Breast to Cup at 6 Months - Can it be done?

[Horras]

DD is 6 months old. I am going back to work and therefore need to get her to take Formula (which she has never had!) She used to take the bottle (last gave her one with breast milk about 2 months ago), but tried it again yesterday with formula and she would have none of it! Am wondering whether it is better to get her to go straight onto the cup (and which cup?), and how do I get her to accept the formula?

[TracyK]

It took me a while to get ds to take anything from a cup - but he got it eventually - I think I got one of the anywayup cups from tescos. Maybe she's take bottle with ebm and then start mixing ebm with a little formula and gradually increase the amount of formula??
Even though ds was taking water from a cup - he couldn't get enough milk out of the cup fast enough when he really wanted a lot of milk.
When are you going back to work? I've heard that they don't really take as much milk at nursery during the day and sometimes babies accept a bottle of formula from others easier than from mummy.

[cheekychops03]

I put my ds straight on to a cup from the breat at 6 months and he went to it like a duck to water. You have to be careful with some of the 'non-spill' cups because some of them you have to suck so hard to get the valve to work, it can be quite frustrating for the baby. My HV advised me to try drinking from the cup myself first and if I find it difficult, ds would find it impossible. One of my friends recommended the Heinz baby basics cups, which I used and I personally think they are brilliant. They don't have the non-spill valves in them but I have never had an incident where he has poured his drink everywhere and anyway, he has to shake it pretty violently to get much out by tipping it upside down.

I have to say I never tried the bottle because I thought what was the point if I was going to have to wean him off it in another 6 months, whereas the cup I knew he would use for several years!!

Just a though - it may not be the bottle that your baby was not wanting. My SIL's dd refused it (and every other type of bottle/cup!) because the formula tasted so different to the breast milk she was used to. At first SIL mixed expressed and formula but actually ended up giving expressed breast milk and found it a lot easier then she thought doing the expressing.

Good luck and I hope this has helped.

[Horras]

Thanks so much. I think I am definitely going to persevere with the cup for the moment, but perhaps mixing expressed milk and formula together will do the trick. I am going back to work in a month (pretty apprehensive), but will keep persevering. I really don't feel like weaning her twice (breast to bottle and bottle to cup). Will try the Heinz cups too.