Hello! My name is Miriah Hanson and I am Nursing student at the University of North Dakota. I am working with an expectant mother who plans to breastfeed. She also plans to breastfeed and pump when she returns to work. She is concerned about when and how she should introduce a bottle. I have done some research on this and would appreciate your input on what has worked for you. This is some of the information I have found. Bocar (1997) suggests that a bottle should be introduced at least two weeks before mom returns to work, preferably by someone other than mom. Bocar also states that moms should wait until the baby is at least two to four weeks old before introducing a bottle. Righard (1998) noted that if the bottle is given at an early age, the baby may develop a preference for the bottle. Gromada and Spangler (1998) state that the use of pacifiers and bottles should be completely avoided during the newborn period. I am interested in what your experiences are with introducing a bottle and what are some of the better ways to avoid developing problems when going from exclusive breastfeeding to feeding expressed milk and breastfeeding. Thank you, Miriah Hanson University of North Dakota-College of Nursing Bocar, D.L. (1997) Combing breastfeeding and employment: Increasing success. Journal of Perinatal Nursing, (11)2, 23-43. Gromada, K. & Spangler, A. (1998) Breastfeeding twins and higher-order multiples. JOGGN, (27)4, 441-449. Righard, L. (1998) Are breastfeeding problems related to incorrect breastfeeding techniques and the use of pacifiers and bottles? Birth, (2501, 40-43. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html