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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Why did you start introducing bottles?

61 replies

Writerwannabe83 · 04/06/2014 10:14

I'm just after some stories please as to why you introduced bottles to your breast fed baby's feeding regime. This can be either bottles of expressed milk or bottles of formula.

Did it have the desired affect or were there any negatives?

I have a 10 week old DS who is EBF and a few people have told me to give bottles (for various reasons) but I really don't want to. I'm not anti-bottles or anything like that, it's just because as far as I can see I have no reason to.

Just interested in other people's experiences and reasoning.

OP posts:
mrsbug · 04/06/2014 21:46

Dd was in scbu and had a bottle before she ever breastfed. She was discharged having ebm topups from a bottle after every feed. Once her weight started to go up I wanted to keep on on giving her a bottle a day so that I could have a lie in or leave her with dp for a few hours.

Then at about four months old the little monkey started to refuse the bottles anyway Hmm

McPhee · 04/06/2014 21:56

Dd bit me at 8 months, and my yelping was enough to put her off. There was no way she would come anywhere near me after that. Selfishly, I wasn't ready to let her have anything other than my breastmilk. So, I expressed and fed her my milk from a bottle, which thankfully she accepted. Unfortunately, after a while my milk production suffered. So thank goodness she was already used to a bottle!

voodoochimp · 04/06/2014 22:27

Because I was going back to work

feeona123 · 05/06/2014 04:08

Think it was the 1st week!

A chunk on my nipple was missing so it was too sore to feed off that side! So expressed while it healed!

We tried cup feeding but found it too hard and messy, so just gave her the bottle.

She had TT so lost further weight. We had to top up at each feed but then moved into 1 full formula feed, then another one later on.

She does fight the bottle some times, but will take it eventually!

We have a wedding to go to in Aug and she's not invited. She is staying with MIL so will be fully bottle fed for 24 hours then!

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 05/06/2014 06:25

Thanks everyone for your replies, it's nice to see so many varied answers.

feeona - I've just turned down a Wedding Invite for later this year as DS isn't invited. That's what has led to someone suggesting bottles to me again Smile

OP posts:
beatingwings · 05/06/2014 07:54

writer- I have turned down many invitations because my baby wasn't invited and I was breastfeeding.
I have my own views on child free weddings ( especially a breastfed baby) but that's another thread.

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 05/06/2014 08:04

Let's start it beatingwings Grin

My husband is not impressed that DS is not allowed. We are completely accepting of child-free weddings if that's the B&G's choice as we understand that paying out for children's meals only adds to the costs and having them take up seats can be detrimental to the guest list when it comes to numbers etc - but when it's a baby? How does that affect their costs and numbers?

They said my DS is allowed into the church for the Ceremony but can't come to the meal or the evening reception.

These are very good friends of my DH so he is a bit annoyed that effectively they are saying his wife and baby aren't welcome.

OP posts:
beatingwings · 05/06/2014 08:32

Yew writer- the thing is if a friend is insensitive enough not to invite my baby despite the fact they know I am breastfeeding then there would be a massive wedge within our friendship and possibly enough to terminate it.

Lostinspace1 · 05/06/2014 08:44

I wanted to EBF but his weight tailed off in the early weeks (around 6 weeks) so I introduced a bottle.

This was kind of fortunate as I had no idea in advance that I would feel shy BF-ing in public. It's not for me.

So it's a love/hate thing.

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 05/06/2014 08:51

beatingwings - my DH is thinking about saying so thing to them but I've told him not to bother. They probably don't understand why I can't just leave him with someone else and send some bottles with him.

lostinspace - it's taken me a while to get my confidence about BF'ing on public. When DS was young and we had loads of visitors I used to force myself to feed in front of them because I knew if I put it off I'd never do it. I have also breast fed in front of all my family and my BF support group. However, last week I was forced to BF in public for the first time as I was in the doctor's surgery and they were running really late - DS was screaming and screaming and although the waiting room was really full and I had people sitting on either side of me I just had to bite the bullet! It was the attachment that made me nervous about doing it as that's when the breast and nipple were on show but once the feeding started and I was pretty much covered I was able to relax Smile

OP posts:
OrangeMochaFrappucino · 05/06/2014 09:00

Didn't want to give DS1 a bottle - quite honestly, I didn't want anyone else to feed him. I would never have left him, breastfeeding or not, because I didn't want to be apart from him either. However, financial circumstances compelled me back to work when he was six months and although he took to solids well, he utterly refused expressed milk in a bottle or cup and would only drink from the breast. He was fine not drinking through the day as it turned out but it was a very stressful time!

