Advice on Bottle Types

I had my first baby in Dec. and I am breastfeeding her. I introduced the bottle to her when she was about 2 1/2 months old. She wouldn't take a bottle for weeks. I tried quite a few different bottles and none of them seemed to work. I finally tried the Playtex Nurser with the drop in bottle liners. At first they didn't work either, but then I tried the orthodontic nipple. It's shorter, so it didn't seem to choke her like the other ones did, just because she wasn't used to them yet. She took to that almost instantly and now she will use a regular nipple.

I love Dr. Brown's. My daughter is almost 8 months old and has only spit up a few times.

http://www.newbornfree.com

Most major U.S. baby bottle manufacturers use the chemical Bisphenol-A in their production.

BornFree™ is made from a safe honey-colored plastic called PES (Polymer) that is free of Bisphenol.

Check out the website. There are articles from ABC News, Newsweek, etc. about the chemicals in most bottles.

My son is 10 months old. I am still breastfeeding but he has bottles at daycare. Daddy fed him a bottle when he was 2 weeks old. We did not have issues with nipple confusion, etc.

God Bless!

Giving a "just in case" bottle is fine. Don't start until breastfeeding is well established (you're not having any troubles with latching, baby is having enough wet and dirty diapers etc) then only do it at most once a day.

My kids were all different my oldest preferred Avent, my Middle one would reluctantly take a Platex (silicone nipple) and my youngest like the Gerber (silicone nipple again)

So I guess you really have to experiment LOL.

I did what you're describing, used bottles and nursed most of the time with both of my kids. We introduced the bottle around 2 weeks with my son and he had no nipple confusion the breastfeeding books described. It was much different with my daughter because she was a preemie and we had to get her on bottles to get her home, then later slowly weaned her from bottles to breast, but that would be much different than a full term baby. Best of luck! H.

I started my daughter on a bottle at 2 days. My daughter had jaundice and I was told I needed to supplement. So they had me nurse her first, and then give her a bottle. but I always made sure that when i nursed she was sucking and getting something. and she only got an ounce of formula for the supplement. After I stopped the formula. I went to giving her one bottle a day. I have never had any problems at all with her. I think this worked best for her.

I think it definitly helped that she was a very good sucker since day one. Even now that I hvae gone back to work, she takes the few bottles in the day, and i nurse her when she is at home, and no problems at all.

I use the playtex drop ins, and the medela pump in style pump.

I have a daughter who just turned 1. When I brought her home I breastfed her exclusivly for about... 2 days. She was latchign on very well ever since her first meal, and one night I was very tired and I had my husband wake up with her at 2 am and he gave her a bottle of breast milk. She did fine. From then on she was about 70/30 breast/bottle until abtou 6 months old.
I would say to introduce the bottle when you feel your baby is latchign on to the nipple very well and understands it. Let him master one technique, then move to another.
Bottles are very unique to a child. We tried ventair, evenflo, advent, dr.brown's and almost any other you can think of. In the end, the nipples and bottles she liked the best were the cheapest. Gerber. The nipples were a good fit to her mouth and they vented great as long as you didn't screw the collar on to tight. I would suggest trying the cheaper bottles first. Everyone I know with babies have tired all of the expensive bottles, and evenflo or gerber is what they end up with.

I found that you need to introduce the bottle as early as possible but instead of breast milk offer water so he knows the differents you will be busier with the second one and this might give other family members a chanse to interact with the new baby i use NUK but I don't know even if they make them any more my son drank only breast milk and water for the first six milk he 28 now and he's doing fine

Hi Ruby this one looks great!
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http://www.nurturepure.com/GrowPure-Multi-Stage-Feeder-Si...
A. H

Hi Ruby,
I breastfed both of my babies. My daughter would only use the playtex, drop in bottles. But my son, who is now 7 mos, I used the dr. brown bottles and love them. I breastfed and bottle fed him from the beginning. It really is up to you. They say that they have nipple confusion if you introduce it too early, but I learned with my first one that I waited to long to introduce the bottle and she had a hard time adjusting. My advice to you is to give the bottle to the baby at least one feeding a day and the rest breastfeed, if that is what you choose. I then eventually just exclusively pumped and feed him bottles, once he no longer got up in the night. The last feeding that I gave up last was the night feeding before bed. He started sleeping through the night at 2 months. Good luck. L.

