I want to mix feed but 16-week old doesn't!

[pendulum]

I reached the decision this week that I want to begin winding down BF slowly. DD2 (16 weeks) has taken the odd bottle of EBM since she was 8 weeks with no problem. Over the last week I have introduced a bottle of formula at bedtime which she has taken fine.

However, for the last few days she has suddenly refused flat out to take the bottle. Does she know what I'm up to? And how do I persuade her- should I be trying a bottle every day or leaving it a few days in between, trying different teats etc? I know an obvious step would be to feed her EBM from the bottle but I just don't have time to express, one of my main reasons for stopping BF is that I don't have enough time for DD1 and expressing would just take up more time.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

[chipmonkey]

Oh, yes, she's a smart cookie all right! Ds3 did this at the same age even though he had had bottles of EBM since birth! I tried a few times with varying success. The first time I made him wait for 4 hours and then used an Avent bottle with the MAM ultivent teat, holding him facing away from me, walking around and singing! Also, the day before, I had brought him to visit my friend who was ff her baby in the hope that peer pressure would work!
He did take the bottle this way but later refused it again! I left it for a while and then introduced him to the Playtex bottle with latex NaturalLatch teat. He seemed to much prefer the softer teat and it did look more breast-like than the Avent or MAM teat. I know other MNers have managed to get the baby to take milk from an Avent trainer cup with the valve removed but this was impractical for me as I needed him to take milk in nursery and transporting the cup with the non-spill valve removed was tricky!

[pendulum]

hi chipmonkey,
thanks for the reply. I will look out for those NaturalLatch teats (never heard of them before). My DD1 loved bottles and never looked back when I stopped BF her, so this has come as a bit of a surprise!

[chipmonkey]

pendulum you can get them on baby-supplies.co.uk but they will only fit the Playtex disposable bottle so I'm afraid you have to buy the whole kit! My ds1 and ds2 were very good about switching between the two as well! But ds3 has proved to be stubborn in many other ways since, so it was just an early manifestatio of his personality!