Is there an ideal time to try and introduce a bottle?

[20wkbaby]

I am planning to bf my baby (due October) but would like to be able to express and use a bottle from time to time.

With my daughter for various reasons she had a bottle from about 3 weeks old and I think it interfered with breastfeeding which meant I had to give up sooner than I would have liked. She was a very hungry baby and a bottle gave her an instant 'hit' that the breast didn't.

I have known some babies who take a long time to adjust to the bottle and wonder if it is because there is an optimum time - somewhere between 3 weeks and 6 months? - where you can get a baby to take both with no fuss.

Or is this wishful thinking and it is down to the individual baby as with so much else?

No expert but don't think there is an optimum time. Every baby is different. My DD took a bottle from birth (1 at night) until 3 months and then refused it totally and never took one again. My DS refused from birth but I have managed to wean him onto bottles this week - he is 10 months.

Guidance says wait until your supply is well established at around 6 weeks and that seems like good advice.

Thanks, that would seem to make the most sense.

I mixed from day 1 - it takes a bit of juggling to ensure you don't compromise supply but never had problems with refusal of either bottle or breast - a few seconds of noodling about to get the right technique for each maybe but otherwise DS had no probs. DD is only tiny but so far is doing the same. I love the flexibility it gives me and that others can feed her (notably DP who feels he is less able to "bond" with DD because he is having to primarily deal with DS).

I think I have nipple confusion if anyone does....

My DD took a bottle at three weeks, one a day for about four days. HV then told me to give up until 6 weeks. I stupidly listened and she has refused a bottle ever since (six brands tried)...If I am lucky enough to have another DC I will introduce a bottle early and stick to it!

Personally I would say if BF is going ok -that is baby putting on weight of, reasonably settled - about 4 weeks is good which what we did with my 2nd - and then a couple of times a week after that - worked for us -
BTW with your first DD when did you stop BF? some babies just do feed loads in the first few months whatever you do

It wasn't so much that she was feeding a lot (ie frequency) just that after she had had the bottle she got fed up waiting for the breastmilk to let down and got very fussy, would not lie still. Once she had got worked up it was hard to calm her down and get her to take the breast. I stopped ebf at 3 weeks as my nipples were bleeding every time and it was total agony and I dreaded each feed. Started giving her some expressed feeds to give my nipples a break and then after that getting milk from the breast wasn't quick enough for her - or at least that was my interpretation. She could drain a bottle in less than 5 minutes. She has always been very 'hungry'. She would start grizzling for a feed on the dot of the hour it was due and even know (aged 3) you can set your watch by her in terms of when she will get hungry.

I am not an expert by any means - and one who is please feel free to correct me - but it could be that either your let down was slow or the latch wasn't quite right or both -so with this one I would say really work on getting the latch right - ie read up on it and get it checked loads - and wait until you are happy with it and you are bleeding/in pain before giving a bottle
its very common for babies to drain bottles down very -quickly doesn't relate to how hungry they are or how long they spend at the boob

MovingandScared - thanks, that is really what I meant that she was too impatient to wait for the let down once she had experienced the bottle. She is the same now, won't wait for food to cool down or even to be on the table before she starts eating.

My question was really because prior to starting a bottle at 3 weeks she was not fussy on the breast. When the pain just became too much and I felt my nipples needed some time to recover I started her on expressed breast milk from a bottle. That was when she started to 'reject' the breast.