Introducing bottle to newborn - need to get it right this time!

[Randomname85]

My little boy is 11 days old - I would like advice on how often I should give a bottle for him to ‘remember’ how to take it. My daughter is 3.5 and never took one - I couldn’t even go back to work when she was 1 as she hasn’t taken well to solids and was still feeding every 2 hours. I’m still feeding her now (which I love) but I have never really been able to have a break longer than a few hours - she was left for 4 nights while I was in hospital with the baby and that’s the longest ever. I would just really like it to be different this time.

My milk is very well established especially as I’m feeding my older daughter so I’ve already given him a bottle a few times. How often should I give him one to make sure he remembers? Pumping is a bit of a pain for me as I don’t get much so I’m not really able to give one every day.

Any tips welcome 🙌🏻

Bump!

My DS has had one bottle a day since birth. Same time every day to allow my supply to adjust to it. He's three months now and still has it, so hoping he continues to be fine with it. To be honest, I expressed for the 2-3 weeks but couldn't be bothered after that as like you I had to do it for ages to get much. He just gets formula now, as I feel like one bottle of formula a day from a month isn't going to have much impact on the overall health benefits of breastfeeding. So I guess it depends how important EBF is to you.

I only have my own experience to go by, but started giving my DS a bottle once a day at around 5-6 weeks old and he still takes both bottle and breast now (5 months old)

I think the advice is to wait until 6 weeks to give a bottle in case they start refusing breast, but I know a few mums who managed fine starting early on

Good luck!

I had to give both mine bottles as well as bf from just a few days old due to weight loss.
DS stopped having bottles at 3 months and then later he refused them. That was a mistake.
This time I started expressing with a Hakka type pump (I got the lansinoh because the lid was included in the price) when feeding and got as much I would with an electric pump and then save that and feed it later in a bottle. Unfortunately due to continued weight loss and suspected cmpa we’re now also using special formula but that’s a separate issue.
I’ve had no issues with nipple confusion and I gave dummies as well from a very early age. I have been alternating daytime feeds between breast and bottle and bf at night because I’m lazy. I’d give one bottle a day, preferably at a time you could be asleep