if i dont introduce a bottle early on baby wont take one at all??

[SaRaiMelting]

Hi, my son is one month old and strictly bf. We plan to bf as long as he wants to, until HE is ready to wean.

Today I was asked by my sons naturopathic pediatrician if I will be introducing a bottle. I said no not anytime soon, but in September I will be starting a Yoga teacher training for 9months, but we only meet once a month, one weekend, Friday - Sunday 10am to 7pm. So I plan to then, but ONLY for the weekends that I will be gone during the day.
She suggested that I start introducing one bottle a day now that way he won't reject the bottle later on. She said that older babies who strictly bf WON'T take a bottle.

This cant be true. Is it? And would I REALLY need to give him one a day? That seems unnecessary...

[PatioGardener]

Who will be caring for baby while you are away for those 3 hours? If it is your partner, or someone else you can work with, you do not need to introduce a bottle at all! You can feed baby with a spoon, or an open cup. My little guy has never had a bottle.

In your situation I'd skip the bottle, and if in September baby wouldn't take one, I'd go with a little cup.

[Asiago]

I would skip the bottle too by that time and just try an open cup. 

[lkvosu]

One a day definitely isn't necessary, but think there is some truth to the idea that babies won't accept one if it's not introduced within a certain time frame.  Usually people say somewhere between 3-6 weeks. Late enough that it won't cause nipple confusion but early enough that they can learn to use it.  We introduced a bottle around 4 weeks, and have given ds one a week or so since (he's now six months). Besides those few bottles, he's exclusivlely bf.  I don't know if this is because he gets so few bottles, but he doesn't seem to really "get" them. He drinks the milk, but I'm not sure that he knows he's eating and not just getting a treat from a toy, kwim? Maybe if he got one more often he would see the bottle less as a toy and more as a food source. But, since he does drink the milk it hasn't been a problem.

Honestly though, every baby is different. Maybe your baby will take a bottle later without using one now, maybe not. Unless you're worried about nipple confusion (I wouldn't be if you bf on demand day and night), introducing a few bottles isn't going to hurt anything, and it sure can give you peace of mind if you need to leave for more than an hour. Also, like pp's mentioned, a cup would work also.

[SaRaiMelting]

Great! Thanks everyone for your helpful responses.

I plan to start up yoga classes 3 times a week and though I will only be gone an hour it would give me peace of mind to know that my husband can give Jasper a bottle if he really needs it before I can get back home. So all in all he would only be getting a bottle one or twice a week. I think I can live with that. 

[foreverinbluejeans]

Introducing a bottle at any can mess up breastfeeding. For me it wasn't worth the risk. I was a student when my children were babies they waited until I got back. I take care of my breastfed grandson. Before he ate solids his parents lived with me. They would go out when he was asleep or after nursing. I would call if he needed to nurse. After he started solids his mother went back to work full time and I gave him food while he was with me. He is now 2.5 and has never had a bottle. I am so proud of his mom for nursing this long! She thought she might nurse 6 months.

Some breastfed babies won't take a bottle no matter what you do. I think they are the smart ones, they know what they want! 

[Llyra]

I'm going to move this out to the main forum, since this is a common situation, and you will get more responses there. Thank you for understanding.

[HappyMommy2]

Originally Posted by SaRaiMelting 

Great! Thanks everyone for your helpful responses.

I plan to start up yoga classes 3 times a week and though I will only be gone an hour it would give me peace of mind to know that my husband can give Jasper a bottle if he really needs it before I can get back home. So all in all he would only be getting a bottle one or twice a week. I think I can live with that. 

Sounds like you have a good plan.  To answer your original question - YES - IT IS TRUE! 

My DD was EBF and would never take a binky or a bottle.  We tried!  But too late (maybe 9 or 12 weeks???)  I was bound and determined to make bf;ing work since I had a bad time Bf'ing her older bro after a c/s.  It was a pain for my hubby to feed her with a dropper or a spoon, but worse, it was stressful for both of them.  She is still a milky maniac at 3.5 years.

