Will an occasional bottle affect my breastfeeding supply at 10 weeks?

[Ursulines]

Hello everyone,

I’m a first time Mum to a 10week old boy, and I’m exclusively breastfeeding. I’m wanting to introduce the occasional bottle so I have the opportunity to head back out to my gym classes. In the future I’d also like to have the odd evening out with friends. My husband would also very much like to give our son a bottle some nights so I can get a bit more sleep! My husband works shifts so this wouldn’t be a regular thing just every so often.

I’m happy to use formula, as I’m not too bothered about pumping, but I do have a pump I can use if needed. We also have some Lansinoh bottles with the correct teats - our health visitor checked and said they were fine.
I’m more concerned as to whether the occasional bottle will affect my supply at all,
and wondered if anyone had any experience/wisdom they could please share.

Thanks in advance (:

Do it! It will be great for you to have some freedom back and let Dad be involved.

I gave both my babies occassional bottles from earlier than ten weeks and I didn't have any issues with supply or nipple confusion and continued breastfeeding them both to 13 months (he gave up when he had a bad cold and couldn't breath whilst feeding) and 20 months (I was ready to stop). You get all sorts of fancy bottles to stop nipple confusion but I just used standard tommee tippee bottles with the slowest flow. I think it helped that both babies really loved milk and would take it in whatever way they could get it!

I combi fed my twins from birth to almost a year and never had any supply problems do it like pp said mine did not care either way as long
as they got milk!

Thank you all for replying - it’s really reassuring to know that your supply was never affected! I will be giving it a go (:

DC had a bottle last thing at night from 8 weeks on. I fed them to 16 months or so. It was absolutely fine.

No although you may initially find you get engorged and leak and need to express a bit over the sink so your own body is not a mess!

As long as you still do at least one feed between midnight and 6am (according to my midwife - so not certain this is correct!), your supply will be fine. I swapped the last feed before bed for a bottle of formula and then fed in the night and that worked great until my baby slept through reliably at 7 months. THEN my supply got a low lower, but as I was back at work, I didn't mind, and I stopped BFing at 8 months.

DD had a bottle ( of pre mixed formula) two or three times a wks from 2wks onwards.

No it’ll be fine, you might find that your boobs are uncomfortable if you miss a feed so you could use a pump to express if that’s the case. Lots of mums combi feed like this and it’s fine

All my NCT friends and myself did this from around 4 weeks in. No issues with supply at all, just pumped a bit if I felt too full! Go for it and take a break, breastfeeding is intense and a big demand at times. I loved that I could leave my little one with dad/grandparents, and I kept breastfeeding until my baby was nearly 18 months!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply (: I feel much better now!