We stared with the Playtex bottles, and my daughter liked them, but she got really gassy when she had a bottle. My Mother in law bought us the Dr Brown's bottles to try and they worked great. I have been breastfeeding for almost 14 months now and have never had a problem with her taking a bottle, but what we had to do went against breastfeeding advice. I did not have any milk or clostrum until about 5 days after she was born, so I had to give her a bottle with formula, so her taking a bottle has never been a problem.

Congrats on the baby! It's really gong to depend on your baby. I would buy a couple of the brand you want to use to see if your baby likes them. I'd hate to see you spend a ton of money on one band and find out the baby hates them. I would wait till after six weeks to introduce the bottle so your milk supply gets established. Also when you decide to do the bottle try to have someone else (husband, grandparent) feed the baby a bottle and make sure you aren't in the room. If you try to feed the baby the bottle or he can see/smell you close by it may make the whole situation harder. Hope that helps.

I also used the Dr Brown bottles with two children and had no nipple confusion problems. I used the wide mouth that was recommended and they worked great.

Hi Ruby
When i had my daughter in April of 2006 she had a hard time latching on so we had to give her a bottle everynight. but after a few days she was latching on fine and switching back and forth was easy i never had any problems with nipple confusion. With her I used the platex disposibles. They worked fine. I am expecting in June also and plan to breastfeed but i plan on introducing the bottle right away to for those times when i am not available but this time i heard of these bottles called breastflow they are made by first years they have a 2 part nipple that makes it just like nursing they have to use both suction and compression in order to get the milk and the baby controls the flow. here is a link to check them out http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=240920...
if it dosent work just go to babiesrus.com and type in breastflow they have a demo on here to watch. hope this helps.

Dr. Browns bottles are a pain in the neck after awhile. With 5 separate parts to wash and deal with the routine gets old, plus WE found they leak the more oz in them. They worked great up untill our baby was at 6-8 oz now they leak all the time. WE LOVE our cheap Geber bottles they come three to a pack and very cheap. GOOD LUCK!

I breastfed my son until he was a year as well. I used Dr. browns bottles and I think there awesome! I started giving him a bottle once a day after 1 month when he was a pro at latching on. It was a special thing I let his dad do with him. Once a day when he got home from work he would have a bottle with him. I've never had a problem leaving him. Good luck let Me know If you have any other questions!

I breastfed my daughter and supplemented with a bottle of formula per day along with some pumped milk in a bottle from time to time. I think she was able to move from breast to bottle seamlessly because I did both right from the beginning (she had to spend some time under "the lamps" in the nursery at the hospital due to a slight case of jaundice and they gave her a bottle of formula in the nursery even though I was breastfeeding - something I was upset about at the time but it introduced the bottle at the same time as the breast which ended up working in my favor). I know that some advice will tell you to get a child used to the breast before trying a bottle but, for me, it worked well to introduce both at the same time so that she didn't develop a preference. I know that every case is different but alternating seemed to work well for me (and freed up some time so I didn't have to make sure I was home to breastfeed every 2-3 hours). Good luck!

I have two children and I breastfed them each for a year. My first baby took a bottle very well but I started her out when she was just a couple of weeks old. I would offer her one bottle a day. I would sit in the chair that I typically nursed in. I tried to minimize the distractions.

My second child was more of a struggle and I tried 5 different types of bottles before I found one that she would take. The Gerber Nuk bottles worked the best for me (they are at Target and they also have transitioning sippy cups). I used the same name brand pacifier so I think that it was a better transition too.

Good luck and congratulations,
C.