My new baby is EBF, and takes a binky (loves it) and takes a bottle fine.  We started her at 4 weeks, and she is almost 4 months now.  She has had about 6 bottles total.  I was confident enough in breastfeeding (my abilities and hers) ... and boy does she like to suck.  I was nervous at first, and made sure I fed her on both sides *twice* before I offered the pacifier.  I figured then she had to be full!  In the middle of the night she would nurse for a couple seconds and then pop off and fuss... I think she wanted sucking but not the milk!

Now I don't sweat it.  She is a nice chunky monkey and it has not hurt our breastfeeding relationship at all.  It is nice to be able to leave a bottle just in case I get caught in traffic or something.  I even got to see a movie once (wow!!).

[starling&diesel]

We never gave dd a bottle, and it's true that she wouldn't have wanted one.  She didn't want an artificial nipple of any kind.  We did start her on an open cup at about four months though, so we'd have options. 

[Heba]

I think it's a lot more complicated than just age. Some take it straight away, some need a bit (or a lot) of persuasion, and some really don't like it at all.
A while ago i read various studies on this which, put together, suggested that the likelihood of a baby refusing the bottle was actually similar at all ages!

[KristyDi]

We didn't offer DD a bottle till around 10 months when I was going to be away for 8 or so hours. Dh said she didn't really know what to do with the bottle and didn't seem to care about figuring it out.  She didn't want my milk from her sippy cup either.  She ate some solids and drank some water and waited for me to come home.  Then she went on a marathon nursing session.

Sounds like you have a plan you can work with.

OT I absolutely love the name Jasper.  If we have a son in the future, he'll most likely be named Jasper.

[treeoflife3]

We introduced the bottle at about a month and a half when her daddy got home from deployment and we used it with babysitters a few times... but once she got to be about 6 months old, we either didn't leave milk depending on the time and length that I was gone (she was happy just to have a bit of solids if I nursed her before leaving and was only gone a couple hours) or we just left milk to be drank from a sippy or open cup.  She was drinking water from a sippy by that point so it worked out just fine for her.  Unless I was gone at bedtime though when I knew she'd insist on milk, I didn't worry too much about it.  I was never gone for more than a night though so I knew she'd catch up on milk plenty once I got home and that she personally was fine with solids and water and taking my milk from a different cup.

[anjsmama]

I introduced DD to a bottle at 6 weeks because I knew I'd have to return to work for a period of time when she was 12 weeks. I am glad that I did, because I am now working 3 days a week (she's 14 weeks) for another 3 weeks (and then I finally get to be a SAHM.. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!). However, I intensely disagree that once-a-day is necessary. I went with once a week, so she'd be able to take the bottle when it came time. I think once a day gives way too much exposure to the sucking pattern of bottle over breastfeeding. I will say (hoping not to jinx us here) we have not had any nursing complications due to DD's temporary bottling while I'm working part time, but it is certainly a fear for me that this could lead to earlier weaning. (So I am power nursing constantly when not at work!). In your situation though, 6 months is probably old enough to munch on some food and sip from an open cup during the rare times that you are away. DD does not drink nearly as much while I'm gone (even at 3 mo old) as she does when I am home... though she doesn't fight the bottle, she just doesn't like it. She takes what she needs to no longer be hungry and then is done.

[Viola]

Originally Posted by SaRaiMelting 

This cant be true. Is it? And would I REALLY need to give him one a day? That seems unnecessary...

No, it's not true!

Which isn't to say it isn't true for some babies.  But no, it's not a universal truth.  I've had the opposite experience.  I introduced a bottle to my older dd when she was quite young, and she hated the bottle and started rejecting it after a few weeks.  I didn't introduce a bottle to my second dd, but I left her with a friend when she was about 4 months old, and she took the bottle fine.  Both my children would use bottles when they were older, like over a year old.  DD2 is 7 and will still use one if she finds one back in a drawer some where.  She likes to pretend she is a baby animal whose mother rejected it, or died or something, and she crawls over to me and makes me feed her like she's a baby horse or something.  Gah.  Anyway, I don't think it's true for all babies.

Originally Posted by HappyMommy2 

To answer your original question - YES - IT IS TRUE!