Breast and formula milk

[jadebryce]

How do I introduce bottle feeding to a baby and when, I'm hoping to be able to do both breast and bottle, I know I am better to start with breast, but how do I then introduce formula milk for a mixed diet of both, FTM

If I were you I'd not plan this too much. Breastfeeding is better for baby so why plan on adding formula by choice? Breastfeeding can be so difficult at the beginning, so many women don't get the support needed to continue and they switch to formula. IME few do it by choice. I wanted to express so my dh could feed as well as me but it didn't work out like that. I struggled to breastfeed and when it was finally pain free and weight gain was ok there was no way I was going to choose to give a bottle of even expressed milk. I wanted dd to be latched on as much as possible. Once breastfeeding is established it's so easy to just leave the house without having to worry about bottles being sterile etc. My advice is to take it one day at a time and see how you feel

I first got my little boy used to taking expressed breast milk from a bottle for a few weeks then just swapped out breast milk for formula in a few of the feeds each day. He never had any issues, took the formula milk like a champ. Have now moved onto just formula feeding and he’s thriving. I think it’s something you just have to have a go at, no hard and fast rules, just a bit of trial and error, see what works best for you both. Good luck

Mine refused to take a bottle, no matter how hard we tried.

Personally, I'd introduce one bottle a day from 2 weeks. And I'd use formula rather than bother expressing. But be aware it may well affect your supply and baby may prefer how easy a bottle is and refuse to breastfeed. Or they may refuse a bottle.

I know a few who did both but unfortunately the baby learns to latch to a bottle quicker than breast as it’s easier for them to learn, which can make for some extremely painful breastfeeding, even with the closer to nipple bottles.
I’d just stick to breast if possible

We did absolutely everything right - breastfeeding established brilliantly so we introduced a bottle in the first two weeks. Once DD was six weeks old she flatly refused to take it and didn't take a bottle again. We managed to introduce a cup after six months.

Some babies just won't take a bottle!

Trail and error- no matter what our baby didn't want BF and thrived off formula with no health issues what so ever. As people said sometimes they will take bottles easier and not go back but depending on circumstances that's ok for you.

Good luck.

Last time we wanted to introduce bottles at 4 months as I was going back to work at 6. When I asked HV she advised that the best time to introduce is at 4 weeks! At 4 months it was a struggle as DS was so used to BF with me but I just had to go out for an hour and leave them to it. Over time it got easier.

As this time we know I'll be going back to work (at 5 months) we'll be starting at 4 weeks, once or twice a day to start with and ideally with expressed milk. I'm hoping that will be soon enough for baby to bond with DH and be used to bottles as a normal thing.

I have heard that if you take a break from the mixed feeding though that it can be hard to go back to so we'll keep it up even when we go on holiday even though I thought it would be more convenient to just BF on holiday.

Oh and last time I found it fine to express when I was at home and it was only for a couple of bottles a day but couldn't keep this up when I went back to work (presumably due to being a different environment and needing to express more rather than work not being supportive). DS switched from expressed to formula with no fuss at all. He was starting on solids too though at that point.

And I was still able to BF in the evenings and at night.

I think DS had a bottle of formula at night, pretty much every night from 8 weeks onwards. I wouldn’t wait too long