Anyone breastfeed with the occasional bottle?

[ooosnedh]

I EBF my first and tried to introduce a bottle at 6 weeks (on the advice not to start sooner) but she point blank refused bottles so I gave up after numerous attempts.

My second is 10 days old and in an ideal world I'd like to BF the majority of the time but have the flexibility of him taking a bottle occasionally (if I went out/to have 1:1 time with my daughter at a group/for my husband to be able to do an occasional feed if I need to catch up on sleep etc).

I offered him a bottle day 4 and he took it well. How often should I offer a bottle (I don't want him to get a bottle preference) and how much formula would I give him? Should I offer a breastfeed first then the bottle? Any tips please!

My baby is 4 months and I have mixed fed since he was born. In the first few weeks he would have a couple of bottles early morning so I could have a stretch of sleep and was breastfed the rest of the time. He would also occasionally get a bottle if I went to my mums so I could get a break. Once he started sleeping well I breastfed him most of the time so he would go some days not having bottles but would have maybe 1 at weekends so I could get a lie in or if I went out somewhere. We are lucky he has taken a bottle right from the beginning.

With my second I introduced a bottle a day from about two weeks I think. She was dairy intolerant so I had to be dairy free - I introduced one bottle of dairy free formula a day from two weeks to give me some security that I could stop if I wanted. We continued like this for a year. No issues at all

I did with both of mine and it's useful, but be aware they often end up preferring the bottle and it can affect your milk supply. Both mine gradually ended up weaning themselves off the breast despite my efforts for it not to happen

I ebf with my first but was super keen to avoid bottle refusal so that I could occasionally leave him with other people. So I introduced a bottle at about 2 weeks and gave him a bottle of expressed milk at least once or twice a week after that for practice. I didn't do it every day as I could never keep up with the pumping, but just wanted to make sure he remembered how to do it. It worked the first time so I will try similar with my second.

I had to give a bottle on day 2 as my baby was super hungry and I didn't have enough colostrum. Since I combine both. I sometimes have to top up after breastfeeding as she falls asleep and doesn't eat enough. Mostly giving bottle at nights so my husband can feed her and its also much quicker (if I tried to breastfeed her at night I won't get any sleep at all). Really depends what's works for you and the baby best.

I breastfed mine, but I pumped first thing in the morning and she had that in a bottle as her night feed every night.

All went well and she breastfed up to me weaning her at 12 months.

With DC1 my midwife told me to ignore the recommendation to not give a bottle until baby is 6 weeks because it’s often too late and they’ll just refuse it, and to try at around 3 weeks instead. I did this and he took to a bottle fine but he unfortunately had a few boob strikes and bottle preference which ended breastfeeding for us earlier than I’d hoped. I’m currently pregnant with DC2 and really hoping to be able to breastfeed with the occasional bottle again but worried the same thing will happen. I used Tommee Tippee bottles last time and I’m thinking of using Mam ones this time around.

Look up paced bottle feeding in order to try and prevent bottle preference (essentially hold the bottle less upright, ensure baby pauses during a bottle feed, try and make the feed last 15 mins rather than let them chug it in 5 mins).

Essentially you want to try and mimic a breastfeed where baby has to work a bit to get the milk, as much as possible.

I introduced a bottle around 10 days but we did no more than 1 bottle every 24hrs so baby developed strong mouth and jaw muscles and kept preferring the breast.

My LO is 6 weeks old and is mixed fed both breast, expressed, and formula. She doesn't really have a preference for which one, she'll reach for breast but settles after bottle teat in her mouth. I think it'll be ok if you start different methods early as the baby can learn?

I was diagnosed during pregnancy for liver related issues so I need the sleep to maintain my health so we made the decision to mixed feed from day 1, combined with the fact I made little colostrum and she was starving, we happily accepted a formula bottle after breast to keep her fed at birth.