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Infant feeding

Baby won't take a bottle- how hard will stopping BFeeding be?

6 replies

JenniferR · 21/07/2011 19:41

Hi there

I've been trying to get my baby to take a bottle for a couple of months now. This hasn't been going well. She refuses to take formula but will take expressed milk if I give it to her between breastfeeding- she took 40ml in 3 minutes! However she was so spaced out didn't know it wasn't a breast i think :) She has a huge appetite and I am exhausted at trying to keep up with her demand- she's almost 4 months and needs to feed every 2 hours during the day- sometimes even every 1.5 hour!

I'm quite anxious as I need to return to work when she'll be 8 months and I really want to have stopped breastfeeding by then. Ideally I'd like her to be taking formula and solids. I just feel that this will never happen and I'll really upset her when it comes to the time.

Has anyone else gone through this? How did you manage it? She also needs a feed before she goes to bed, her sleeping isn't great as it is and I dread what will happen when I have to stop feeding her at night.

I know I may sound a bit odd thinking about this now but it's really playing on my mind and that's not a good thing when you're up through the night feeding- it's stopping me get the most of what little sleep I can get.

So if anyone has time to post any tips or 'how was it for you' stories I'd be so grateful.

Jx

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RitaMorgan · 21/07/2011 19:45

By 8 months she'll be feeding much less often, and she can have milk from a cup. Actually if she's really not keen on a bottle you could try a cup now. There will be huge changes in the next 3 or 4 months so I'd try not to worry about it now.

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kellieb7 · 21/07/2011 20:20

Hi, just wanted to say that I also really worried about this as my DD has always point blank refused to have a bottle or infact anything that wasn't my nipple in her mouth. I therefore introduced a doidy cup and she took to it really well. She is 6.5 months now and will take EBM from other people out of it and will happily have water with her meal times. I can't really help in regards to not nursing to sleep as I think I will probably be doing it when DD gets in from the pub as nothing gets my little lady to sleep except the boob Grin. I would just skip the bottles and go straight for a cup, it will also be one less thing to wean her off! Good luck x

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mummy22gorgeousboys · 21/07/2011 21:34

Hi,
I bf my ds1 for 5 months before having to go back to work and it took us 2 months for him to be completely off bf so it's good you're thinking about it now.

Like you, my lo used to feed every 2 hours for months!

We decided on a time that Alfie would be refused breast and offered a bottle instead and very gradually made the time gap bigger. So we started by refusing breast between 5.30pm and 10pm. So we knew he would be hungry after / during the time gap as it was quite a big gap as he was used to being fed every 2 hours. We chose this time slot as that was when I would have been at work and my husband was at home to help with the transition.

For quite a few days - about a week probably - he refused a bottle, point blank and preferred to go without. But eventually he started to take small amounts of formula. Very gradually he started to take more and eventually increased the time slot for formula.

I have to say though that Alfie refused for quite a while to take a bottle from me, holding out for breast I think. My husband had to do it instead. We found the process very hard at times because obviously Alfie cried a lot and was very upset at times. Many an occasion I felt like whipping out my boob just to settle him when he was so upset. It can be upsetting.

But unfortunately it's part of stopping bf, and once he was on the bottle he drank gallons of the stuff. Even when he could drink cows milk I used to have to buy 30 pints a week for Alfie, me and my husband!

Good luck, and hope this helps!

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MigGril · 21/07/2011 21:59

There is a huge differences between an 8month onld and a 4month old. By then she'll be on solids and as others have said you can give milk in a cup.

DS is now 8 1/2 months and really if I was working full time would only be missing 2 feed's from me during the day.

Do you want to stop when you return to work? There is no reasion why if you don't want to express that she can't have formula for the feed's that your not there for and then still BF from you when at home.

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Fontsnob · 21/07/2011 22:13

Hi, I was dreading going back to work knowing that dd wouldn't take a bottle. Turned out that we were both fine though, i started off dropping her day feeds and making sure if she wouldn't take the formula that she had lots of yoghurt/cheese for lunch and snack. Then at about 9 months I decided to stop BF completely and I guess she decided the same as I just stopped and she just took a bottle.

I think a huge part of it being so easy was my resolute decision to stop. Up until that point I had thought a couple of times that i'd try and stop, but she would root about and I would relent.

The bottle she took in the end was a really colourful MAM bottle, i think by the time she took it she was just interested in having another colourful thing in her mouth! We now have a cupboard FULL of every bottle ever invented from the months of trying to get her to take one!

You'll both be okay. :)

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JenniferR · 22/07/2011 11:37

Thank you everyone for responding. It's great to hear from you and hear that it is possible- although will take time. I will be able to bear in mind all you have said when things get challenging!
Thanks for the tip regarding the cup, that's a great idea.

Jx

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