Tips for introducing the bottle

Even though you’re breastfeeding your baby, there may be times when you or someone else may feed her breastmilk or formula from a bottle.

Try introducing a bottle to your little one when she’s about 3 to 4 weeks old. If you wait until she is 6 to 8 weeks old, she might have a difficult time adjusting.

Some babies quickly adapt to a bottle; others take more time. Here are some tips to help make bottle-feeding your baby go more smoothly:

• Introduce bottle-feedings gradually. It may take your baby awhile to learn the knack of sucking on a bottle nipple. Replace one breastfeeding a day with a bottle. This will give her a chance to get used to the different sucking technique.
• Choose the right time. Introduce the bottle when your baby is calm and not too hungry.
• Ease your baby into bottle-feeding. Allow your baby to nurse briefly on each breast. Then offer your still-hungry baby a bottle of expressed breastmilk. If baby fusses and refuses the bottle nipple, you may calm baby down and return baby to the breast. Try a bottle again at the next feeding.
• Let Dad or another family member try feeding the baby. Some babies take a bottle more easily when someone other than Mom offers it. Whoever gives the bottle should snuggle with the baby to maintain the close contact similar to the experience while breastfeeding.
• Warm the bottle under warm running water so that the formula is closer to the temperature of breastmilk fresh from your breast. Don't heat a bottle to a temperature greater than body temperature. Never use a microwave.
• Talk to and touch your baby while you feed her with the bottle.
• Be patient. If your baby resists the bottle, return her to the breast before either of you becomes frustrated. Then try the bottle again at the next feeding. Eventually your baby should be able to feed from the breast or bottle interchangeably.
• Use bottles that simulate breastfeeding. Some bottle nipples are designed to be shaped like mom and may make the transition from breast to bottle easier for your baby.