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@mamadopt: I'm so glad to hear this, I want LO to be happy to take a bottle when I'm not around, and I was hoping to start asap.

if i had no problems breastfeeding, i'd still introduce the bottle right away. nipple confusion does exist for some babies, but i know many more moms that have problems with baby rejecting the bottle than the other way around. in fact... olive still fights her bottles every day even though she's had bottles pretty much every day of her life!

if i were you, i would introduce it now.

What many people term nipple confusion is better termed nipple preference. If you make bottle milk really easy to get by using a fast flow nipple, then the baby may prefer that because they don't have to work so hard to get it.

I think lactation consultants really try to scare us into not using binkies, bottles etc. In talking to many of them at work, I get the sense that the overriding consideration is to not lose anyone to bottlefeeding because breast is best. So hardline stances are easier to promote and understand for most folks.

I do the same thing in peds when I telll parent
s not to cosleep. There are a ton of caveats to tha
t, but the AAP recommendation is "no cosleeping" so that people are the safest possible.... But if you really drill down in the data, some cosleeping can be protective.

Ultimately you have to do what's best for you, but in my experience I've seen maybe two babies with true problems switching from bottle to breast and both of them had physiologic reasons for the issue. Anyway. Good luck. I hope you find hat it goes smoothly. Sorry for any iPhone typos.

I started pumping when LO was about 3 weeks old. It took a little it to gain anything substantial. I would feed one side and pump the other. This really helped boost my supply.
We didn't introduce a bottle until LO was 6 weeks. She had no issues taking a bottle. Only my husband gives her the bottle though...I never did. I wanted her to associate me with the breast not the bottle. Now I has given a bottle while out (LO is now 4 months)

We waited until about a month with both bottle and paci. He had no issues with either.

Within the first week, I also saw no nipple confusion or preference with my LO. I think it is a lactation consultant scare tactic as other PPs have said.

I plan on introducing 1 bottle every day or 2 right away. Although I have a year mat leave, I don't want to be stuck in a position where my baby refuses to take a bottle. I work in NICU, and most of the babies end up getting a bottle, and as long as the mom does her work pumping to establish supply, the transition to breastfeeding goes perfectly well 97% of the time.