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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

ebf, weaning and the future

20 replies

fl0b0t · 03/02/2014 16:29

Hi all.
My lo is 22 weeks ( I think) today and has been ebf since about 10 days old. (History: sleepy jaundice baby wouldn't bf and we struggled for ages. Ended up expressing, then topping up with formula until bf was established).

Since about 10 weeks he has been a bottle refuser. We tried it all, different teats and bottles etc, persevering for weeks, getting the hv to help, checking lipase issues..... No luck. And he hated it all so much we ended up giving up.

I love bf and always wanted to continue bf for as long as I can. However as we stay to look towards weaning, I can't get my head around how it all works.

I want to continue to bf, to start on solids at 6 months and eventually introduce a sippy cup of some kind of ebm. I don't want to give him formula so need to get my head around weaning and then convince him to take a sippy cup. And find time to express. . ...

Positive stories please? !

OP posts:

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MinesAPintOfTea · 03/02/2014 16:33

We did blw and offered a sippy cup (standard Tommy tippee) of water with every meal. Then I expressed and when I was out dh would give expressed bm from the same cups.

When he went to nursery they would also use his cups from home to feed him expressed bm.

fl0b0t · 03/02/2014 16:38

Thanks. I was told that bf babies didn't need water as they got enough through the milk, whereas ff babies need water?
Thanks for the brand name. ... I'm a bit bottle/ cup blind and don't really know the differences! I bought a cup with a rubbery teat but the milk doesn't 'leak' out, it needs to be sucked.... and he's not worked out how to suck bottles (well, he forgot how to! )

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fl0b0t · 03/02/2014 16:41

Also, I currently am not expressing as he's not taking a bottle. If I do, I can get about 4-5oz out but have never expressed more than once a day. I Assume I'd need to express much more than that so someone else could feed him in the evening if I were to go out?

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MinesAPintOfTea · 03/02/2014 16:44

They do need water once solids are introduced iirc. Otherwise constipation is quite likely.

And its a learning process: it will take a while to master the cup and it being water makes it easier to not care about spillages

Wigeon · 03/02/2014 16:47

Tommy Tippee is the standard sippy cup which practically everyone uses - they are only£1 in Sainsburys. A 6 month old can just about cope with that although there will be quite a bit of tipping it upside down and shaking it around and various spills. But then weaning is a messy business anyway!

Do you NEED to express? Are you returning to work? If you aren't returning to work before your DS is 1, then you could just keep going with BF, then weaning combined with BF, then aged 12 months he can just move straight onto cow's milk. You don't HAVE to give a baby a bottle (unless you want to).

Also, I think it's possible he'll take to the bottle at, say 8 months, even if he hasn't so far. So all is not necessarily lost.

HoratiaDrelincourt · 03/02/2014 17:59

Everyone has the Tommy Tippee cup because it is the only one on the market that doesn't leak in your bag but does actually let the child drink

Yy to offering water with food to prevent constipation.

Spread milk feeds around solids. A typical day might be 7am milk, 8am breakfast, 9am nap... 10.30 milk, 11.30 lunch, 12pm nap... 3pm milk, 4.30pm tea, 7pm milk, etc.

From 6mo to 12mo the baby's system from mouth to, erm, nappy is getting used to food. Quantity doesn't matter: variety does. Variety of flavours, textures, temperatures.

minipie · 03/02/2014 20:35

Yes bf babies need water once they start solids.

Yes start with a sippy cup of water and then try ebm and then formula. Best if DH or someone else offers milk from a cup, and you go out, at least the first few times.

He may be less fussy about where his milk comes from once he's getting food and drink other ways as well, so try not to worry about it too much now.

minipie · 03/02/2014 20:37

sorry, ignore my reference to formula, misread your OP.

May I ask why you want to give a sippy cup of ebm rather than just bf? is it for when you go back to work?

fl0b0t · 03/02/2014 21:41

Part of it is for when I go back (but not going until he is 1yo)... But mostly I'd like a little time off every now and again. My lo hasn't been a wonderful sleeper and I spent a long while on

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fl0b0t · 03/02/2014 21:43

Part of it is for when I go back (but not going until he is 1yo)... But mostly I'd like a little time off every now and again. My lo hasn't been a wonderful sleeper and I spent a long while on

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minipie · 03/02/2014 23:22

oh I totally get that, not remotely selfish. But once he is weaning, assuming he takes to solids reasonably well, you should have a lot more flexibility even if you are still BFing and he won't take a cup or bottle. As your DH would be able to feed him some veg purée or whatever if he's hungry while you sleep/get out of the house etc.

That doesn't help with night feeds I know (but I found those dropped off too once dd was on three solid meals a day... just to give you hope!)

Agree totally about the tommee tippee basic sippy cup, it's great.

fl0b0t · 04/02/2014 17:13

Tried him on a tommee tippee sippy cup of ebm today. Wasn't too impressed but wasn't too bothered either. ... so it gave me hope!

Just thinking that I need him to take a cup or bottle for my kit days as I need the dosh and will be out the house for 12hrs at a time!

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dinkystinky · 04/02/2014 20:49

Those who give their ebf babies sippy cups - how much do they drink? DS3 is a bottle refusnik (we got him onto bottles after a week, had him on bottles of ebm during the day for 2 weeks before I went to work - and as soon as I went back to work he refused the bottles in their entirety!) and we're trying him on sippy cups but I'd be surprised if he takes more than 1 oz from the cup. What amounts were your babies taking? (DS3 is nearly 7 months btw)

fl0b0t · 05/02/2014 15:45

Hm half an ounce at most after 3 tries

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dinkystinky · 06/02/2014 09:18

Sounds similar to the amount we're getting into DS3 fl0bot - and I'm back at work now and out the house from 8 till nearly 7. On the plus side, he's eating really well (and drinking water well from a doidy cup - if you put milk in he refuses, but may take it from the sippy) and our poor beleaguered nanny is getting very adept at making breastmilk porridge for his puddings (which gets another couple of ounces of milk into him during the day - fortunately he likes porridge) with all the expressed milk sitting in the fridge. My biggest issue is what's going to happen on the days when for whatever reason I cant get home till much later than 7 (which does happen with my line of work).... sippy cup feeders, what did your babies do in those situations?

fl0b0t · 06/02/2014 23:26

dinky how old is ds3? My lo is feeding every 2hrs during the day and I can't even leave him for 90 minds as he gets hungryand angry.

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yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 07/02/2014 00:14

For weaning, i tend to think of milk and food separately, as in keep to the 3hr feeding schedule, as that's what ds dictates and give meals with water in a cup at meal times. It balances out at roughly food about an hour after milk feed.
Took me about 2 weeks from first starting to realise this would work.

yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 07/02/2014 00:15

Also I've got a nuby monster cup that doesn't leak.

dinkystinky · 07/02/2014 05:52

He is 7 months old today Flobot

SmileAndNod · 07/02/2014 06:36

I'm on number three too, and have always just continued to bf on demand once weaning commenced and have not offered water . Though I realize I was lucky in not going back to work till they were roughly 12 mo.

Now on dc3 she still feeds every few hours, even overnight. For the older bottle refusing dcs BM was offered through a doidy cup (as dinky mentioned) when I could manage to express any. Then once they turned one, they went on to cows milk if I wasn't with them - well that was the theory anyway.

Weaning has always just kind of fitted in without really thinking about it. I looked on milk as their main source of food until they were one - anything they got to try / play with after six months was a bonus.

You will be fine.

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