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My good friend breastfed and did formula bottles with her daughter from birth and never had any issues. I think it depends on the baby.

Honestly, we planned to use bottles from the start even when I was pregnant and planning to breastfeed. I wanted DH to be able to feed her and I didn't want her to refuse bottles.

Ooo good question. I also want to know this. I just kind of assumed from the beginning I would start pumping asap to bring my supply up. One of my girlfriends said that a hospital pump is key for this. But I also have read that you shouldn't start bottles until your kid learns to eat, too. Conundrum. However, I don't really care if she eats from the bottle or from the breast. If it's breastmilk, that's just ideal to me.

@JoJoGirl: Nooo, generally, if you don't introduce a bottle fairly early then you'll have issues. It's a difference of feel/flow/etc.

@JoJoGirl: yeah she was the first one I had really heard had this issue. Not sure when is the best time to introduce the bottle. DH has already asked what is he suppose to do when I get up to feed in the middle of the night. He is like why do I need to get up, I can't do anything. I said you are going to bring her to me, change diapers and burp duty.

@JoJoGirl: I'm fairly sure you can pump from the start too. I was pumping when C was about 2 days old because we were having so many issues. I also have seen twin moms, preemie moms and moms with babies with tongue-tie pump from the beginning too.

In all of those cases, we are generally talking about moms who are exclusively pumping though.

@JoJoGirl: I would wait to introduce a bottle. I did start pumping part time due to a damaged nipple. But I wasn't pumping to build a supply.

Ideally, you would want to nurse 100% for the first few weeks (3-4 weeks). After that if you want to start pumping thats fine. After that if your DH wants to give one bottle per day thats probably going to be fine and a good nursing relationship will have been established.

My DH was great and still had lots of bonding in those early weeks. He didn't just do the diaper changes, he would rock her and hold her in between feedings. Yes babies sleep but sometimes they insist on being held! He read the happies baby on the block book and he was great at putting her in a swaddle, putting her on her side, and swaying and shooing her (he called it the Daddy shuffle). He was so much better at putter her down than I was!

Again, I just wanted to emphasis that nipple confusion is a REAL thing! If you introduce bottles too early (more than one per day), babies can become a lazy nurser or refuse the breast all together.

It all depends on how committed you are to breastfeeding. If you want to establish a good supply and a good nursing relationship, I would hold off on bottles for a few weeks, and even when introduced only do one per day.

It really depends on you, your baby, and you/your DH. I'll explain...

You: if you really love nursing and want that special, exclusive bond between you and your baby, there's no point in introducing a bottle and risking latch problems. I never loved nursing and I started to resent the baby for always needing ME for every meal so this was not me. I heard horror stories of moms having to leave the house for a weekend for their 1 year old baby to wean (after not sleeping for more than 3 hours at time for an entire year, both mommy and baby!) so I took the cautious route and introduced the bottle after 2 weeks. We did one bottle a day from the beginning. Eventually that changed to bottles for all night feedings. Wagon Sr. would feed while I got up and pumped. (You will both have to be awake because you'll have to pump anyway.)

Your baby: If you run into nipple confusion issues, you may want to stay away from bottles and pacifiers all together. Establishing breastfeeding can be really difficult for both mom and baby to learn and get used to, which is why LCs strongly oppose any kind of bottle introduction. (After all, most of their patients are people who are having trouble with breastfeeding!) Neither of my kids had nipple confusion issues. My stance on this is, just take the route you think you want to take and don't stress about problems until they arise. Then try to fix those problems before they get worse. Everyone is going to steer you away from bottles, pumping, formula... anything but exclusive breast. Go for it definitely, but know that these things exist to give moms a break and an alternative if something isn't working for them!!

You/Your DH: Even when I was exclusively nursing, Wagon Sr. still got up with me for every feeding. I wanted his support every minute and he wanted to be as involved as possible. He would get up to get the baby and change his diaper while I got ready to nurse, then he'd give me the baby and time the nursing for me (while he dozed next to us). Then one of us would rock the baby back to sleep. If you are trying to build up a supply (and if you are trying to avoid clogged ducts!) you will need to wake up and pump every few hours, so taking turns could work but most likely you will both need to get up for all night feedings until your milk supply is established and your boobs have adjusted... took me at least 4-5 months the first time around and 3 months the second.