DS2 - I know I will have to go back to work at 8 months and don't want a repeat so introduced a bottle of expressed milk at two weeks. Honestly though, this time I would have introduced it anyway - with the demands of a toddler as well, I really need the break and DS2 is still a relentlessly frequent feeder at 8 weeks. I don't have any of the reluctance and anxiety about leaving him this time - though I haven't left him with anyone yet. Really truly, I'd love to go to a wedding without my son's, have a few drinks and sleep a full night in a hotel! I love DS2 just as fiercely and passionately as DS1 but this time around, I value a bit of time to myself more than I did with DS.

Anyway, I don't have time to express moat days and his feeding schedule is so erratic and unpredictable that the occasional bottle I manage to produce often doesn't buy me much time anyway so I haven't found it a magical solution of any sort!

GinnelsandWhippets · 05/06/2014 09:01

DS1 had bottles of EBM from day 3 as he had jaundice and the drs wanted to see how much milk he was getting. I was very lucky my milk came in fast and in good supply! We just carried on giving him 1 bottle of EBM per day when we got home.
DS2 had 1 bottle per day from 3 weeks. We used formula with him though as I had less milk and expressing wasn't as easy as it had been with DS1.

With both I loved breastfeeding but couldn't bear the pressure of being their only source of food. I needed to be able to go out for a few hours or take a sleep knowing that DH could give them a bottle.

OrangeMochaFrappucino · 05/06/2014 09:03

Ooh, am so enraged by the rogue apostrophe in my post! I can't tell you how many times I was up feeding between 9 and 4.30 last night - to be quite honest, if I had some bottles now I'd hand him over to the milkman!

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 05/06/2014 09:05

jelly - "To be honest, I didn't want anyone else to feed him"

I actually think I'm suffering a little bit of this too Grin

What I really struggle to explain to people is that I simply don't want to be away from him. Like you said, even if he was bottle fed I would still want to be with him. Yesterday I had to take my cat to the Vet and I left DS with my grandparents at my house (he'd just had a feed) and although I wasn't even gone for 30 minutes it was just horrible.

OP posts:
Fullpleatherjacket · 05/06/2014 09:06

If you don't want to give a bottle, don't.

I didn't want to breastfeed so didn't.

Nobody else's business.

MrsAtticus · 05/06/2014 09:10

I was a bit like you OP, couldn't really see the point in a bottle, as didn't need to leave DS and seemed easier to BF. He never had a bottle and it was one less thing to wean him off! When he started having cows milk he had it in a sippy cup.

OrangeMochaFrappucino · 05/06/2014 09:10

Yep, I was just the same - I only left him 20 minutes for a smear test at four months, other than that I was with him 24/7 for the first six months.

I can't explain why I don't have that feeling with DS2 even though I love him just as much. Perhaps because I'm more tired, perhaps because secretly I didn't trust anyone to look after DS1 :) I don't think there is anything wrong with simply wanting to be with your baby though. If you have no need for bottles, why bother with the faff?

LittleBearPad · 05/06/2014 09:13

In the first week as DD would absolutely not latch on and just screamed at me. Three midwives and a feeding counsellor later and I was told to give her bottles.

As for the wedding how old will he be?

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 05/06/2014 09:15

He will have just turned 6 months littlebear Smile

OP posts:
Mintyy · 05/06/2014 09:17

It was perfectly simple: I wanted someone else to feed my babies occasionally. I breastfed dd for 12 months, ds for 10 months. But I did enjoy my occasional nights out or days out with dh leaving the baby with my step mother. I couldn't have done that if the babies wouldn't take a bottle. There is a window of opportunity to get them accepting of bottles and if you leave it too long then they tend to clamp their little mouths shut and refuse ime! Have a look at the 10,000 "help, I'm going back to work in 3 days and baby refuses to drink from a bottle" threads in the archives.

Original poster
Writerwannabe83 · 05/06/2014 09:22

What is the age of the Window of Opportunity?

I'm not going back to work until he is 12 months so won't have the issue you described but I am interested in the Window as I haven't heard of it before.

OP posts:
IShallCallYouSquishy · 05/06/2014 09:22

With DD I gave a bottle of EBM (when she eventually accepted it Hmm) so I could have some me time. Eg get my roots done for first time in 6 months etc...
Haven't yet with DS (15weeks) as no time to express and it's my preference to not give formula.

beatingwings · 05/06/2014 09:23

writer- nothing wrong with feeling like that, I wasn't away from my kids for the first three years of their lives.

I joined La Leche League, lots of local groups, have a parenting style that I felt comfortable with, lots of lovely likeminded women, many are still my good friends many years later.

bonkersLFDT20 · 05/06/2014 09:28

DS1 I expressed milk for bottles while I was at work.
DS2 I went back to work later and he did OK with me going over to see him at lunch time (lovely on-site nursery), so I didn't use bottles at all.

Pusspuss1 · 05/06/2014 09:31

I didn't - it's not compulsory, but we live in a formula feeding society, so people expect it. I found expressing for a bottle a real hassle compared to just feeding on demand, even with a good pump. I say if you're happy with what you're doing, stick with it. Sounds like you're doing a great job.