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My neighbor started from the very beginning too.

Day one with both kids. No regrets. In fact olive still and always has hated bottles. I gave up after a long trip and just ebf at 10 months.

DS started when he was a few days old. It didn't cause any problems. There were a few times when he would nurse funny after I went back to work but I think it might have been more me reading into things and being paranoid about it because it would just be once in a while that it happened.

@oahujeni: there are a few webinars on how to help a baby who refuses the bottle!

http://www.isisparenting.com/page/webinarsbreastfeeding

my LO is a passive bottle refuser. meaning he will take it after lots and lots of coaxing but if left to his own devices would jsut reverse cycle on me!

We started around 3 weeks, just to give me a break, and we really only do a few a week, no more than 1 a day, slow flow nipple and only if I have to be gone somewhere for a few hours without LO.

There are bottle feeding techniques for breastfeeding babies that can help avoid issues. Mainly forcing them to latch on like with your breast and taking the whole nipple and base into their mouth instead of just nipple feeding.

http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

I would impress upon your DH - and make sure he spreads the word - that you have noticed the baby is confused and not feeding as well as he used to, and that breastfeeding is very important to you so you'd rather not anything interfere with that right now. Make sure he understands that if the baby doesn't feed from you as often in these first few weeks, it can affect your supply -- people don't realize this and they think they're helping, so you just need to educate.

If nothing else, make sure they're doing it right with information like the above. Good luck!

The recommendation is to wait to pump until 3+ weeks (given baby isn't a premie or you aren't soon returning to work) & to introduce a bottle between 4-6 weeks. This ensures enough time at the breast to build supply & to avoid any latch issues (nipple confusion) or other feeding issues (laziness at the breast).

Many moms introduce earlier just fine, but some end up with issues that compromise the breastfeeding relationship whether by supply or by latching/nursing issues.

Personally, we introduced pumping & a bottle at 5 weeks. I had oversupply issues so I tried to stay away from pumping so as not to cause other issues. If I had needed to build a stash for returning to work I would've started keeping my overflow earlier though. After P stayed at my moms a couple times we had issues with laziness at the breast due to HOW she was bottle fed & so we try to avoid it now OR are careful with technique.

Kellymom has some tips on bottle feeding the breastfed baby & at the bottom are other links about introducing the bottle, etc
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

My LO was given both a bottle and pacifier in the NICU before I was out of recovery to see her! Luckily, she had no nipple confusion and breastfeeds like a champ. We give her a bottle every few days to make sure she still takes and have had no problems.

My good friend started at 4 weeks and so far her baby has refused and she isn't sure what to do when her daughter begins daycare in a couple of weeks. She wishes she had started even earlier!

We gave her a bottle on day 5 of life. She has never had any issues going back and forth between breast and bottle. I knew I had to go back to work so I much as I was (and am!) committed to a breastfeeding relationship from my perspective I would have rather had her refuse the breast and have to go to exclusively pumping than have her refuse the bottle and be in real trouble when she started day care.

1 week with no resulting issues (and then we stopped and now he refuses bottles!) but I'm upset for you that your family kind of went behind your back like that. Whatever you decide to do make sure you and hubs are on the same page!

Day 1, my milk didn't come in and baby was fighting jaundice, so we got him on formula to supplement.

LO is EBF. She got her first bottle at 2.5 weeks and we've had no issues whatsoever. We also gave her a soothie paci at the hospital and that didn't effect BF.

Don't beat yourself up. Many babies get bottles and don't have any issues with breastfeeding.

If you don't want LO to get a bottle, you need to be very clear with your husband and ILs. Going behind your back is not being supportive, its causing you additional stress and that is not good for you or LO.

H got nipple confusion bc I didn't know to use slow-flow bottles and Homegirl got lazy! She didn't want to work for the boob when the bottle just dumped it in her mouth...That was during our jaundice nightmare when she was a couple of weeks old. The second time we had to temporarily put her on formula, I used the slow flow playtex dropins and she was fine...The nanny uses those now to feed her and there's been no nipple confusion. Just make sure it's always slow flow!

@shopaholic: oh I didn't know she was jaundiced! Glad her bilirubin went down:)

@shopaholic: How did I miss that K was here?!!? Congrats!!
It's easy to get stressed about the mipple confusion, and I'm sorry your family did that without your consent.
LO and I had major breastfeeding issues, and I was so sad to have to give her the bottle when she was a week old. My LC assured me that with the playtex drop ins, slow flow, and to position her sitting up that there wouldn't be any nipple confusion. She shared that in her experience in being an LC for many years, babies will always go back to the boob and she doesn't really believe in nipple confusion.
I had to bottle feed with pumped milk for a few weeks and would work in a few breastfeeding sessions until she was about 6-7 weeks. Time and craniosacral therapy helped her/us to get the hang of it, and she even went through a time when she refused the bottle. Now at 4 months and in daycare, she has no problem going back and forth. Worry not!