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I've never pumped an LO is three months old. It just seems like such a pain when my boobs are right here. What I have done, that you could consider, is use Milkies to catch the opposite side letdown. I can catch almost two ounces a day. I've built up a small freezer stash this way and DH has given her a few bottles. Enough to fulfill his desire to feed her, but without the hassle of pumping and then sterilizing.

I pretty much handle all the feedings. Pumping is a huge pain but sometimes we do have him give her a bottle. Mostly it's just easier to do it myself. But, I make him in charge of bath time and now that she will be starting solids soon, he'll be in charge of that as well. He loves being in charge of something

I do most of the feedings. The only time she gets a bottle is if I'm at work and she's at daycare or home with her Dad.

Some LCs will tell you that nipple confusion is a load of hooey!

We had a lot of BFing challenges for the first month where my LO didn't even latch on until he was a month old. My DH helped a ton with feedings during that time. Once we started EBFing, we went maybe 4-5 weeks without giving a bottle...which I totally regretted because getting my LO to take a bottle after that involved screaming, spitting and lots of wasted milk! But at around 10 weeks old, we started giving my LO a bottle of pumped milk at bedtime every night and that was the best decision we ever made because at that point, anyone could put him down for the night.

Yes, drinking from the tap (love that!) is easier, but you'll also be thankful that your LO will be able to take a bottle. I'd recommend you introduce one early and offer a bottle regularly.

the very early newborn days can be rough so i understand not wanting to add pumping to the mix. you can work it in when you feel more comfortable.

for us, i needed to start pumping around the 6-day mark because my milk had come in, but it wasn't flowing and LO lost 10% of his body weight pretty quickly. my lactation consultant told me to pump after every nursing session (i was allowed to skip one) to establish my milk supply, so i was pumping 6-8 times a day. we supplemented nursing sessions with bottled breast milk (and formula for about a week until my supply was up).

we never had any issues with nipple confusion. my pediatrician also said that no one had come to him saying that they were having problems with nipple confusion. looking back, it was a royal pain to be pumping and nursing so many times a day. the pros are that i'm used to pumping now, and LO is used to a bottle, which is great to get a break and because he will be going to daycare.

but to answer your question, i still do most of the feedings. nursing is faster and easier. however that will all change when LO goes to daycare!

I handle them all unless I have to go out if the house and leave LO home and will miss a feeding. Then DH will give a bottle and if I have time I'll pump when I get home to make up for the missed feeding.

It's just so much easier to feed LO from the boob without having to worry about prepping a bottle, is it enough, then I have to pump, clean it, etc. Oy. I'm pumping after he goes to bed to build a small stash for my return to work and that's enough of a hassle. DH gets plenty of bonding time though and has never requested to be able to feed him.

My LO is six months old, is EBF and has never taken a bottle.

If you do want DH to take over a feeding in the early days you'll still need to pump to keep your supply up otherwise your body won't get the message to keep producing milk. Biologically speaking babies aren't designed to be fed by Dad!

I think waiting till Baby is a couple of months old is a great idea as it gives you time to establish your supply and breastfeeding relationship, in the meantime Dads can bond in lots of other ways.

@edelweiss: @Sammyfab: I've heard it referred to as "nipple preference" which makes more sense, Baby gets used to the fast, easier flow and then doesn't want to work for their food at the breast.

ARe you going back to work? If so, I would strongly suggest against waiting that long to introduce a bottle since baby is much more likely to refuse the bottle than to refuse the breast!