What accessory comes with nearly every toy baby doll? A bottle! Bottles are everywhere when we think of babies, and yes, if you adopt a baby doll, you might need a bottle to feed it if you don’t pretend to induce lactation, but we’ve also become a culture that cannot disassociate a bottle from a baby.

So, do you have to pump? Must every baby take a bottle in their life? The answer might surprise you.

Bottles have their place, and every family has different needs around feeding their baby, but it is absolutely not necessary to pump nor feed by bottle! And even if a bottle feeding is necessary, there are other ways to transfer milk from the parent to the baby. Let’s dive in.

In the early days if needed, milk or colostrum can be expressed by hand or with a pump, and given to baby by cup, syringe, or bottle. Later on, a bottle is probably the most efficient method for moving milk from parent to baby, but hand expression has been shown to be more effective in removing milk than a pump, so while it might sound messier, it’s still an option. And once you have a baby that can sit upright and is starting solids and using a cup to drink water, milk can be given in a sippy cup and managed by the baby themselves.

It’s important to note, that all of these methods of expression and feeding can continue in tandem with feeds at the breast or chest, as usual. Or, if not needed, none of the above is necessary at all! Babies who are thriving at the breast/chest can continue that way and never not once be fed otherwise-it’s totally up to you and your family.