Is It Possible For Breast Feeding Babies To Bottle Feed?

For mothers who are breast feeding, bottle feeding their babies expressed breast milk is sometimes necessary. Perhaps they will need to be away from their baby during a feeding time. It is a good idea after the first six weeks of breast feeding to introduce bottle feeding to the baby. This way, if mom is out of commission for some reason, the baby can still be fed. No mom would want her baby to starve because she was unable to nurse due to a health reason or something like that.

Finding A Bottle

There is no perfect breast feeding bottle. If you are going to introduce the bottle to a breast feeding baby, buy a couple of different nipple shapes and see which one the baby will take. Most babies prefer a nipple that resembles the breast in shape, but it is difficult to say which nipple the baby will take. Often babies will find on type of nipple that they prefer, but sometimes babies will not care. Do not spend too much money on bottles for a breast feeding infant, but do experiment until you find a shape that the baby will take.

Some breast feeding moms find bottle feeding their baby difficult. Even if the baby is receiving breast milk from the bottle, she may reject the bottle feed coming from mom. It seems that babies understand that mom has the breast feeding capability, and thus when mom is feeding them, they feel they should be breast-fed. If the breast feeding mom needs bottle feeding to be an option, she may want to get someone else to feed the baby from the bottle. Often a baby who rejects the bottle from mom will take it from someone else. Some couples find that it is very nice to have the dad give one bottle a day to the baby, allowing him to take more of a role in the baby’s daily care.

Bottle Feeding Tips

Another great tip to introduce the bottle to the breast feeding infant is to introduce it when the baby is not extremely hungry. Allow the baby to play around with the bottle and gradually learn that yummy milk comes from the bottle as well as the breast. By introducing the bottle when the baby doesn't think she is starving, she will be more likely to accept the new feeding method.

Sometimes the breast feeding baby refuses bottles completely. If this happens, and the mom needs to feed the baby some other way than the breast, she has a couple of options. She may be willing to accept milk from a cup, especially a sipper cup, since it is so different than the breast. Some babies need to be fed with a medicine dropper. This is time-consuming, but much better than letting the baby go hungry.