Introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby
Breastfeeding mothers are often actively discouraged from offering their baby a bottle at all. They are told by a large number of healthcare professionals, which include health visitors and midwives, that giving a baby a bottle (whether it is expressed breast milk or formula) will confuse their baby and put her off the idea of breastfeeding. This can scare mothers, particularly first-time ones, who really want to be able to breastfeed successfully. The unfortunate thing is they then refrain from offering a bottle for so long, that when they eventually do at the age of four, five, six months or in some cases even later, their baby understandably refuses to take one at all.
My recommendation is that a breastfed baby is offered a bottle of EBM on a daily basis from the age of two to three weeks. Once breastfeeding is established, which usually takes between 7–14 days, and the mother has a good milk supply, a breastfed baby will never prefer a bottle rather than the breast, and will certainly never go off the breast completely. I am not just assuming this, which is what a lot of people do when telling new mothers that their baby will probably go off the breast if they give them a bottle, I know this to be true for a fact!
I have worked with hundreds of babies, and every single one of them that has been breastfed solely from day one, as well as my own three children, have all been given at least one (but usually two) bottles of either EBM or formula from the age of 7–14 days old – and not one of them has gone off breastfeeding at all!
In fact, many babies will happily take the breast immediately after a full bottle-feed as a form of comfort, just because they enjoy the closeness with their mummy.
You will instinctively know when your baby is ‘established on the breast.’ She will be latching on well each time without too much fuss and taking regular feeds. Once you get to this point, which usually happens by the time they are around 14 days old, then you can introduce a bottle.
Introducing a bottle of expressed milk means daddy can get involved in feeding times and also older siblings!
For your baby to accept the bottle happily without any fuss or problems with the transition then it needs to be done by the age of four weeks at the latest. For every week you leave it after this age your baby is less likely to be interested in the idea of taking milk from anything other than the breast. If you are happy with this scenario and would like to continue solely breastfeeding your baby without ever getting her established on to a bottle, that is fine. This post has been written for mothers who may want or need to get their babies established on to a bottle to make things more practical and less of a strain when they need to go back to work. It’s also helpful to know that a baby will happily take a bottle of milk if you want to leave your baby with a family member or close friend for a period of time that involves feeding.
I have had calls from countless mothers whose babies have been completely breastfed from day one and never been offered a bottle. The mother then reaches the stage where they are almost completely tied to their baby, because the only form of milk she will accept is directly from the breast. This means she can never go out and leave her baby with a family member or close friend for more than a couple of hours at a time, as she needs to be available for feeding.
From a practical point of view it is good to get your baby used to a bottle from an early age if you are planning on going back to work after a period of maternity leave at home. For the majority of families today, it is necessary for both the mother and father to work, even if only part-time hours for one parent.
A lot of parents are lulled into a false sense of security over how easy it is to get a baby to take a bottle later on when it becomes a necessity that they need to take one, due to work commitments etc. Unfortunately it is never that easy and she may fight you tooth and nail and refuse to feed from it every step of the way if you leave it too late.
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This is fab advice. Im due my 2nd child in 2 wks and again will try to breastfeed. I did bf for a month with my 1st but was pushed not to give into a bottle. Hope it will be different this time and feel more confident.
Thank you for your comment Michelle. At least you will be going into having your second baby armed with the correct information 😉
From completing our own research by chatting with friends, looking on the internet etc. my husband and I did exactly what your article suggests. We introduced a bottle of expressed milk at 2 weeks 3 days with success and continued to give him a bottle or two a day. At 6 weeks, he now happily switches between bottle and breast no problem at all. I didn’t discuss my plans with the health visitor as suspected she may try to dissuade me. I think your article is spot on and wish I had also seen it whilst conducting my research earlier on. Many thanks.
I love your book and website Lisa, they’ve been a great guide for this first-time mum 🙂
We’ve just introduced a bottle to our 8-day old boy. I’m worried we’ve done this too soon, but he seems to be latching onto the breast fine still.
After his bottle at night he still has pretty much a full feed – around 20 mins at least. Is this normal?? I’m worried I’m over feeding him! It does mean he lasts until 3:30am (if not later), but I’m just worried he’s overdoing it.
Any advice you can offer would be great 🙂 x
I wish I’d seen this information sooner, my baby has been exclusively breast fed for almost 5 months and in order to have a little break now and again I tried to introduce the bottle, I’ve had a real fight on my hands getting him to take it but thankfully he will now. The only downside is that I had to stop breastfeeding as he wont do both (still giving him breast milk via a bottle). Really useful information to know as a first time mum.
Thank you for this information, I’ve been under the impression that I should wait for 4-6 weeks before introducing a bottle.
Are you able to advise how much milk a baby should be offered in a bottle feed. Is it the same amount as formula babies are advised to offer?
Thanks again.
What a wonderful piece of advice I BF exclusively and was def given poor advice by health care workers with regards to bottle feeding I think they called it nipple confusion. I was tied to my baby. She refused a bottle and it effected me in a very negative way.
Am sorry Lisa, but this is such bad advice and I am 100% certain that you will now have messed up breastfeeding for many mums (and babies). Have you done proper research into this with a control group? Just telling this and using your own experience, albeit with many babies as you say, is not good enough. It is coming across as though the trained professionals are giving “wrong” or “bad” advice. This is not so. They are EVIDENCE BASED advice.
