Getting baby used to bottle while BF

[lumpasmelly]

My DD is almost six weeks old and I am exclusively breastfeeding (which is going really well) - however I do want her to be able to take a bottle if required. I expressed some milk yesterday and DH gave it to her at her late evening feed - she took it really well which was a relief but I just want to known how frequently I need to do this to ensure that she keeps accepting a bottle. Do I need to do it every day or can I get away with doing it every few days? ....I have two other DCs so expressing is a bit of a hassle and I don't want to start messing with formula at the moment...I've heard stories about how some BF babies refuse the bottles when weaned to formula at six months and I really want to avoid this!! (I plan to BF for six months if I can). What are other people's experiences and advice?

BTW I'm not anti formula, but with my last two DCs it was a slippery slope and really impacted my milk supply so keen to avoid for as long as possible!

I gave my DD1 a bottle of EBM once a wk from 6 wks to 6mths when she switched to formula without any problems. DD2 didn't have a bottle at all until 6mths when I needed to introduce it to go back to work. She wasn't keen but took it when hungry enough! It was definitely harder to get DD2 onto a bottle but I couldn't get into a routine of expressing before 6 mths. If u can put up with expressing I would definitley keep at it. Hope this helps.

hello my dd was bf but I would occasionally give her a bottle in the evening (sometimes expressed sometimes not!) and she always accepted a bottle and breast until she was 11 months and then only wanted the bottle!!

In my experience once or twice a week with a bottle feed would prob be enough to get her used to it and stop her rejecting them later - iyswim?!

Haven't really considered cups as both my other DCs got on really well with bottles and switched to beakers fairly early so never caused problems...

Very relieved to hear that once a week should do the trick! Expressing is really dificult for me and I never seem to be able to get much out despite pumping for ages!!!!

Thank you for your input!!