I'm about to have our 2nd child in a couple of weeks and was just curious about what other moms do. How long after you had your child did you begin pumping? How long after your child was born did you introduce the bottle? My pediatrician said to start introducing the bottle after a week or two so baby will be flexible enough to take it but all the info I've ever read has said to wait 6 weeks as to avoid nipple confusion. It's very important to me to nurse. With our first child we introduced the bottle via dad at 6 weeks and she HATED it and it took about a month for her to stop screaming when he tried to feed her. Now, some of that was due to the fact that he was feeding her when he got home from work at unhappy hour but we did everything else right. I never gave her the bottle, I left the house, all that. We got through it and she was a good nurser and finally did great with the bottle. It just took a long time. Just hoping for a better experience this time so I'm curious about what other moms have done.
I introduced the bottle after about 2 weeks. I started pumping after about a week or so, so I could have milk for bottles.
Dont worry and hope for the best. I think some kids just take better to the bottle than others. This second baby my be jazzed to drink out of the bottle!
K.:
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Each and every W. is different as is each and every baby is different.
I pumped the day my both my sons were born. They were both Preemies and NICU babies so I couldn't handle them...I pumped. I pumped after every feeding as well. Greg was breast fed exclusively until he was 6 months old. Nicky was 3 months. Greg nursed until he was 27 months old. Nicky self-weaned at one year. Went to nurse him the morning he turned one - flat out refused the breast and NEVER went back.
My daughter? I used formula. I was young.
You need to do what works for you and your family. There are mom's on here who devoutly believe that pumping does NOTHING and doesn't help. Then you have other mothers who believe the exact opposite...so you need to do what works for you. Try pumping after each feeding and see how much more milk you get out. For me? it helped keep my milk supply up. but this is what it did for ME. Will it be the same for you? I don't know.
My boys got bottles from the beginning since they were in the NICU but they did NOT get formula - EVER. My kids NEVER had nipple/bottle confusion.
1st baby- nursed/pumped for 3 months, then I got sick and couldn't proceed.
2nd baby- exact same situation; apparently that's my body's way of telling me 'enough!!'
3rd baby- oh my GOD, biggest struggle EVER. My milk didn't come in right away, as it had with the first two... cried my way through formula supplementing the first 2 WEEKS.... then nursed and pumped for 6 months, until I became deathly ill (again, my body was DONE)...
Bottles are not evil. I'm a HUGE advocate for breastfeeding, but I will say, do what your mind, body, and baby are telling you. Whether you exclusively breastfeed or your new baby decides bottle is best for him/her... go with it, save your sanity. Don't lose hope, get in touch with lactation consultants and mom's who have been there... but bottles are not evil :)
Happy baby, happy mommy!! Congrats and good luck :)
I nursed for about 16 months, both children. The first had 2-3 bottles, when he was about 4 months old, he also hated it. The second I think had about the same as well.. except his first day and a half he was in the hospital he was only given bottles b/c he was in the NICU for heart evaluation and tests and I was not allowed to nurse. He was a great nurser, never had nipple confusion.
I have actually heard that introducing the bottle very early, and doing that along with breast can help with nipple confusion.
With my first, after a traumatic cesarean birth, I started pumping about end of 1st month and I was forced to return to work when she was 6 months. She would refuse bottles of breastmilk or formula.. so I gladly went to the daycare at my lunch time to feed her. She NEVER took to a bottle successfully exclusively breastfed until 9 months (as a single Mother, working full time and school part time) and allowed her to self wean (4.5 y/o).
Baby #2 went straight to NICU... didn't even get to hold him until day 2. Started pumping 12 hours after the birth and for the first 10 days since he refused anything by mouth. Now he's a champion nurser at 5 months, had no issues with him nursing once he started and he HATES bottles. I can see him being another one to refuse anything until Mommy comes home and that's fine with me - he won't starve.
Unless you are returning to work, I'd start pumping by the end of the 1st month and just stockpile it in the freezer for emergencies only. Breastfeed only, on demand.
I pumped in the hospital and gave my kids a bottle the day I came home. I figured if that was the schedule we wanted to have, then I wanted to start it right away. That was with the first 2 kids - they took pacifiers too and never had nipple confusion. Also, doing it this way, I was even able to feed them a bottle if I wanted to. (With the second 2 I don't remember b/c we weren't planning on giving them bottles regularly, so I didn't fuss about it.)
Kid #1 I combined bf'ing and bottle feeding (formula) right away. Big mistake, at 6 weeks, stopped nursing due to not enough milk production.
