trying bottle while breast feeding

[AnnaRoberts]

hi, my daughter is 5 months old and I have to go back to work. I am not sure whether I should continue feeding her with breast milk or formula milk when I am away (5 hours/5 days a week). Could she get a taste for formula milk and get put off the breast milk? Would greatly appreciate any advice. Anna

She won't prefer formula, it isn't nice tasting and breastmilk is very nice. The only thing she could get used to is how easy bottles are. If you can express milk that would be better for her and your work has to provide a place and breaks for you to do it.

It's possible she will reverse cycle, this means she won't ask for milk during the day and make up for it when you get home. Also she's going to start wanting to eat soon so that may keep her going through the day.

My LO took formula and BM just the same when I was combination feeding - never showed a preference for either just drank his milk! I used to find it pretty insulting after spending hours expressing! All baby's are different. She might start to prefer bottles though as they can be less work for them so you might have to bear that in mind - again all baby's are different.

Hello - thank you so much for your comments they are very useful. I wonder whether there is any prescription on how to avoid losing breast feeding to bottle feeding ( I did with my first child hence anxiety). I guess I just give one bottle a day when I am away and therefrom persevere with breast feeding no matter how strong the pleas for the bottle are... ;)
Anna