Hi!
I have an older son and a son due June 28! :) I nursed my son for 9 months and plan on nursing my new baby also. I use Playtex nurser bottles with the drop-in liners. There has been a lot of research lately on plastic bottles letting off dangerous chemicals, so drop-in liners are preferred. I had someone else give my baby the bottle EVERY day - this way he was use to someone else giving him the bottle and he never relied on me nursing him all the time. In fact, I had him bottle fed during the NIGHT at the hospital too. This way you get some much-needed rest, and the baby gets familiar with both nursing and bottles. I typically had my hubby give him his evening bottle while I pumped. No one told me to give my baby at least one bottle a day, so when it came time to introduce a bottle to him he didn't want anything to do with one. One bottle a day is not going to confuse your baby and it also allows your hubby to bond with the baby. GOOD LUCK!

We had the same issue and tried every brand available! The Dr. Brown's are supposed to work well but they are expensive and never really made a difference. The Nuk worked with us. Also, I'm talking nipple styles here, as you should do some research on the type of plastic used to make baby bottles. Studies have shown the #7 plastic bottles to be poisonous, which are the hard plastic type that come with the Nuk and Dr. Brown's brand bottles. Go with glass (it's tempered, they don't break easily) or the softer kind of plastic (#5), or the drop-ins. And of course kudos to you for breastfeeding, it's the VERY best thing you can do for your child!!

I started at about 1 1/2 weeks with my son 1 bottle a day, but he took to breastfeeding right away. I also gave him a pacifier before we left the hospital and he did ok with that too. I

f Noah had had any problems with BF I would have waited with both.

My son also didn't care what kind of bottle I used and would even let me bottle feed him. Some babies are picky, I would get 1 or 2 of a couple different kinds and see which one he prefers before you buy a bunch of them.

Good luck!

My girl is not much of a bottle girl herself but in a pickle and if she was really really hungry she would take and advent bottle in small doses. Now she is 9 months and takes a sippy cup much better then she ever did a bottle so I have DH put my milk in a sippy shen I am gone.

No advice on bottle types, but do make sure you start the baby with a bottle immediately. At least one a day. The baby needs to know the bottle as a second source of feeding instead of something foreign. Have dad feed the baby. Excellent time for dad and baby to bond and giving you a few minutes to be alone with the 2 year old (or by yourself!).

Ruby,

I recommend the Medela Pump in Style breast pump and the Playtex drop in's bottles. You can purchase adapters at Walmart/Target, etc (you'll need two kits if your pump allows you to pump both sides at the same time) that allow you to pump directly into the drop in's. You store the milk upside down in the refrigerator. When you need to make a bottle you pop out the seal (reusable) and put in the nipple - very simple. Then you only have to wash the nipple and adapters. For a busy mom of two this comes in very handy.

As far as when to introduce a bottle... I waited until 10 weeks and it was way too late. My son was so attached to me that he would refuse to take it. Three weeks before I started back to work I would sneak up on him when he was asleep in his carseat (didn't have to worry about ear infections at this angle) and just pop the bottle into his mouth. He would start to suck without even thinking about it. It got him used to the bottle and went to daycare without any trouble. But, he would only accept a bottle if he knew I wasn't around.

I agree with the other responses that you don't want to introduce a bottle too soon. My daughter (first child) was given a bottle when she was in NICU (just for 3 days) and never nursed. I pumped for a year and she took breast milk in a bottle.

Good luck and congratulations! I'm sure you will do fine.

THis is really a hard one to answer. My oldest would only take the Johnson's healthflow after tons of searching. I saved them for my son since I spent so much time and money. He wouldn't take them. He took the playtex nursers. When number three came around I tried the nursers and she refused. She took one called breastflow that I found at Babies R Us and then switched to Soothie brand bottles because that was the paci that she liked.

I would buy a few different ones and try them out until you find the one the baby likes best.

