Do any of you pump & feed baby by bottle? If so, at what age did you introduce the bottle? How did you encourage baby to take from the bottle (without gagging & choking)?

I would love to pump so DH can feed Kirsty her midnight feed so I could sleep a little longer. At the mo she is waking every 3 hours, feeding/bum change takes an hour, so I'm getting 2 hours sleep at a time. I had been fine up til last night

[**Jenn**]

We "had" to supplement with Liam--long story and I'm still bitter about it. But thankfully he never got nipple confusion and was just as happy to take a bottle as he was to nurse. He did prefer to nurse though and we started the supplementing when he was 3 days old and lasted til he was 5 months old.

I can count on one hand the amount of bottles Lochlann has taken--he was not a bottle fan and only took it if he absolutely had to. He was very picky about the temperature of the EBM in the bottle. We didn't introduce a bottle with him until he was at least 3 months old.

All the information I've had is to wait 12 weeks to make sure breastfeeding is established and to cut down on the possibility of nipple confusion. When we did supplement with Liam and give Lochy EBM in a bottle I used the preemie nipples so they would have to work harder than normal getting it out. If the flow is too fast then they will get too much at once and cough and gag.

I totally understand wanting to get some sleep and pass off a feeding to dh in the night but you're still going to have to get up and pump that feeding or your supply may drop some. I'd definitely hold off a couple more months--your supply will be better established as will your nursing relationship and who knows, by then she may be sleeping much longer at a time. But trust me, you do get used to less sleep and if you nap when she does you can make up some of it during the day.

I think it can be hard for Dads of BF babies to feel included but he can still bond and help out a lot. When the boys used to get up in the night Ian would change them so he was up and felt included. He also would bathe them and afterwards do a little infant massage with some lotion. That was great for bonding!

Yeah, I realised after I posted that I'd still have to pump that feed. So I guess I'm not gaining anything.

[**Jenn**]

I do know how exhausting it is. Its a huge reason why we cosleep, especially in the beginning. I couldn't do this when they were really little because my chest is on the smaller side but once they got to be a few months old I would just lift my shirt and let them nurse and we went back to sleep. You're still getting up but only for about a minute.

Its also the reason why we recently night weaned. I didn't want to have to do it but he was getting worse with waking--every hour and a half or so to snack--and I just couldn't do it anymore. After 17 1/2 months I was ready to have my sleep back!

Like I said, Liam had no problems switching from breast to bottle, he didn't care what he was fed just as long as he was fed. And keeping the nipple on the lowest possible flow for as long as I could helped--we started out with preemie and didn't switch over to stage 1 until he was maybe 4 months old, and hardly ever used stage 2 (only once in a while if Ian and I went out starting at probably around 7 months or so) since we were able to cut out the supplementing at 5 months or so. Generally babies prefer the bottle because it's less work to get the milk out but Liam still had to work for it with the low flow nipples. Lochlann is the one that wouldn't touch a bottle, no matter what flow the nipple was, unless it was a last resort. He's only had a bottle maybe 4 or 5 times. It all depends on the baby and unfortunately its not something you will know until you do it. I do hope you're able to get some sleep and figure out something that works for all of you!

[Frozendesire]

I'm trying to remember and I think Curtis was about 3 or 4 months old before we introduced pumped milk to him. He did just fine drinking from a bottle and didn't have much confusion, but he was lazier with his nursing session right after his bottle feed. He wouldn't open his mouth quite as much.. but it wasn't a big issue cause I just corrected his latch and he "remembered" kinda thing. After a few times he got to understand the difference.

I will be skipping the pumping stage and going right into formula ( I hated pumping haha and could never get anything out with it ). I think we'll introduce that in a month or so... depending.

You'll want to wait as long as possible so that your supply is established or else you'll just have to wake up and pump anyways.

[SandKmommy]

Seamus only had a bottle a couple times.

