What's the best way to introduce my baby to a bottle?
A baby sucks from a bottle very differently from the way she does from your breast, since getting milk from a bottle is easier. To avoid nipple confusion, wait until breastfeeding is well established and your baby is 3 to 4 weeks old, and then introduce the bottle at least two weeks before you return to work. Offer her a bottle a little earlier than your regular feeding time. You'll want her to be hungry and interested, but not so hungry that this cold nipple will frustrate her.
Your baby will also be less confused if you don't give her the bottle yourself. Instead, ask someone who might be feeding her in your absence — your mother, your partner, a childcare provider, or another mother — to make this first introduction. Ideally, bottle-feeding is just as nurturing physically as breastfeeding, so the bottle giver should cuddle the baby close.
Some babies like to be held in a nursing position while drinking from a bottle; others find that position disconcerting. Ask whoever is giving her the bottle to experiment while maintaining eye contact with your baby. Give her a chance to get used to this new experience. If she resists, warm the nipple with warm water (cold rubber or latex isn't that appealing), let her play with the nipple, or try another position.
What if I decide to wean my baby from the breast?
If you've decided to wean your baby, or to cut back nursing to before and after work, you deserve congratulations and support because you've already given your baby weeks, if not months, of breast milk. Just try to be sure that your baby gets the same one-on-one, physically nurturing and affectionate time with you and a bottle as she did with you and the breast.
source from http://www.babycenter.com
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