Of course, in a Utopian world, babies would only get breast until
they are ready for a cup at the family dinner table.  However, this
isn't reality for many moms.
I usually say "a month".  It is put in terms of "IF you are going to
introduce a bottle...".  If mom will be working outside the home and
taking baby with her or going to baby to nurse isn't an option, the
baby will obviously need to get her milk "from another container".
If she won't be working (or going to school) outside the home, then
I point out that many such mothers never use bottles-they nurse
exclusively until baby is ready to learn to take liquids from a
cup.  There seems to be a widespread attitude that all babies MUST
learn to take a bottle, and I want to at least get her to think it
isn't absolutely necessary.  Again, the reality is that some will
want baby to be able to take a bottle even if mom will be at home
and we don't see a "valid" reason.  If we come across as "never give
a bottle", we may be ignored completely on all our
suggestions/recommendations.

So why a month?  I know some sources say 3 weeks.  Here's my
reasoning: Most moms going "back to work" return at 6 weeks-some are
fortunate to have longer.  I recommend they give baby a couple weeks
to accept that food can "come in other containers".  So starting to
acquaint baby with a bottle (or whatever method will be used) at a
month (4 weeks) gives the 2 weeks before mom will be away.  (We run
across some who for whatever reason are returning much sooner-as
often as next week.  That offers special challenges-not only in
regards to feeding, but I worry that mom isn't physically ready
regardless of her feeding method!)  Also, we tend to throw a lot of
numbers at mom (at least 8 glasses of liquid for her, at least 6 wet
and 3-4 dirty diapers per day for baby, nursing 8-14 times a day on
average, etc.).  Then "a month" is easier to keep in mind than a
number like "3", "4", etc.
I point out to moms that introducing a bottle earlier doesn't
guarantee that baby will continue to accept it (in addition to the
other concerns with introducing it earlier).  She is bound to hear
"if only you had started the bottle earlier, baby would accept it
better now".  Some docs are even saying to introduce it by 2 weeks
to "guarantee" that baby will take it at a later date.  I have seen
a number of situations where baby may accept the bottle at one
point, then reject it later.  I tell her baby has gotten smarter,
figured out there is a difference and is letting her know he
definitely likes mom beter than the impersonal artificial container.

Incidentally, it seems like problems moms call with come in
clusters.  For a while, a big percentage of calls may deal with
sleep concerns, then those taper off and the frequent one may be
"colic" etc.  The "problem de jour" the last couple weeks for us has
been the baby that refuses to learn to take a bottle.  Go figure.

Winnie

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