what age is the best age to introduce a bottle and still be able to bf

[pregnantbabyelephant]

id like to express my milk in the future so i can go on the odd night out
have the odd rest
and to also avoid our baby going mad when we switch to bottles when the time comes
[basically get baby used to taking a bottle]
have you done this?
did it work?
would you recommend it?
what age ?

I BF exclusively, but introduced a bottle at 6 weeks with expressed milk.
DD looked a little surprised but took it with no problem.
BFing was well established by then and the bottle didn't effect that at all.

At that point I was tired and I found expressing hard work so I took a break from it and only BF for a few weeks.
At 3 months I started expressing again. I found it much easier, but DD would no longer accept the bottle. It didn't matter what bottle was used or who offered it, she would not take it.

She refused everything except BFing until she was six months and I started offering her drinks of water which she accepted as part of her weaning. She still refused expressed BMilk.

I recommend introducing a bottle at 6 weeks and make sure that you keep offering it at least once every few days to keep it in favour.

DD wouldn't latch on for first few days so was on a bottle until day 6 or 7. Once she got the hang of BF she was quite happy switching between BF or bottles.

DS was exclusively BF for 6 months but I introduced a bottle of EBM at a few days old to give my sore boobs a break. He now has a bottle of EBM every 2 weeks or so & is fine on breast or bottle, although he definitely prefers BF.

So no nipple confusion or anything here... I think if you leave it too long you many find baby refuses the bottle... but they're all so different there's no real way of telling until you try!

I think it depends a lot on the baby. Ds had bottles of ebm at least 3 times a day for the first 6 weeks. I grew to hate expressing with a passion and avoided it after that unless I was going out. At one point he must have gone at least 3 months without a bottle but he's never had a problem taking it, although he'll snack from the breast if he's not really hungry but will just chew an artificial nipple.

I would hesitate to recommend expressing regularly as a way to get your dc used to bottles as it really is a faff. I believe it's considered best to wait until 6 weeks in any case.