Hi Ruby,

I breastfeed my 7 month old. However, I did introduce a bottle when she was bout 4 weeks old. I think every baby is different... some will take a bottle readily and some will not. You just want to make sure baby is latching well before you introduce a bottle. The reason is they use different muscles to suck from a bottle vs. the breast. It is MUCH easier for them to get milk from a bottle...so like any person...they will take the easiest route if given the choice. That is ... if they will take a bottle.

I think you just have to try different varieties and nipples. I used Medela bottles and nipples. One, they fit my pump (lol) and two, they are BpA free! This is yet another thing to try and protect our kids from. It is a release agent used in the manufacturing of many plastics... including bottles and doesn't really wash off. It leaches out from the bottle into what is in it.

Medela, and certain types of Avent bottles I know for sure are BpA free. Dr. Brown, although it is a good bottle, the plastic ones are NOT BpA free. I actually have a whole set I received as a shower gift that have never been used because of this. However, Dr. Brown does offer glass bottles.

You want to be sure to try different nipples. I could have been that your first baby had a poor sucker in the beginning and maybe just wasn't getting enough from a newborn nipple on the bottle. If you had engorgment issues, you would have been squirting in his mouth pretty heartily and he wouldn't have had to work so hard to get the milk from the breast.

Good luck!

Hi Ruby, We exclusively bottle fed so I can't answer your question about starting with bottles. I do really recommend Dr. Brown's bottles. They come in 4 and 8 oz sizes and are available at Babies 'r' Us, Target, Meijer, and the Right Start. My son did not have colic and they had a good flow to get the formula to him. Congratulations on your 2nd and good luck!

Hi Ruby,
Congratulations on the new little one on the way! I am a SAHM of a 20 month old and breastfed him until he was 13 months old. We took a breastfeeding class before he was born and the nurse suggested waiting a few months before starting the bottle to avoid nipple confusion, but I don't think that we waiting that long (maybe a month??)- I was hoping to give my husband that bonding time too with our son (and get a break myself!) We tried several kinds of bottles and ended up with the Playtex drop in kind. (I had registered and received different ones for shower gifts - thank goodness!) Fortunately our son was willing to take a bottle from Daddy and that was great! I've heard that if the mom is in the room, the baby may not take a bottle, because they want to get it from you, but we didn't have those issues. I would often sit in the room with them and enjoy watching my husband interact with our son. Good luck with this new baby adventure! :-)

I had this same issue with my first baby not wanting a bottle so I decided to do it differently with my second son.
I know the hospital tells you not to give a bottle in the first 3 weeks so that breast feeding gets established but at the end of the 3rd week I started giving my son one bottle a day of half pumped milk/half formula right before night sleep. Partly because my breast milk was lower at night and he slept better with a little formula in there. I breast fed for 6 months and was able to pump and give him a bottle, he would take either bottle or breast. It seemed like in the a.m., he liked the breast because it was so full. Then in evening he liked a bottle w/ alittle formula. He was a great eater and sleeper so I had no problems with it. The only thing that happened is that after 6 months, he really only wanted a bottle because he seemed able to get the milk faster. We used Avent bottles with theflow nipples for newbie then changed to 3 months, 6 months etc for the faster flows. I think after 6 month, he just seemed to be able to suck down the milk faster from the bottle than breast and so enjoyed the bottle more.

My son took the bottle and the breast interchangeably. I suggest the Soothie bottles. They make the pacifiers that the hospitals use (completely round base with a nipple), however, they also make bottles. You can find them at Target and Walmart. They are hard to find though as they usually sell out fast. Good luck!

Hey Ruby,

I just finished weaning my daughter (#2) who I nursed exclusively for a year. I started giving her a bottle when she was 1 month old (if you wait too long, they won't take it). I would suggest not using Dr. Brown's as they have the most harmful chemicals in them (I feel terrible b/c I just used those exclusively with my son). Get a good pump (a hospital grade one). *C.

We loved the Advent bottles.

