How to stop breastfeeding and start bottle feeding

[maddiesma]

Can anyone give me some advice on how to do this?
We have a complete refusal to take milk from bottle, beaker, or feeding cup (both formula and breastmilk are rejected), and we have to make a change soon as I return to work.
Have tried everything - NUK teats, avent teats, different times of day, husband trying to feed her (so she doesn't smell breastmilk), facing her away from me when feeding (ditto), and stopping breastfeeding (ie on the basis that 'when she's hungry enough she'll take the bottle' advice from health visitor). She just refuses, gets hysterical and goes to sleep.
How long can she go without a feed? As we tried for ten hours last time to bottle feed her, and I only gave in and breastfed as I wasn't sure it was safe for her to go without food any longer.
Do we just have to sit it out for a longer period, and how long is safe to do so?

[tayroo]

Hi, I used the Haberman Bottles (from the Baby Whisperer show) and they worked extremely well. Can't remember the company's name that I ordered them from but still have their telephone number if you're interested. Basically, they're supposed to mimic the breast.

[maddiesma]

Yes - the number would be great.

She's six motnhs now - it's very frustrating as she's at the stage where she'll put just about anyhting else within reach in her mouth quite happily - and has started on solids, which she eats quite happily ... but no chance of anything liquid in bottle or cup.

[tayroo]

Here's the number:
01594544440

'dinosaur's' suggestion of a cup may also be worth trying. Then you can skip the bottle stage completely and go directly to a cup. A few of my friends who have had similar problems when converting from BF to bottle have tried that and it's worked for them. Each baby's different and it may just be a bit of trial and error to see what suits your little one.

[maddiesma]

Thanks for the number.

Yep we've tried a cup - beaker and trainer cup with spout (with breast milk, formula, and water) all rejected, despite trying many times.

I would really like to stop breastfeeding now - has anyone gone down the just holding out, refusing to breastfeed her, until she takes the bottle route (as suggested by health visitor) - and if so, how long is OK ? - we've done 10 very painful hours before I gave in and breastfed her -she still refused the bottle ...

Really we're at a loss as to what to do next - and getting really tired (she is still waking several times every night).

[strangerthanfiction]

This is a really really common problem and one we went through with dd. I found that at 6 months she just wasn't prepared to try anything different but at 9 months she was. Also I gave her expressed breast milk to begin with so it was just the bottle that was unusual rather than what was in it. Then I gradually replaced that with formula. I also went back to work when she was 6 months but only part time. I b/f her in the morning and then dp was looking after her and he'd get her to have as much breastmilk from a bottle as she would and also gave her milk substitute kinds of foods and lots of water from a beaker (which she would take, though never milk from the same beaker) and I'd feed her when I got home. I expressed at lunchtime at work and froze that so that was what he'd give her when I was next a work. It worked very well and as I say by 9 months she was more happy to have a full bottle of formula in the day so I didn't need to express any more. Like you, when she was 6 months, we tried EVERYTHING, but she wouldn't take a bottle. In the end the method that worked best was to give her the bottle when she was in her chair with a video on, to make the milk chilled and not to make an issue of it (i.e. no cajoling etc.)

[tiktok]

Call the NCT enq line 0870 444 8707, maddiesma, and ask them to send you a factsheet called Bottles For Breastfed Babies - it's got loads of tips on it.

Not a good idea to 'starve' a baby into submission in my view - it rarely works and it makes everyone unhappy.

Instead, think of it as teaching a baby a new skill - how well would you learn a new skill if you were very hungry, confused and cross? And you're an adult!

Sadly, this is sometimes the standard advice from HVs.....

[amysoph]

I too was given this advice from a HV, and I have to say that it worked for me, but it was not a pleasant experience. The situation was, my dd1 was 4 mths old, and I was returning to work full time, as a teacher. I felt I had to stop bfeeding, expressing milk at school just did not seem like an option. She would not take any kind of milk in any kind of receptacle with any kind of teat. I went up to stay with my parents, feeling that I wanted my mum's support. We spoke to two friends who had also been down this route, and their advice was the same, to just be persistent, and, if possible, to get someone else to do it, as they would be less emotionally attached. Mum felt confident she could handle it, so off we went. It was bloody awful - 24 hours later, dd was still not accepting a bottle, the screaming was horrendous, I was in pieces, and my dad decamped to the pub. We went to the local health clinic to seek advice, as I was worried about dehydration. A very nice HV suggested spooning in water to prevent dehydration, but otherwise to carry on. DD took the bottle a few hours later, and we never looked back from there. As I said, I cannot pretend it was easy, and I cried like I have never cried before, it seemed so cruel to dd. I feel emotional even now, typing this, and it was nearly 3 years ago. I also feel emotional thinking about how patient and brave my mum was, I could not have trusted anyone else to do this for me.

