Getting my biting 9 month old onto formula

[CazzaB]

Hoping some wise mums can help. My BF 9 month old is biting with increased frequency and so I have decided that now is the time to start formula . However he is not happy taking from a bottle, and although he will take water from a free flow beaker I am concerned that a free flow beaker is possibly not the best option for the volume of milk he should be drinking. Am beginning to get very stressed about it all and nowhere seems to give any advice. Thanks.

[SenoraPostrophe]

a beaker will be fine, you know. some babies don't like bottles and at 9 months he only needs 2 milk feeds a day doesn't he? (at least - you can give two milk feeds a day plus yoghurts etc).

otoh if you really are about giving up breastfeeding - the biting is probably just a phase. ds did it for a bit and then stopped and I b-fed till 15 months. he never did have a bottle (and I tried and tried. hence the suggestion to just go with a cup!)

[luciemule]

Hi CazzaB - my DS started taking daytime formula feeds at around 18 months but wouldn't take a bottle so instead, I used the Avent bottles but with a green spout (they come in packs of 2 at Tesco etc). Have you seen them? They're hard spouts with a non drip rubber disk you fit underneath the spout so come apart for easy washing. Then you push the spout into a white bottle neck thing that a usual teat would fit into. So he felt he was drinking from a cup and spout but I could easily measure out formula without having to swap containers. Hope you find something that works.
How long has he been biting for because, although it's annoying, my DS tried the biting thing but at a time when I didn't want to stop BF. So I used to firmly de-latch him and say "no - we don't do that" and latch him back on again. It workd within a week - and made sure I didn't let him feel/see me wince when he bit me. It must be hard to do that if he really bites a lot though!

[SenoraPostrophe]

I de-latched ds too. but it was more of an instinct than a plan!

[CazzaB]

Thanks for the advice guys. He's been biting for a good month or so, but it is getting more frequent. It used to be just at the end of a feed but now it is usually near the start. he's only got one tooth yet it's really painful, so I am dreading him getting any more especially his top ones!! I've tried to say no and have put him down to let him know I'm not happy but he usually beams up at me and then if I put him back on he bites again and looks up as if to say 'was that what I was doing?' I am just wondering if the biting is also his way of telling me he is ready to move on also.....just how me manage that is now the problem.

[SenoraPostrophe]

it's not his way of telling you it's time to move on. it may be his way of winding you up though.

seriously - try taking him off and saying no sharply with no smiling every time he bites. usually works quite quickly.

[Wallerbies]

Hi I'm still BF a 10month old with 6 teeth when he bites I say loudly "Ouch that hurt" and then promptly put him in his cot and walk out the room and finish feeding for the night but it is a phase they go through, when DS was 6months he drew blood I was so horrified I tried to wean him but he does not like the bottle but he does drink some milk from a free flow, if he likes it then good! The other worst bite was just as I was falling asleep in the middle of the night when I started to have a nightmare about having my nipple bitten off and he was biting me - OUCH!! Good luck he will get the message