Offering a bottle to breastfeeding baby may influence their breastfeeding.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t offer bottles if you want, nor that every baby who is bottle fed go on to develop challenges with breastfeeding. However, I do want to share this information you can introduce bottles in the most protective way in order to continue to breastfeed your baby in the way you want to!

Bottle refusal in breastfed babies is a common phenomenon and for those families who choose for a bottle to feature as part of their breastfeeding journey it can be highly frustrating to be met with a baby who won’t take the bottle.

Breast fed babies do not need to learn to bottle feed. However there may be circumstances where for personal reasons they may prefer their infant to take a bottle here and there. And this blog is for families who have made that choice but who are struggling to get their baby to accept a bottle.

I support families of children who have feeding difficulties, I also support many parents, usually mothers, who feel low and isolated and who tell me they feel they feel helpless or that they are failing. It is important to me to always talk to families about how they are feeling and the journey they have been are on as I strongly believe that families can be traumatised by challenging early feeding experiences and that part of my role is to listen and help.