introducing a bottle for occasional use (cross-posted in working & student parents forum)

[batsister]

Hello.
I am a full-time graduate student with a son who is almost 4 weeks old. Because I am finished with classes and (most if not all) data collection, I plan to care for my son full-time while finishing my degree (analyzing data, writing dissertation). Therefore, I won't be "returning to school/work" in the traditional sense, but I would like for my son to be able to take an occasional bottle in the future (at some as yet undetermined time), for times I may need/want to leave him both for school-related things and for occasional dates with husband, etc.
I have been told that 4 weeks is the best time to introduce a bottle, but I have the following questions for those of you with experience:
1) Did you introduce a bottle early (e.g., within the first month), or did you wait until you were actually leaving your child soon before trying a bottle?
2) If you did introduce the bottle well in advance of needing to use it, did you need to give a bottle every day to get the baby to keep taking it? If not, how often (I would love to NOT have to pump and give him a bottle every day starting now unless there is a really good reason)?
3) If you introduced a bottle early, did your child stop taking it at some later point anyway?

I realize that cup-feeding, etc. are options if baby refuses a bottle, but a bottle seems simpler. I should add that the baby has nursed well since day 1 and has been gaining weight fairly quickly thus far (while being EBF). Any other tips or suggestions regarding this would be appreciated, too.

Thanks!

[wendypf]

I work from home and occasionally have to go to the office.

We had a lot of difficulties in the beginning, so I did not try too hard to get her to take a bottle. I think we had 2-3 failed attempts before the first time I left her.

After some fighting when I was gone, she took the bottle really well and we've never had a problem since. I was sooo nervous and was sure it would be a problem and it was fine

[LindsC]

I am going back to work in a couple of weeks and DD will be 8 1/2 weeks old at that time. We introduced her first bottle around 5 weeks old and I would say that she did "ok" with it. She definately drank from it, but soon became frustrated and wanted the real thing. I should add that Dh was the one giving her the bottle. She has not had a bottle since then because she came down with a cold that my son brought home from daycare so we wanted to make sure that all her feedings were at the breast to help her overcome that. She will be getting another bottle tomorrow when Dh is home from work. If she takes that one fine, we will just continue with the once a week thing until I go back to work.

[PatioGardener]

Here is a great info sheet from kellymom on bottlefeeding the breastfed baby: http://www.kellymom.com/store/freeha...le_feeding.pdf