How many bottles of formula should I give a day as I move from bf

[Watford]

My dd is 5 and a half months old and I want to finish bf by Xmas at the latest. I have managed to get her to take a couple of bottles a day in the last week (was refusing all bottles). In the last couple of days she has happily taken formula as well as ebm. I am just feeding her morning and evening but she still wakes during the night and wants a feed. How do I get her on to bottlefeeding completely? She is also already on solids as she is such a hungry baby. I am not sure how many feeds of formular she should have as up to now I have just fed on demand. So should she have one of those cartons of milk twice a day or three times?

[smilingpolitely]

Hi watford, I would just go by the chart on the side of the formula tin. It's a guide and you could alter according to how much you waste or how often she drains the bottle.

[mummynumnum]

Watford-Can I ask how you manged to get dd to take bottle/formula? My dd is 21wks and going back to work week after next and panicking that she wont feed whilst I am at work, as she has been exclusively breastfed and has never taken bottle. Will only take oz or two of ebm out of a cup.

[Watford]

I had same problem early on. She took a bottle of expressed milk without problem from about 3 weeks and did so fairly often when I wanted to go out, leave her a while etc. When I went back to work she was about 3 and a half month. About a week before she started to refuse the bottle and would not take one. It meant going back to work was pretty difficult and I had to go back to see her every few hours to feed her. About two weeks ago I had my mother in law try it again and just persevere with her and it worked. It seems that the breast milk was ok but she did not like SMA. We have changed over to cow and gate and that seems to be working fine. Now I am just feeding in the evenings. I think if you can get someone else to persevere with the bottle feeding that helps. Once it was established she was happy to take bottles from me too. Good luck.

[DetentionGrrrl]

I'm in same position- am making up 3 big bottles alongside meals (8ozs) and 2 small ones (4ozs). DS tends to have a 'snack' bottle between bfast/lunch, then lunch/dinner, so i use the 4oz ones for them. When he wants nightfeeds, i b/feed him then, but will drop this eventually. Just make too much, and adjust accordingly. Hope it goes well for you!