I know this can be overwhelming... but it's good that you and your DH are starting to strategize early!!! Plans change, of course, but it's good to do as much research as possible and have these discussions now instead of at 4am with a screaming baby in the background

I agree that nipple confusion can be a real thing; however, there are ways to use a bottle that help support breastfeeding--i.e. make the feeding take as long as possible, sit the baby upright, etc. We gave LO a bottle at 1 wk old because I was having trouble breastfeeding and it didn't cause any issues with going back to the breast. Now, at 12 weeks, he isn't really a fan of the bottle because he hasn'tgotten many (but he will take it eventually).

Regarding taking turns, I thought that we would do that--switch off for the night shift. But if you're EBF, then TBH I don't really see how it makes sense...it's soooo much easier to nurse than it is to pump, and whenever baby gets a bottle, you'll have to pump at the same time to keep your supply up, at least in the beginning. So I don't really see how it gives you any extra sleep.

Also, re pumping in the beginning--you typically don't want to pump too much in the first 6-8 wks because that's when your supply is regulating. So if you're pumping a ton, your supply will regulate to where you have a ton of milk--aka an oversupply--not good. I wouldn't go into it thinking that you'll NEED to pump to help your supply--your milk supply will likely be just fine.

@mrs. wagon: I agree, you just need to decide what is your "Ideal Situation" and plan for that but be aware that there are lots of curve balls in parenting that take you away from your "plan".

Even at my most sleep deprived I woke when baby cried- and it's way easier to nurse than pump. My husband helps on weekends by bringing baby in, he dozes while I nurse him, then takes baby and re swaddles diapers if needed and then puts down and deals with any wakeup a before next feeding. I get more rest if not more sleep. We introduced a bottle at 2 weeks without issue and give one a week or so. He takes them and nurses fine.

During the first few days at home, we had to give DS formula because my supply hadn't come in...then it took a few days to fully come in. We also introduced a paci that week (unknowingly taking the risk).

Once my milk was fully in, it did take a day or two of frustrating nursing sessions to get him to latch back onto my boob. But, since then it's been wonderful. I even had to use a nipple shield for my left flat one and after a week, he hasn't needed it!

As far as pumping and having bottles ready, we started that right away at week 2/2.5 when my supply allowed it! Slowly started building a freezer stash (5 oz a day) and for bottles at nighttime when my mom would come stay with us to give me a night of sleep.

Dh doesn't do nighttime feedings right now, DS only wakes once or twice and it's easier for me to nurse him esp since I'm still on leave and dh is back at work. Sometimes when my mom is over she'll do the nighttime feeding. I wake up with engorged boobs, but I also don't pump any more than my am sessions on the days that I do nurse at nighttime...

So it's totally do-able to do a mix of nursing/bottle feeding. FYI, DS is 8 weeks tomorrow, so it's never TOO soon, I think it's a case by case scenario. DS does well with paci, bottle, and boob.

we were able to use bottles and breastfeed seamlessly right from day 1.

My breastmilk didn't come in until day 5. Baby was hungry and losing weight, so we supplemented with formula according to our doctor's orders. I worked on nursing and pumping during that time to get my supply going. Once my supply came in, we slowly eased off of the bottles. It really took a discussion and decision to say that we were going to trust my breastmilk for him. My husband feared that I couldn't produce enough for him. Some of that fear was correct because we were using the bottle, so less suck, less demand, less supply.

Once we went for it, my supply blossomed and I've been breastfeeding him since. When he started daycare, it took some time to adjust to the bottled breastmilk. Every morning and night, he gets an eager smile when he's about to feed with me. He loves the boobs.

I think it is possible, and some women produce more milk than others, so I really think it just depends on your baby, your body, and you will adjsut from there. I learned you can plan all you want but the baby will just laugh at you!

We have switched between bottle and breast since about day five. Babies are much more likely to refuse the bottle than to refuse the breast and we couldn't risk having a baby that wouldn't take a bottle since I'm going back to work. I also pumped right from the start to build a freezer stash (extremely frustrating because M has food intolerances so I'm now going to have to throw out everything I pumped and froze!)

I think you need to be open minded to the whole situation. I would have preferred not to introduce a bottle to either of my LOs for at least the suggested 4weeks. However both times it took my milk some time to come in so giving formula was a must for us. While there are ways to feed without using a bottle, such as syringe cup or finger, bottles worked best for us. We didn't experience any nipple confusion and I successfully BF DD for 14m and am going strong at 4.5m with DS.