Going bottle-free, who's done it?

[Julia'sMom]

So, I'm considering not even introducing a bottle to the twins. I had a great breastfeeding experience with dd, but did introduce a bottle and pump since I was working. I will be a SAHM with the twins, and don't see having the time/energy to pump/store/wash and all else that is involved with bottle feeding.

So...has anyone done this? Did you regret it? Did you feel unable to leave your lo? Did you use alternate feeding methods (i.e. cup, or spoon) when necessary, or when leaving with grandparent or dad?

Ideas and comments are welcome! TIA

[Peony]

I've done it with two children and while it suited our needs then, I choose to introduce a bottle with DS to prevent going that route again. I couldn't leave DD1 at all as a baby/young toddler she nursed so often that it was not possible to slip out. Once DD2 was close to a year then I could *sometimes* get an hour but she still needed to be close by in case she needed to nurse.



Now I have two other children, while DS goes with me 99% of the time, I do need to leave him at times. I give him a bottle once a week to ensure that he still remembers to how to take one, but I'd say I only have events where I do need to leave him about every other week. And honestly, I wasn't up for yet another child that I could not get any from at all for years, I felt like I had barely left for the last 6 years with the other 2. Like I said before, it was fine then but doesn't work now.

[paxye]

I have three ds and another babe on the way and I have never had a bottle in the house and I have never pumped...(I did try to pump once when ds#1 was tiny but it didn't work and then I wondered why I had to do it anyway... so just stopped.)
If I left my babe for an hour or two or longer with DH (grocery store, shopping etc) it was when they could go that long without nursing... I would nurse before I left and nurse when I came back... the older they got the longer they could go without nursing and then of course they could have solids...

A friend of mine had twins and she has never introduced a bottle either.... everyday day one of the grandparents is at her home and give her a bit of time off by going out for a walk them them (they would nap in the stroller).... they can go for walks of 1-2 hours and when one of the babies is waking up they just head back home so mom can nurse...

I don't regret it at all and even the opposite. I don't think the nursing relationship would have been as stable and easy if we would have supplemented or given a bottle...

I would also be scared of nipple confusion, because though many say that it doesn't exist, after years of breastfeeding counselling I can assure you it does, so if an emergency would come up etc.. then cup feeding is a lot safer...

[luv-my-boys]

I've done it but with my youngest I did introduce a bottle but by that time he was at least 4mo or so. He was a very heavy nurser and really I would have been literally tethered to him all the time with my shirt hiked up. So for DH's sanity (as I would leave him do run errands and such) I began to offer a bottle occassionally so that he would *accept* it later on.

(insert funny story here) I once ran to do some shopping that I had to do and left DS with DH. I made sure I nursed him till he was done but when I came home I was met with DH in the driveway handing my a baby. Half of DH's shirt was soaked. I asked him what happened to his shirt. He said DS was so *hungry* that he was trying to nurse from him. Literally he was rooting to find his boob and was very angry to encounter a flat one!!

[Llyra]

My DS never had a bottle. Well, actually, he had some in his first week of life, in NICU when he was under lights and too groggy to nurse, then got nipple confusion issues, so I took away the bottles, and later when I tried to introduce them, he refused.

I did go back to work, very part-time, when he and his twin sister were four months old. I was only out of the house five hours, and he just took his long stretch of sleep then, and nursed frequently when I was home to make up for it. But the few times when I HAD to be away longer-- when I had a surgical procedure, when my aunt was in the middle of chemo and wanted to see me and DS had a cold and was a danger to her, and other times like that-- DH used to use a medicine dropper to feed him, or feed him slushy frozen BM on a spoon, until he got old enough to figure out a sippy cup.

It can be done. And if it doesn't work out, and a situation arises where you do need a bottle, it's easy enough to run out and buy just one to meet the need, and hand-express.

[hollytheteacher]

Well, I don't have twins...

My ds who is 25 months, has never had a bottle in his life (unless you count the one a NICU nurse tried to force him to take when he was 3 days old against our consent )

Also, when he was still exclusively bfing I never really left him for longer than it would take to get a haircut or an apt or something like that.

[LianneM]

I never used bottles, but also don't separate much for the first year. My DH took a sippy with pumped milk twice when he took the kids to the zoo for several hours, and DD did drink about half of it. She is 15 mo now and the longest separation we've had is about 4 hours. No big deal to not use bottles here, but we don't need to separate much either.

[Youngfrankenstein]

I never used any bottles and I never felt tied down at all. When they're so young they nurse all the time and I never had a need or want to leave the baby with anyone else. By the time they're old enough to munch Cheerios or go a few hours without nursing, they were more ready to be with grandma.

Because I've babysat for other people a bit, I think it's hard to take care of someone else's little baby regardless of whether you can bottle feed them or not. Its just not something I would ask someone to do unless I needed it.

[MountainMamaGC]

My DD never took a bottle and I dont regret it one bit. As she got older she could eat other things like yogurt or puree if I needed to leave her. When she was younger I didnt like leaving her behind anyway. If I did need to leave her for an hour or 2 I would just feed her right before I left her.

[fruitfulmomma]

5 kids, no bottles here. Usually once they are 3-4 months I can go out about 1x a week for 2-3 hours.

[MamaE]

I was bottle-free with my DD b/c I never planned to leave her for long enough to miss a feeding. Boy was I sorry when I found out I had to have out-patient surgery and only had 2 weeks to get her to take a bottle (at 3 months). We had the hardest time getting her to latch and my mother (who babysat) said she barely drank all day long. She was hungry when I got home and it was heart-wrenching to watch her have to take yet another bottle so that I could pump/dump (on advice which I now realize was faulty).