Kid #2 I bf solely for the first month then combined bottle feeding with formula and bf'ing through 6 months, and then stopped nursing at 6 months.
Kid #3 has never had formula. We breastfeed exclusively. I started pumping at a month, and he had his first bottle then around 1 month of age. He will take a bottle if we have a sitter or I go out. He's 9 months old now, he's probably had a total of about 10 bottles ever.
I started pumping at about 4 weeks, and introduced the bottle at the same time.
Every kid is different. I think a lot depends on the personality of the child. With my older son we introduced the bottle at 2 weeks exactly and he took a bottle just fine no problems, from someone else though not me but that was OK. He was an average nurser but he wasn't a huge eater from the start. I started pumping on day 6 or 7 with him. With my daughter, she was a surprise/shock, my new pump parts didn't come in the mail so I didn't start pumping regularly til about week 4 but I manually pumped once and gave her a bottle around week 2 which dh gave her and she did fine with. Didn't giver her a bottle again til around week 4 (formula) when we went out and she took that just fine. She was a great nurser from day one, always wanting to eat. I went back to work at 9 weeks and she got a bottle ever since from Daddy during the day and she is fine with it. But that being said, 2 weeks is probably the ideal time and to keep offering it. We kinda were playing with fire with my dd by not offering the bottle more after the 1st one but luckily she was fine. Good luck.
After breastfeeding twins and working full-time, there were a few things I did differently with my daughter. I was told not to start pumping for about a month, however I didn't listen. Once my milk came in, I would pump for relief and get a ton of milk out. Then, at about two weeks I started pumping every morning right after my daughter would nurse. I knew I'd be going back to work and wanted to have a good store going. By doing this, I had 150 oz in the freezer by the time she was three months old.
As for the bottle, I had to take a graduate class when she was only two weeks old, so she had bottles of milk right away. There was no nipple confusion, however, she still refused the bottle when I returned to work. I thought we'd be in the clear since she had it so early, but it didn't work.
Good luck to you!
Every baby is different so there is no "right" answer. I think 6 weeks is too long. A week is ok IF the baby is nursing good. The more difficulty you're having with the nursing relationship the longer you should wait to introduce the bottle.
With Isaac I had his Grandpa (who's a PRO at getting breast babies to take a bottle!) give him his first one at two weeks, which is also when I started pumping and building the freezer stash
I think DD was something like 6 or 8 weeks old.
Kellymom.com has great info.
I would do it no later than between 3 and 4 weeks. And be sure to give her a bottle often. I'd pump and have hubby give my son one a day to have some one-on-one time. On another note, I'd stock up on extra milk for emergencies. Had appendicitis when my second was 10 weeks and the extra milk storage was a lifesaver! Good luck!
i never did a bottle and I never pumped. Well she got formula like 3 or 4 times. My husband bonded in other ways. I waited along time to have another child and was happy to roll through the season as a stay at home mom who nursed.
I am also happy to be in the season where my body is my own again
Hello,
We, too, researched it and introduced the bottle at 6 weeks to no avail. We tried every bottle/nipple combo there was and our daughter refused all of them. She much preferred good ole mom. Since I went back to work when she was 4 months old (and pre-baby food), what this meant for me was that from 5:30 p.m. until the next morning, I was a milk station. Literally! :) I was determined to make it work, though, and I did. But baby moved into our bed at 6 months old (previously she was in a pack n play in our bedroom) and the all-night marathon nursing began. I don't mean to discourage you by any means; I guess what I'm saying is that each baby is different and there are no set rules as far as whether they'll be successful bottle drinkers or not. Best of luck to you!
I introduced the bottle on day 4 because with 3 kids I just didn't have the ability to be a 24 hour buffet. She was perfectly find switching between the breast and the bottle. She is also a very flexible baby so personality may have something to do with it. I offered a bottle to my son at day 2 and on day 5 he rejected the breast completely. He was a big eater and decided he could get more, more quickly with the bottle. So depends on the child. Get some nipples that are similar to your nipples for best success. We also gave our baby a binky from day 1 and it never caused any problems.
We waited too long with my first as well. I think this time around I gave my 5mo old a bottle when he was 3 weeks- I think i started pumping around then too. By then we had established a good nursing routine. He took it like a champ and then had no problem nursing again after. Now we give him a bottle about 3-4 times a week just to keep him used to it. He does both happily.
My daughter introduced the bottle the first week because she didn't have enough milk at first. My granddaughter has been nursing both ways ever since. No nipple confusion.
She waited to introduce the bottle with her first and that baby didn't like the bottle. My daughter eventually quit nursing and gave only the bottle because, in part, of the difficulty getting her to take the bottle.