I am not a health professional, my advice is just based on my own experience - if, like me, there is not another option, time is tight, and you are pretty desperate, then try it. Could your mum or mil help out? or could your husband handle it?

From the bottom of my heart, I wish you success. Hope to hear how you got on.

[PandoraDeus]

I've been using an Avent hand pump for the last few months fairly successfully when I returned to work but for the last week or so my milk supply is rapidly getting less, from between 6 to 9 ounces a time, I'm barely producing 2.
Junior hasn't fed from me for a long time now, I work weird hours so it was easier to express & feed from a bottle. Any ideas how I can restimulate my supply or is the beginning of the end??

[mummytojames]

to express 2oz at a time is useualy good but try expressing more often if possible like double the amount (if expressing every four hours do it every two it will trigger the body into realising the baby needs more milk

[PandoraDeus]

I feel so pathetic though!
I can 2 hourly express at home but when I'm working - nigh on impossible!
I'm determined to keep up the 'breast feeding' tho, I gave up far too early with my other 3

[maddiesma]

Thanks amysoph.

As I said we tried for 10 hours last time, but I was getting worried about dehydration.

I have to go back to work full time - have a long commute am and pm, and expressing etc is just not an option for me at work, so have to stop one way or another.

Mum no longer with us unfortunately but have a great husband who took the brunt last time and is willing to try again (I went out for a while, but had to give in when I came back - emotional is not the word, the crying, the accusing looks etc -she was so unhappy and I felt absolutely terrible!.)

Will persevere trying slowly over the next few weeks to introduce (we have a huge variety of bottles, teats, cups accumulated during our many attempts), and if that still doesn't work, and it gets to crunch time, will have to just stop again.... Will let you know!

[Lou123]

Have you tried Tommee Tippee Nuby teats (fastflow)? My ds refused to take bottle before trying these. It also helped when dh gave fed him in a darkened room to 'confuse' ds a little. Good luck.

[Branster]

i don't know what is the proffesional view on this matter, but i would say it might be an idea to firstly decide on one item of feeding her (either a bottle or a cup) and stick to that one choice. my dd never drank anything from a bottle (i had a few in the house but she never actually managed to drink anything from them) and when she was 4m old i started offering her water in a little heinz cup (it has a soft spout and the liquid flows very easily through it). when i started weaning her from the breast i was offering her a bit of expressed milk in that cup. perhaps best to attempt it when she's hungry but not too hungry (otherwise she's be frustrated), for example, before giving her her lunchtime food, or in the morning when she wakes up in a good mood. and hopefully build up on that and swithching from expressed milk to formula. it is all a suggestion based on my own experience and it might not work for you, but i hope you'll get a result one way or another. good luck!

[loujay]

My dd was the same and we went through 6 months of trying every night for dp to feed her before going to bed!!
It might be worth trying a bottle during the night (if night time feeds are still happening)
In the end I tried this, dd wasnt really awake and I put a bottle of formula in and she took it!!!
I didnt warm it up (by that stage I wasnt going to all that trouble if she wasnt going to have it anyway)
I did this for a few nights and then gradually started feeding her during the day like this.
I have found that the nuk teats are the best but everyone has their own opinions obviously.
Hope this helps

[maddiesma]

Of course it doesn't help that now she's 6 months her favourite mode of communication, whether she's happy or sad, is blowing raspberries ... everything is now covered in formula milk

[bluebear]

I had 3 months of dd refusing any type of milk (EBM or formula) from anything that wasn't a breast...finally she accepted playtex bottles - they have a scarily realistic 'nipple' which elongates when sucked..she only took 1oz or so to begin with, but it's now a month further along and she's started to take 5oz a couple of times a day.

[Piffleoffagus]

hte only thing that we got our dd to drink out of aside from boob juice was the lid off an avent bottle, and then it took ages, advantage being though she can drink a lot quite quickly after learning this and now is a pro!
We tried every bottle, this was just so granny could look after her for one night while we went out for a meal and a drink, no dice...

[hercules]

Second playtex - can only get them from small chemists though.