Yes – I am a community midwife and I would certainly dissuade any mums from following your advice – I have helped thousands of mothers who are going through hell to get their baby fed the best and natural way….and your method will without doubt turn lots of mums to the “easy” option of giving bottles – firstly with EBM and then with formula – not only because it will seem to fill the baby up and help him sleep, but because it will seem nice for other family members to “help out with feeding” – and whilst this is happening, the breastmilk WILL dry up!!!!I have seen this a million times!!!! Then the mum will be even more distraught trying to get her milk back….
…and all for what??? Just to make it easier for the baby to take a bottle later? I don’t agree that this is a problem worth sacrificing breastfeeding for. Just continue to breastfeed – and when the baby is taking solids, they will be ready to drink from a beaker if you really must give anything other than what nature intended!
Also what about the risk of infection by introducing bottles? You surely know the stats regarding hospital admissions for gastro-enteritis for babies who are artificially fed??? Well suddenly you are putting all those very low risk naturally fed babies into the seriously higher risk group; and again – for just a little ease later?? I don’t support that at all!
Everything possible should be done to help mums with breastfeeding (unless they really don’t want to – and I’m sure I don’t need to list the reasons why….but this technique – although it may sound appealing to some mums and dads….is going to lead to a very sudden stop to breastfeeding in many if not most cases.
I always know – as soon as someone introduces a bottle when they are struggling with feeding – that it is the very slippery fast slope to full-on bottle feeding. My experience is supported by masses of research!!! So please don’t give advice regarding such an important issue without doing proper research. Things go viral so quickly and before you know it you have re-educated the UK…Europe…the World with the wrong information and caused a very dangerous trend….and all for nothing.
I really wish I had discovered Lisa’s book and advice much earlier. I followed midwives advice of not giving my baby a bottle until she was six weeks old…and we ended up in a right mess. It has been hard work and stressful getting her to take a bottle four months down the line. Now she will take a bottle of EBM a day, I do feel it’s much easier and I’m likely to breastfeed for longer as a result. I’m due back at work in a few months so my daughter has to take a bottle then. If we had left it much longer with trying a bottle, I think our option would have been to have gone cold turkey with the feeding- which I’m sure my baby would find upsetting.
As a first time mum, I do feel such poor advice given from midwives and the like is terrible and likely to have such a negative impact on women breastfeeding for long.
Please can I ask how you managed to get your baby to take the bottle? My baby is 4 months old, I have been trying most days but she does plays with it and spits it out!
Hi
I am a first time mum and have been EBF for 6.5 months
I wish I had know how hard it would be to get my baby to take a bottle – whether it be breast milk or powdered.
Do you have advise on how I can go about introducing it? I have tried a few bottles and a few times now and really need him to take one
Hi. If you email me I can give you advice on getting baby to take a bottle. X
It’s a shame that the correct info isn’t given to many mothers. That is exactly what spurred me to write my book!
You can’t say that!!! The correct advice IS given to Mums!! It’s yours that’s wrong!!
I have exclusively breastfed since my son was born, and now, at 6.5months I am desperate for a break, to be able to go out for the day, or even the evening, without him being attached to me.
I am angry that I was advised to avoid bottle feeding in the early days-this advise suited me because while I had an inckeling that it might be a good idea, I was also far too exhausted to even open the sterilising and expressing machine box, let alone read the instructions and actually find the time to do it.
So I’m now in a horrible situation where my son flatly refuses the bottle which is extremely distressing all round. And he isn’t fully weaned so won’t take a cup. And I need to go back to work! And maybe have a night out. The health visitor advice is bad, and I only wish I had read Lisa’s advice before now.
Any help in the meantime would be gratefully received. 🙁
Sue-you only need to read the comments on my blog and Facebook page to realise that my advice works and actually helps mums continue breastfeeding. I have worked with hundreds of mums over my 20 year childcare experience, so my advice is very much evidence based. I’ve also successfully breast fed my own 3 children while they have had bottles of ebm initially and then formula later on, in addition to the breast.
It doesn’t need to be breast OR bottle-that’s the whole point. As long as baby is already established on the breast and feeding well then giving a bottle of expressed milk or formula once a day does not affect milk supply-I KNOW this to be true from the hundreds of breastfeeding mums I work with.
Babies are always given the breast as the main option and always prefer it in my experience and will even take more from the breast AFTER a bottle feed.
I have mums coming to me via email every single day who are exclusively breastfeeding and didn’t introduce a bottle early enough and now their baby won’t take one. They are exhausted and not enjoying the experience anymore and very worried about going back to work, in some cases and how their baby will fare, as they wont drink from a cup or bottle by that point.
Parents need options and not be made to feel bad for introducing a bottle, so mum gets a rest in order to maintain her milk supply.
I have worked with countless mums who didn’t breastfeed for long with their first and then fed for 6 months plus with subsequent children after using my advice. Introducing a bottle helps take some pressure off mums and if done correctly, is NOT the beginning of the end of breastfeeding, which is what they are all scared into thinking!
I have answered your comments in another section on this page