I have a 3 year old boy and 11 month old daughter. I have exclusively breastfeed both of them, but wanted to be able to leave them with someone or even have daddy feed them. I waited to long to truly introduce my daughter to the bottle--5-7 weeks. She really struggled with the bottle at that point and we got no where in the hour we would try. I gave many different bottles a try (Advent, Dr. Brown, Natures Care, Platex) none of them really worked. I was starting to get nervous because I wanted to be able to take my son places and do things with out my daughter once and awhile. Finally the miracle bottle came along MAM by Sassy--I ordered it online and the second I looked at it I knew it would work. The nipple is shaped more like a breat nipple and the texture and way it pulls reminds me of breastfeeding. Seriously I love this bottle. My daughter took to it right away. I gave the 5 oz. bottle to my husband and took my son to bed. When I came upstairs the bottle was gone. The lactation consaltants in our area are recommending this bottle now!

Congratulations and good luck with your upcoming delivery. I breastfed both of my kids and we used different bottle types with them. I would suggest either kind: with my son we used Avent; they sell an adapter that hooks right to most breast pumps so that you don't have to transfer your milk from a different bottle. My daughter was not so easily satisfied; she would not drink from the Avent nipples, so we tried the bottles that came with my breastpump (Ameda). We went through five different nipples before she would take the bottle. I started both my kids on an occasional bottle from Daddy at about five weeks. I didn't want to because I found giving up even one nursing was hard for me but they both took bottles easily after that. Best of luck!

Hi probably pretty sure its different with different babies but here is what I did that worked. I breastfeed only but work so we had to go the bottle route. I chose the born free 6 oz bottles as my guy doesnt eat much more than that in a sitting. I introduced bottle about 2 months. Just once a day sometimes days in between of no bottle. It was hit and miss just like in real life it would be. And I also began pumping around that time to put a bit into the freezer. Around 4 months I started him daily for sure as it was getting closer for me to go to work. Right about that time he decided he hated bottles :) Anyway with a great nanny all worked fine :) He is 7 months and exclusively breast milk. I NEVER give him bottles but the sitter had no problems :)

Hope some of this helps!

I live by the Dr. Brown bottles. They are AWESOME! Being a daycare provider I have highly recommended these bottles and see a huge difference compared to other brands when it comes to burping. They are a little more expensive but so worth it.

http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/07/z-report-bisphenol-in-p...

http://www.diapersetc.com/categories/baby-bottles/

http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_choose-bpa-free-baby...

The lactation consultants recommend no artificial nipples for the first 2 weeks. We have a bottle at the hospital called a Haberman, that has a special nipple and is made for breastfeeding babies. I'm not sure where you're delivering at, but we have them at Wyandotte Hosp.

My first suggestion would be to NOT plan to leave him for any length of time during the first 6 weeks. That is the important time it takes to establish your milk supply. I didn't ever give my nursing sweeties a bottle so I am a bit biased. You could contact Le Leche League. They have all good advise on any breastfeeding topic. I don't think they would encourage pumping and bottle feeding, but they would certainly have the best advise on what to do if you must. Good Luck!

Congratulations on baby #2! I have baby #3 due in November. :O)

I would say start the baby with an occasional bottle as soon as you can. both my kids would go back and forth pretty easily. I don't know if you use pacifiers or not, I was pretty against it with #1, but when he had trouble latching on, giving him a pacifier fixed that really quick.

As for bottles, you don't need to go for the uber expensive ones. Check which ones are BPA free (Bisphenol-A, a chemical that leaches out of some plastics and mimics estrogen). You'll have to look online since most don't list it on the packages. I used these cheap, $2.99 for 3, plastic bottles for baby #2 and they worked just fine. they also rarely leaked, unlike the Avent bottles I used with baby #1 (which have BPA). the gerber bottles you can only use for one year, so I think that's why they are so cheap. I am trying to decide what bottles to use with #3 myself and I will either use the gerber ones I used before, or, I may switch to glass. The Gerber ones can't be recycled and that bothers me.

