Why did you start introducing bottles?

[Writerwannabe83]

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.

whereisshe - I really wasn't being judgmental or trying to suggest you hadn't tried everything to give your baby a bottle. I didn't mean to come across like that, sorry.

With both of mine I introduced a bottle of ebm on the day my milk came in. Partly because I couldn't stand the feeling and pain of being so engorged, so I pumped off litres of the stuff. Thought I might as well use it so they had the odd bottle.
With DS1, he never slept so he had a bottle as his 'bedtime' feed and a bottle for a dream feed. I'd get a couple of hours and then get up to do the night feeds.
I didn't want DS2 to be a bottle refuser so that I could go out sometimes. He sleeps well, so he only has a bottle if I'm not there now (have only left him twice so far to go to the dentist).

I think the mysterious Window is a bit of a myth, or at least doesn't apply to all babies. DS1 had no truck with bottles until about 12 weeks, at which point I was in a tizzy because I had missed The Window. After that he would happily I think have drunk EBM out of an old sock as long as it was the right temperature.

DS2, on the other hand, took a couple of bottles early on (in The Window Within Which You Will Not Get A Bottle Refuser according to some) and then refused them point blank from 4 months. Ended up getting the hang of drinking EBM from a cup instead.

I introduced bottles first time round partly because I was going back to work at some stage, partly so I could have the odd night out (as it transpired, he almost never woke up when I was out so I chucked lots of carefully expressed and thawed breastmilk down the sink), but partly because it was something I felt I was "supposed" to do, and to be honest I stressed myself out about it more than I really needed to. I was a lot more laid back about it with DS2 and I'm actually pretty happy he mastered the cup so early on.

Well, I missed the window with my first baby, and after 10 months it was pretty claustrophobic to never be able to leave the house for more than 2 hrs without DS1.

I eventually weaned him to cup.

My second DS had a bottle a day from the beginning, just to give us some flexibility (like DH being able to do a night feed, or me going out and seeing a film)

Its just so personal - that we should just do what we want - but its amazing how people's comments get under your skin!
I gave a bottle in the second week - we needed to top up as DD wasn't gaining weight fast enough. Initially it was expressed breast milk, but on very hot days or days when I found it hard to express a decent enough quantity we would give a bit of formula. As she grew older we would maybe give her a bottle feed once or twice a week of expressed milk I'd stored up in the freezer and sometimes it meant she could be left with grandma a bit longer and I could get on with something. I think I was conscious of the phrase 'bottle refuser' and I liked the fact that it made it easier to know she could have an easy drink even if I wasn't around.

I introduced them because I was absolutely on my knees with exhaustion, calling DH home from work early because I couldn't cope. One night I picked my baby up and shook her. Only a tiny jolt really, but it was hideous and I felt awful. I developed PND because I was so tired.

If you don't feel the need to give a bottle then don't. Your baby, your rules. Does mean you won't get any time away particularly, but that might not be an issue for you. Everyone is different

Never. We tried a couple of times, she never took to it, so when she started nursery at 9 months she went straight to a beaker... (and she reverse cycled but that's a different story)

She did take a bottle twice if I recall correctly, on my KIT day when my husband stayed with her... but only after a bit of a struggle and she was older so she went longer without me... and with less milk

I don't see why anyone needs to feel defensive. Op was just asking a straightforward question.

The window is bollocks. Some babies just randomly decide that they aren't going to take a bottle. Often they took one happily the day before! It's just if you don't use one and then find your baby refuses you might think this is down to some mythical time where you have to introduce it or not.

It's really nothing you've done or not done! Some babies are just stubborn buggers

no Bertie, I really DID try

I was not a myth believer, it is just how it was for us.

Sorry I'm confused. What did I say you didn't try? I'm just saying that I think the special window of time people say you have to introduce a bottle to your baby isn't based on any kind of fact. Your first baby was a bottle refuser and your second wasn't. It was luck, not lack of exposure.