Introducing a bottle?

Question

This may seem obvious to some, but...how do you successfully introduce a bottle?

My LO is almost 5 weeks old and I pumped last week to give breast milk to the baby when my nipples were sore or so that Dad could help feed from time to time. When Dad tried to give the bottle to baby he wasn't having anything to do with it. I imagine this is somewhat normal at first...

Do you have any tips on getting the baby to take the bottle? I must be missing something.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Even if you want to give a baby expressed breastmilk there are far better ways than a bottle.  A bottle causes negative suction which can cause ear infections, bottles can cause a baby to swallow excess air, cause tooth problems, and of course can interfere with breastfeeding.  Cup, paladai, syringe, and tube feeding have none of these drawbacks.

Alternative Feeding Methods

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alter...

There are a number of options for feeding baby when you are unable to directly breastfeed - a bottle is only one of them. If your baby is older than 4-6 months old, consider going straight to a cup. If your baby is less than 3-4 weeks old, it is best to avoid the use of a bottle for a couple of reasons:

    * regular use of a bottle instead of breastfeeding can interfere with mom's efforts to establish a good milk supply

    * bottle use also increases baby's risk of nipple confusion or flow preference

Following are some resources for alternative feeding methods.

Bottle | Cup, Dropper, Spoon | Finger Feeding | At Breast | Back to Breast | Older Babies

How to bottle-feed the breastfed baby

...tips for a breastfeeding supportive style of bottle feeding

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottl...

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/17feed_ba...

1. Babies must learn to take a bottle so that they can be fed when the mother is not there.

Not true. Some exclusively breastfed babies will not take a bottle by 2 or 3 months of age. Most, who have not taken a bottle, and even some who did accept a bottle in the first weeks of life will not take one by the time they are 4 or 5 months of age. This is no tragedy, and there is no reason to give a bottle early so that the baby knows how. If your baby is refusing to take a bottle, do not try to force him; you and he may become very frustrated and there is just no need to go through all this. If the baby is at least 6 months of age when you start back at outside work, the baby quite simply does not need to take a bottle. If he is even 4 months, he does not need to take a bottle. He can be fed liquids or solids off a spoon just as any other 6 month old and by 6 months of age he can be taking enough so that he will not be hungry during the day. Furthermore, he can start learning to drink from a cup even by 5 or 6 months of age. The cup can be an open cup and does not need to have a spout. Start with water as your baby may spill a fair amount at first. If, however, he has not got the hang of the cup by the time you must leave him, do not worry, he can take fluids off a spoon, or the solid foods can be mixed with more liquid (expressed milk, juice, water). Obviously, if the baby is to be taking a fair amount of a variety of foods by 6 months of age, he may need to be started on solids by 5 months of age. However, some babies prefer to wait for the mother in order to drink something. This is fine; many babies sleep 12 hours at night without drinking or eating at all.

2. But getting the baby to take a bottle surely won't hurt.

Not necessarily true. Some babies do fine with both. The occasional bottle, when breastfeeding is going well, will not hurt. But if the baby is getting several bottles a day on a regular basis, and, in addition, your milk supply decreases because the baby is nursing less, it is quite possible that the baby will start refusing the breast, even if he is older than 6 months of age.

Answer 2

I was told to wait until breastfeeding is well established (4-5 weeks )and to have daddy  / hubby or someone else give the bottle - not mommy which sound like exactly what you did. I also heard that babies might fuss at first - but this seems normal.  I just went through this and had my husband introduce the bottle at 5 weeks. My suggestions are to (1) keep trying (2) don't wait until baby is starving, but rather give to her before she's fussing. Also - I used Dr. Brown's glass 3.5 oz bottles if that helps.  

Answer 3

You need to leave the room while baby is being bottle fed by someone else, and make sure someone else is doing the bottle feeding at first.  Also, wait until baby is pretty hungry.  If it doesn't work right away, just keep trying and maybe play around with different bottles and nipples