[Tilly007]

I personally wouldn't do it.

Lucky2 is spot on with her advice.

Once you introduce a bottle there is a good chance you will need to keep bottle feeding at that feed.

My DS cluster fed each evening until 12 weeks or so. It was very tiring but one day he just stopped doing it and we are still BFing at 11 months.

I know a lot of people who started giving a bottle at the evening feed and this was the beginning of the end of the BFing relationship.

[katevin]

My little girl has had the occasional bottle of EBM (sometimes daily in the very early days) and I'm still breastfeeding her successfully now. And I plan to continue until she is at least 12 months old.
I needed DH to give her that 1 bottle a day for my sanity, I suffered from PND and sleep deprivation makes everything so much worse for me.

I haven't found it to effect my breastfeeding relationship at all, and I'm not sure I would've been able to continue breastfeeding without giving that bottle of EBM. So I agree with Hoggle, it definitely can work OP. It may not be the ideal situation but it doesn't mean that your breastfeeding days are definitely numbered.

[doctorseuss]

I didn't have a great supply with DD1 and would give her a bottle of EBM in the evenings after a feed, and she would take it all. It was only for a few weeks and then we dropped it. It would allow her to rest for an hour before needing more BF. I BF until 15 months so it wasn't the beginning of the end. I did however have an ulterior motive - I was going back to work early and wanted her to take bottles.

The other DDs were unsettled in the evenings but extra milk wasn't / isn't the answer for them. I think lucky2 is right in most cases.

This post has been edited by doctorseuss: 10/03/2012, 09:13 PM

[lucky 2]

I know that giving bottles to a bfed baby can be valuable in some situations and that it doesn't necessarily lead to early weaning as many members will attest to here.
All situations are different but I doubt I will ever feel the desire or need to promote this approach in general to new mothers, especially if it is a situation of a healthy and thriving baby who is displaying normal newborn behaviour which includes cluster feeding and general fussiness (this may or may not be your situation OP).
I would, in general, prefer to see if that particular woman/family could be supported in the challenges of early parenting to allow the baby to remain exclusively breast fed, if this is the expressed desire of the mother.

[Bek+3]

I personally wouldn't do it.

Lucky2 is spot on with her advice.

Yep.

6 weeks is the classic growth spurt and it's this time pretty much bang on so many mums stop breastfeeding because people either think they have no milk and quit, or try and twig certain aspects to get through it which sets things spiraling into a series of knock on effects.

Personally, I'd just try my best to ride it out.

[JAPN2]

Op - I did this with number 2. I would cluster feed until I could stand the crying and fussing no more and would give her a bottle.

Normal baby behaviour can be pretty hard to deal with especially when you have another child.

I tried a lot to help my supply by the arvo but it does tend to drop.

It helped with our overall plan of BFing her.

[steffijade81]

Hi OP

Congratulations on BF and persisting, its a hard road at times.

Something I found helpful was to have some expressed milk and using a syringe (if I felt I wasnt letting down quick enough) just squirting it in the side of bubs mouth slowly while your breastfeeding. Your pharmacy should have the big syringes. This was just needed at the beginning of the feed when bub was starving and then allowed a comfortable feed. It is a bit of a hassle but did help us and was recommended to me by a LC...

Otherwise try as a PP suggested and wear your baby in a sling... that way when bub is having an unsettled moment you can rock and pat them.

Hang in there, you wont regret it, your at the hardest part and it truly gets easier. I BF my daughter till 17mths and hated it in the beginning and in the end it was her that totally rejected my boob, Id gotten so used to feeding it was like second nature lol. Congrats to you for persisting as I said earlier

[Mummy-2-1boy]

Thanks everyone for your replies. For those who were confused, I am thinking about giving a bottle of expressed breast milk, not formula.

I am thinking about actually expressing whilst my husband gives that bottle so my supply doesn't drop, & offering breast first until she is too upset. I have no problem with fussing & unlimited feeding, but I just feel so bad for her cuz she gets so upset & end up a screaming mess but only because she wants to feed but seems to get frustrated. I am really loving bf her & don't want to stop anytime soon which is why I asked the question...


Has anyone introduced a bottle at this age & found it to compromise breastfeeding?

[Winterdanceparty]

Babies like to have "flow" and get agitated when it is not there. DON'T GIVE BOTTLES, but a syringe would be better or a little open cup and you could also try breast compressions, which is holding your breast with the thumb on the top and your hand underneath, fairly close to the areola and just squeeze gently and the baby will get the milk a little quicker and then when she starts to get cranky again, swap to the other side and do the same thing. There is always milk being made and there is always milk in your breasts. The jaw development of the baby is enhanced by breastfeeding and not bottle feeding, as it is a different technique and I am sure you will have seen my posts recently about Dr Jack Newman saying - "Even one bottle can hurt" and it is true. Some babies may take a bottle in the early days, but some babies take a liking to the bottle because they can get it much quicker and they like that. The breast needs to be suckled and stimulated to get to the milk, but please keep perservering, it will get better. At 6 weeks, you are still establishing your supply, so don't muck it up with bottles.

[katrina24]

OP, this is an area where you are going to get a range of different advice based on different peoples experiences and passions. Personally, I think that a bottle of EBM once a day will be fine. My first DD had a 'top up' of EBM at her bedtime feed for quite some time and it had no long term detriment to her BF. I also have many friends who did this. I am aware of how BF works and see the point of people who advise against it but in my personal experience it was a huge help. I BF from one side only so really need a bit of help with supply building in the early days - I expressed after each feed during the day and then gave as a top up in the evening. When DD went to bed I expressed for a while to help keep up supply. It worked for me. I can totally see that you could also solve the problem with continuous cluster feeding etc but I had another little toddler to play with and read stories to and my way worked better for me as it gave me some control. I am also dead against syringes - I know some people advocate them as an alternative to bottles for reasons of 'nipple confusion' but I don't think they are necessary in typical, healthy babies and if anything I believe they could cause harm if used incorrectly. Many thousands of babies have had a dummy, sucked their thumb or comp fed (with EBM or formula) and gone on to have a long and healthy BF relationship. Personally, I think it is more damaging to BF relationships to have wildly stressed mothers cluster feeding for hours on end then to have a bottle of EBM occassionally.