I hope I helped somewhat!

Everyone will tell you NOT to give the baby a bottle because it will confuse him....DONT listen to them..haha I`ve had 3 kids and breastfed them all-and gave them bottles right from the start! They were fine with it. I used Avent bottles.

I breastfed two of my three girls. I introduced a bottle around 5 weeks old and just gave her a bottle every couple days just to make sure she didnt refuse it when i did want to get away. As for types of bottles, I always used Playtex nursers, hte ones with the drop in liners. I have found that my gilrs liked those best and it was easier for them to go back and forth from breast to bottle. Good luck!

Hello, I am a mom of 7 children. I did breast feed my children too. I was unsuccessful with pumping so I supplimented with formula. I would start as soon as we got home. My husband would feed them a bottle of formula the first feeding after he was home from work. That works in many ways. I was not used to the feeding so it did not affect my milk supply. The baby was used to a bottle and it was not offered by mom. I never had a problem with leaving my children and having them take a bottle. As for which bottle, I prefer the platex nurser but I did have 2 that liked the traditional bottle and nipple. None liked the sylicone nipples, they prefered the rubber. Good luck. Enjoy the new addition.

Ruby,
I had the same problem with one of my kids, I have 4. I've found out that around 3-4 weeks old when the breastfeeding is well established was a good time to start the bottle. I had my husband or sister give the bottle and that seemed to work, also try a Dr. Browns bottle cuts down on gas and spit up. Good luck

I use Dr Brown with my second daughter and love them! I researched online and found that they had the best reviews. She was diagnosed with Acid Reflux at 3 weeks old, and I noticed that she barely spit up with she had a Dr. Brown bottle, versus major spit up and complaining after breastfeeding or other bottles. She took the bottles very well starting at 3 weeks. My first daughter never took a bottle, I believe that I waited too long to introduce it to her (she was 5 weeks). She actually took the bottle two times, then got stubborn and absolutely refused. It was a nightmare, as I work full time. I have heard and am beginning to believe that waiting to introduce the bottle in order to prevent nipple confusion is not true. Of all my friends and family, I have never heard of a baby rejecting the breast because of a bottle early on (it usually happened more after 4 months and seemed to be related to milk supply issues, not nipple, so if you pump and feed with a bottle from the beginning, it should not affect supply). I was a working mom, and it was important to me to breastfeed my kids. Each one was so different, though. If I have another one, I plan to introduce the bottle as soon as breastfeeding is going smoothly (within one to two weeks).

Also, Dr. Brown just came out with a glass bottle, which is safer than the plastic (Bisphenol-A).

Congratulations! I also breastfed my son for the first year. I was on maternity leave for the first twelve weeks then went back to work full time. I found that Dr. Bronner's bottles were awesome and another friend of mine switched to these and loved them after the Advent didn't seem to work very well for her son. Depending on the breast pump you have, they easily attached right to the device to pump directly into the bottle for storage...or you could easily transfer to freezer bag. I also recommend Nuk type "sippy cups" that come with a straw type attachment - I easily transitioned my son to these when I stopped breastfeeding him at a year and switched him to milk.

Good Luck!

My daughter was born in December and my goal was also to exclusively breastfeed. At her one week checkup she had lost too much weight and the doctor forced us to supplement her feedings. We hired a lactation consultant to help us with this. It was the best money we ever spent. The lactation consultant told us not to use any type of rubber nipple until the baby was at least four weeks old and really good at latching onto the breast. During the first four weeks we were finger feeding with expressed milk. Once it was time to introduce bottles the lactation consultant recommended Gerber Nuks. She said they were the closest to the breast and wouldn't cause nipple confusion. We had already spent a ton of money on the Dr. Brown's bottles, but went out and got the Nuks as well. She also recommended that when it came to pacifiers, if we chose to use them, they should be the Nuks as well. She also stressed not to introduce pacifiers until bottle nipples had been mastered. My daughter took to the Nuks well and since we waited and got her latch right she is able to go back to the breast every night when I get home from work. I would also be more than happy to share my lactation consultants name with you if you like. She was amazing and really made me feel so much better about breastfeeding.