We got married when he was 6weeks old so he had pumped milk while we were gone for the night. And only 1-2other times of pumped milk. He wouldnt' take a bottle well(just like is issues with latching and why I had to use a nipple shield)

I went back to work at 6 weeks, so we tried a bottle for the first time around 3 weeks I believe. He took it pretty well, but practice makes perfect. It in no way interfered with BFing for us....he ALWAYS prefers the boob

[misfitinmn]

Breanna...though I went back to work at 12 weeks, we went to a wedding when Ben was about 2.5 weeks old and he had his first bottle then. Given the choice, he will always nurse better now, my daycare lady says sometimes he resists the bottle. For awhile though, he was sooooo fussy at bedtime, that he wouldn't nurse, AT ALL. So I had to give him expressed milk at that time and pump once he was asleep. Thankfully we worked that out!

Hugs to you, mama! It's SO hard to not get any sleep, but she'll get there!!

[Alison81]

I introduced Elsa to a bottle at 3 weeks, mostly because I hated BFing in public, and I wanted to start taking her out more and for longer periods of time. She did fine, no confusion at all. And yes, you will still have to pump to keep your supply up. Those sleepless nights are NOT easy, but it gets better. What helped me was sleeping in with her when she was taking her morning nap, and also napping with her. I got housework and laundry done at night when my family was home from work, and all wanted to spend time with her.

[ScottishBrit]

I think Cambria was 4 Months before she finally took It! I tried at 3 weeks and she gagged all the time. I felt bad. Thats another eason I couldn't go back to work. She wouldn't take a bottle from anyone. Which I thought was weird cause I used a sheild when I Nursed so I would think It wouldn't bug her. She wouldn't even take a Paci cause she'd gag on that too. Now she's fine though. The only time I give her the Boob is if she absoulutely wont take it and Ive tried everything to get her to sleep. I think she wants it more for comfort.

[Angelaosaurus-rex]

I just recently had to give Landen a bottle. He will take it but he does not like it and he lets you know lol!

Amy - Kirsty gags on the dummy too. Our health visitor suggested a dummy to try settling her thru the night when she wants to booby for comfort and not milk. But she just can't take to it either. And when she eventually might get the sucking action on the dummy, as soon as it falls out of her mouth she wakes crying cos she can't find it.

My gut instinct tells me she'd not get confused as she really loves booby, but if I still have to pump hen she feeds, I'm not benefiting form the expressing

[Resi]

DH introduced a bottle when Oliver was around 5 weeks old. We wanted to get him use to switching back and forth for when I went back to work. We never had any problems with it. If I'm home then Oliver only is breastfed and when I'm at work he is given a bottle with breastmilk in it.

[Mars]

I plan to introduce Amara to the bottle at 6 weeks. I'm actually going to order some storage containers today so that I can pump and store.

What I was wondering, can't you choose a time during the evening to pump and store the milk in the refrigerator for the late feed? I think I read that the milk can stay refrigerated for about 10 hours. All DH will need to do it to warm it for her when she wakes up. He'll just need to be up a few minutes before she wake to get it ready. Or how about keeping it in a warmer just before you take your nap? I'm not sure if this is recommending so if you were to do this, check to see if it is.

That was my original plan Mari, but seemingly say for example, she took the bottle feed at 2am, I technically should pump at 2am so my milk supply keeps up. I asked over on BFing and also some other girls have said the same thing in this topic too. So I'm really not gaining by pumping for a late feed. I'm going to try and keep going until at least 6 weeks, if she still is waking so frequently thru the night, I may reconsider. it's tough going being a mummy but wouldn't change it for the world!

[Mars]

Hmmm...I guess I have to really read up on pumping, etc before my storage bottles get here. I thought that if you got a routine going where you decided to pump at a particular time everyday (say 6pm) that you should still be able to maintain your schedule plus the additional time for pumping...that it may just take the boobs a day or 2 to get accustomed to the new time as well. Oh well, I have an electric pump so I may try pumping from one boob while she's feeding and see how that works. And yep, it's a tough job but totally worth it!!

I'm not sure, but the girls explained as if your body "thinks" your baby has dropped the feed which you're giving the pumped bottle at... unless you pump again at the same time. I guess perhaps if you use the bottle at that time every night and pump at other times, it'd work? Any comments from expert BFing mums?

[~Jess~]

Neither Ethan nor Alyssa would/will take a bottle.