Anyway, not to scare you, but you never know what might crop up and the ability to take a bottle might prevent some serious stress if you are unable to make a feeding. With my son, although we rarely used bottles, I made sure he took one every now & then just in case. Plus, by then DD (age 4) loved to feed him on occasion.

Just my experience! Good luck!

[Red Pajama]

My twins were not bottle free, as I was working after my maternity leave was up. With little sister, I never introduced a bottle, as I wanted very much (for reasons I can't even articulate) for her not to have had a bottle. So we never had bottles in the house. I did not leave her at all until after seven months, and in order to do so I would leave a cup of milk for her.

I think it is more difficult, just because if mom wants to leave she pretty much has to take baby with her. And unless that's important to mom, I imagine that can feel very restrictive. I wanted not to be away from her, and preferred to take her with me if I went somewhere.

[crunchy_mommy]

My DS hasn't had a bottle (unless you count an ounce that the hospital forced on him which was really DUMB...)

He is now 8 months and still nurses about every hour. So I really haven't spent any time away from him -- just the rare 10-minute run to the store or something.

We taught him to drink from a cup (a shot glass actually lol) when he was about 2 months, just in case there were ever an emergency. So he's had an ounce or two from the cup now and then, the rest is all straight from the tap! I'm a full-time WAHM so it worked out for us, when I had to go into the office for a long meeting once DH took the day off to watch DS & bring him to me regularly to eat in the parking lot.

The only trouble is when I get really overwhelmed/stressed I can't just take off. But we make do & it all works out, I love being so close to my baby!

[twins+1]

I'll recommend that you exclusively breastfeed as much as possible when they are born and then try to have them take a bottle here/there just in case you want or need to go out. I let my twins have bottles of expressed milk when they were born and also tried to nurse them.... I ended up being an exclusive pumper for almost a year much to my disappointment (and pumping is a LOT of work).
With my new baby I waited too long (8 wks old) before trying a bottle cause I was worried he would go to bottles, but by then he hated bottles and now I'm pretty much tethered to him. lol I don't mind it that much, but it would be nice to be able to go out here/there. I am an usborne books consultant now for extra family income and it makes having homeshows a bit tricky cause I have to bring him or schedule after bedtime.

Overall, its your choice. I'd recommend really devoting time to getting a great nursing relationship going before trying the bottle, and then maybe doing 1 bottle every couple days or something? Twin infants are a lot of work so it could be nice to have some help and get out here/there. Good luck! Twins are a blast. Our twins are almost 3 years old now.

[kennedy444]

Another bottle free here but not with twins. I just always had my little ones with me. Never an issue for me. Best of luck! Do what you feel is best for you.

[shelleyd]

My first daughter never took a bottle. I was okay with that initially but after a while it would have been nice to go out for an evening without her and at that point it was too late to get her to take a bottle. All in all it was okay but I did wish we would have tried harder to get her to take a bottle. She never did well with a sippy cup either. She also wasn't much of an eater until she was 13m old. I did feel tied down.

I returned to school when my second daughter was only seven weeks old. We introduced a bottle to her when she was only two weeks old. I know that this is contrary to the advice you usually hear. But I figured that I had nursed dd1 for 2 1/2yrs so I would know if we were encountering a problem and at that point we would back off on the bottles. We actually went out for the first time when she was three weeks old. It was my sister's 30th birthday and we went to the bar for a couple of hours. She ended up sleeping the whole time and not even taking the bottle. It was nice to have that option to go out though. I would never leave a baby without a bottle.

I much prefer being able to go out. We don't leave the girls with a sitter often but having the option is important to me. While in the beginning you may think that being bottle free is okay, by the time you change your mind it may be very difficult to get the baby to take a bottle. I imagine with twins you may need a break even more.

Good luck!

[AislinCarys]

DD has never had a bottle. Or a sippy either (she drinks water out of an open cup). We supplemented with donated milk in an SNS, and that worked well. I have never wished that we had introduced a bottle. And she didn't wamt the sippy. I could never pump really, in any case.

But then, I didn't want to be away from her for very long when she was very little. She's usually come with me. So I would just come home after an hour or two (if she was sleeping), and feed her. Or I'd go to a yoga class in town in the weekend, and DH would take DD for a walk around the waterfront or to a café and meet me back at the yoga center for a feed after the class.

[ShineliketheSon]

bottlefree here! tried pump/bottle with DD1 for 2 weeks, we were both miserable so decided to stop since I am SAHM. I only tried cause EVERYONE kept sayin DH needed to be able to feed babe.

Before DD2 birth I asked DH if we could not even try, he was fine with that. So not going to bother, especially with cosleepin at night. I do want to pump a freezer stash for a real emergency, hospitalization or death, but have yet to do so.

I like knowing I am the sole provider of food for LO gives us even more bond, I rarely leave my LO before age 1. DD2 is 5mo and I've left her a few times with DH for hair appt...I always fed right before and only gone for an hour...DD2 is really attatched to mommy! So its not even a nursing issue more of an I want mommy thing, which is fine with me! DH can calm her by bein outside or walking alot or big sis helping entertain. DD2 will suck the gripe water from a dropper so I figure if really needed she'sd take BM from a dropper.

I think bottle free is best choice for us! But I didn't have twins...

[alegna]

Two babies, no bottles. As of now would plan to do it the same with any future babies if it was workable at the time.

-Angela

[crunchy_mama]

I didn't have twins, so cannot comment on that, but have had 2 singletons and never used even 1 bottle w/ either of them. I didn't leave them, until they were old enough to have a bit of space between nursing. Definitely not anytime at all before 6 months and for maybe an hour or less after that, very rarely and with dh staying close by.