Hi Ruby,
I nursed my first daughter the six weeks that the experts say to do so that there is no nipple confusion well, like you I could not leave her with anyone. Since then I have had three more children and when I felt they were latching on easily I introduced the bottle and I used the evenflo brand that has been around for years. I had friends buy me the more expensive brands and I am glad I did not waste my money. I hope this helps.
L.

I did both when I had my son, I breastfed when I wasn't working. I started him out on both the bottle and nursing the same time. I got the Playtex bottles they seem to take to those much better. I would pump milk into the playtex bottles so he'd have mother's milk while I was gone and breastfed him in the morning, dinner and bedtime. It worked out fine...hope this works for you...

I wasn't able to breast feed either of my daughters due to a medical condition with me that required medication that wasn't safe to take when pregnant or breastfeeding, so am not the best to tell you when to introduce the bottle. I would think that you would want to get the baby used to the breast first, and then introduce the bottle at that point, without waiting to long. However, I'm not experienced in that area so... I used two different with the girls - the VentAire (I think it's a Playtex bottle) and also the Playtex disposable bottles. Often with the disposable bottles though we would use the generic inserts.

When I had my first son 20 months ago, my lactition recomended the Advent bottles. They worked great for my son. If you are planning using breast milk in the bottles, she told me not to use the Dr. Brown bottles because the good milk fat would get stuck in the bottom of the bottle and the baby would miss out some the thicker milk fat need for development.

i have a 6 mo daughter who is BF exclusively, either nursing or with born free bottles. the advice i received was to have my husband give her 1 bottle/week of BM starting at 3 weeks old when i was out of the house. i went back to work when she was 10 weeks and she had no problem taking the bottle. she still doesn't but definitely prefers me!! hope this helps.

Hi Ruby, My name is M.. I am a mother of 3 who also strictly breastfed my children. Now that my children are older, I have gone to school and became a pediatric nurse. Breastfed babies shouldn't be given a bottle before 2 weeks of age for 2 reasons. #1 so they get well established with nursing and latching onto moms breast, #2 mom's milk takes a couple of weeks to come in entirely and pumping only empties the breast of 40% of milk where as nursing 10-12 minutes on each breast per feeding empties almost completely. Many of the mothers in are practice have tender nipples the 1st couple weeks and a breast pump could do more harm ( suction will be mush stronger).I never bought botles for my children but several patients have used the Aventis bottles to supplement. The nipples are different stages in which the flow of milk is slower or faster. I also so another brand of nipple that was soft on the outside to simulate moms breast and inside of that nipple was a firmer one causing the infant to have to work harder at sucking. I am sorry that I can't recall the name. Good luck. I hoep you will be able the breastfed for the 1st year or longer with this next baby.

Sounds like you got some great advice already.
We exclusively breastfed till 6 months or more and still breastfeed at 14 months. My son took his first bottle of expressed milk at 5 or 6 weeks old. He had a lot of trouble in the first few weeks with weight gain etc.. so my ped had me pump and feed him with a syringe... well we used an eye dropper. You could try that for the first few weeks until the latch is worked out well. You could also try a small cup instead of a bottle. We used Dr. Brown's bottles and I NEVER fed him with a bottle.. still haven't. Only my husband or the person watching him gave him the bottle.. we found that worked because he looked to me for nursing and looked to my husband or a caregiver for the bottle. We also waited for 5 weeks to introduce the pacifier. My son had no problem taking the pacifier or bottle.

I breastfeed and supplemented with bottles both kids. With my second I was only able to breastfeed for a short time. I initially used Dr. Brown's which I liked but because of the toxins in the plastic I switched to Born Free. My daughter adapted easily and I feel safter knowing that toxins are not leaching into her formula. Dr. Brown's does make a glass bottle now which is safe however.