Too soon to express...?

[Paddocks1]

My newborn is now 6 days old, is it too soon to express and introduce a bottle. He is feeding on demand and I don't think I've slept since I had him so would quite like to give OH a chance. He BF's well but as soon as it comes to night feeds he just grazes all night and its exhausting. Thanks in advance x

I don't think it's too early, good luck

I have 5dc. I gave all of them a bottle of expressed milk by the end of the first week. I just became totally exhausted and needed a few hours of uninturrupted sleep.

Agree with the previous poster, there are loads dads can do, actually the only thing they cant do id BF!

But its not a competition...

I expressed from week 2 so DH could give DD a bottle. Gives me a break at night - I don't think I would have managed without it. I do every feed apart from the one at 10/11pm, so no issues with supply.

We also gave a dummy as DD has silent reflux. No nipple confusion

I had a really difficult time with breastfeeding at first. My baby has a tongue tie which wasn't diagnosed until two months (which is a whole other story!) and by day three my nipples were in such a bad state they took five weeks to heal. Things were so painful I could only pump and give a bottle for two weeks, and then needed to use nipple shields whilst the open wounds on my poor nips healed! My baby has been very versatile throughout all of this, and whilst it is taking a bit of time to wean her off the nipple shields we are getting there slowly. I was always worried about the confusion thing, but at the end of the day she was getting the milk and putting on weight. Every baby is different, but they are adaptable creatures, and I reckon you will have no problems with what you are suggesting, especially as it sounds like you will be feeding from the breast most of the time. You are probably less likely to have a baby who completely bottle refuses later on as well.

Good luck and try not to worry too much. I was completely obsessesed with boobs and feeding and bought every breast feeding product under the sun whilst my little angel just kept sucking, wedding and pooing all day long!

Obviously weeing! Not married her off just yet!

I expressed from the first week with both of mine and they both had the odd bottle that early and the daily from about 2-1 weeks. DD1 fed for nearly three years and DD2 EBF at four months with no problems.

That should say from 2-3 weeks - not 2-1!