Should you introduce formula early if you will have to stop BFing before a year?

[redneckhippy]

Hello! So baby isn't here yet, but never to early to start worrying, right?

Anyway, I'm planning to breastfeed my baby when he/she gets here, but while ideally I would love to do so long term, I will be moving across the country and starting an intestive school program when the baby is 6 months old, which means baby will probably be in daycare for a good portion of the day, so I don't think it's too realistics to expect to continue full time breastfeeding. I'm worried that if I EBF for 6 months, then all of a sudden we move, the baby starts going to daycare, and I expect it to all of a sudden take a bottle of forumla, that's going to be a long of change all at once for the baby. I want to give the most benefits of breastmilk during the first 6 months when I have that option, but I also feel like such a sudden change my be rather traumatic, so I wonder if it's better to start right away with introducing maybe one bottle of formula a day or at least a few times week along with breastfeeding so the baby is a little more used to it?

This is my first baby, so I don't really know how they work and if switching back and forth (or even just switching cold turkey at 6 months) is something that would be easy for them or if it would be more confusing to the baby to have random forumla mixed with breastmilk?

Has anyone been in a similar siutaiton or done mostly breastfeeding but enough formula to get the baby used to it? I also don't want to confuse the baby's digestive tract where it's not fully adapated to formula or breastmilk??

Thanks!

 

[kanga]

Probably worth expressing in the first six months once every few days, and giving her the bm In a bottle so she gets used to taking the teat.

You don't need to get your baby 'used' to the taste of formula. They will drink whatever you give them, bm or formula. Just breastfeed and try and do some bottles so they get used to the teat.

 

[MindUtopia]

I would say no. If you plan to BF, then BF. In time, you can start to introduce a bottle of expressed milk and then move to offering formula (if you plan to use formula during the day when you're in school). I would say there's no benefit to offering formula in the beginning just to get him/her used to it. It might affect your supply (I had to offer formula here and there from about 8 weeks because I couldn't express enough and my daughter wouldn't latch properly in order to be able to get enough). In 2 weeks, my milk dried up completely even though I was expressing like mad (literally 6 hours a day to only get a few drops! It started with just a bottle or two of formula a day when I couldn't express enough). If you want to BF, I would focus on BF. When you get close to when you'll be going back to work then you can start to think about other options. But at least your supply will be built up enough that you can reduce feeds and not have it affect you (many mums continue to do the morning and bedtime feeds, even if they FF during the day while they work).

 

[redneckhippy]

Thanks! I don't really understand at all how these things works, so it's a lot to figure out. My mom breastfed me and she said I would NEVER take a bottle so that got me worried that if I don't start early I may end up with a difficult situation come 6 months when baby goes to daycare for the day.

 

[steph.]

My first I bf exclusively and tried introducing a bottle at 4 months and despite trying and trying she never took a bottle. I wanted to stop bf around 6-7 months but ended going up to 16 months.

My second I breastfed but started expressing once a day pretty much from the get go. Initially she switched from breast to bottle no problem but around 4 months she started refusing the breast completely. So at that point I had to exclusively express (which was so time consuming, stressful, and draining) and exclusively expressed until nearly 6 months when her intake increased dramatically and I couldnt keep up. We introduced formula once a day and she took in no problems, then gradually increased formula intake from there.

Based on my experience, I'd say there are risks whatever you do. I've heard of babies taking a bottle later, and others who never let go of the breast despite being given a bottle from the start but I think I just got unlucky both times that my babies didn't do what I wanted them to!

 

[Jo.t]

My baby will take breast milk from a bottle but not formula - 2 of mine would not take a bottle at all - another would drink anything offered from anything lol x

 

[Rickles]

My DD refused all bottles so I had to BF for 14 months. This baby is going to have a bottle from 3 days onwards. We waited until 6 weeks last time, total disaster xx

 

[petite ping]

I would say introduce 1 bottle at the least important meal.Your baby will need to understand that the bottle is a food source. You will need to keep at it as if you stop there is a chance that your baby will refuse the bottle even if they accepted it before. Just one bottle a day until you feel ready to make the transition. I would introduce early too. The later you leave it the less likely they will accept the bottle.

As for whether to use formula or expressed milk..the choice is up to you. I was never able to express enough so I had to use formula.