing to leave a feed behind, i'd take two or three bags out of the freezer to defrost.
For some reason, i found i was able to express much more milk when i was in the bath, or just after i'd had a bath.
It helps if someone else can offer your dd the bottle feeds, then she cannot smell your milk and look for the breast. I used to leave the room and let dp give those feeds when we were first introducing the bottle, then after a while she was happy for me to feed her either way.
Can't think of any more tips at mo, but good luck!
Are you planning on going back to work?

[Cristina7]

Gowergirl, from all I've read if you're going to use formula for bottle feeding your milk supply will diminish and eventually tail off. Or are you intending to use expressed breast milk?

My DD is 11 weeks old and she gets a bottle of expressed breast milk every few days or so. She had started on bottles during her second week (while still in hospital). She also has a dummy for falling asleep. (In case that makes any difference to how they accept different "nipples".)