Stopping bf 8 month old

[AnnaMouse]

With my first I stopped bf at 7 months prior to going back to work at 9 months old. I am taking longer off this time around and we are still bf at nearly 8 months old. I had booked a weekend away with my sister last year and this is coming up in 2 weeks time! I thought I would have stopped bf by now. Argh!
My son bf every 4 hours (8ish, lunch, 4/5pm ish and bedtime). He has never accepted milk from a bottle. He now will drink up to 1 oz formula in sips from tommee tippee type of cup first thing but wont take more than 1 oz or accept it at other times of the day. I use formula in his porridge/weetabix to get him used to the taste.
He cries for milk after about 4 hours and wont accept different type of drink (water/formula) to settle him.
So worried about leaving him overnight. I feel it is a good time for us both to stop feeding, or at the very least accept milk in a different way so that he can be looked after by someone else.
Any advice/success stories gratefully received. Thank you

[MoodyOne]

Following, as I will have this with my 6 month old x

[PodgeBod]

My 8mo won't take any bottle or cup at all. I'm going to take the hard line this weekend and try and force her on to bottles because she's biting now and I'm just so done with bf.
Sorry I don't have any advice but I'm happy to give moral support if you want it. I'm settling myself in for a heartbreaking few days. I can't stand the crying and usually give in.

[theoldlocket]

Following this also... my baby is 7 months and I had hoped to drop feeds very slowly once on solids but he has other ideas!!

[AnnaMouse]

Oh no, we're all in the same boat!
It is so hard when they are crying so hard and you know that bf will sort it all out but want to stop :( I got one of the Nuby natural touch bottle to cup ones from Boots and that seemed good as they could chew it and milk would come out. That and the free flowing sippy cups (but not too fast).
Gave up with bottles, none cut the mustard for him!
Good luck with the cold turkey over the weekend, you are braver than I Podgebod, you realise that you might get emotional off the back of stopping bf? just be prepared for that.
I haven't rang them yet but realised through this website that there are two bf helplines - 0300 100 0210 and 0300 100 0212, was thinking I might try ringing them. All the HV's say is try to cut down bf, get husband to feed with formula/bottle.
Are you all trying with expressed milk or formula? x x

[theoldlocket]

I had been giving a bottle of ebm or formula here and there up until he was about 5 months old with no problems at all, then one day I was out and he was with his dad and he just decided nope, im done with bottles! And he hasn't taken one since! I'm hoping he'll suddenly just decide one day to take it again so I've been offering formula in a bottle sometimes and he's getting good at holding it himself but is yet to figure out how to tilt it up and drink, once he's mastered that I hope he'll be happy to drink it... fingers crossed!!

[PodgeBod]

I'm prepared for it to be really tough but bf is making me so miserable now that I think it will be best for both of us to stop. I've tried cutting her down before and she just won't touch the bottle at all. Good luck with your lo

[theoldlocket]

Just be careful podgeBod with cold turkey, you could end up really engorged and risk mastitis so maybe try and pump or hand express a little for relief once you've stopped but not too much so as to reduce your supply :) sometimes hormones can go a bit nuts after you stop and this was definitely true for me with my first, I cried for about 3 weeks after her last feed for no apparent reasons! Good luck to you I hope you have success with the bottle

[MinisWin]

Following too, I'm also utterly done with breastfeeding my bottle refusing, fed-to-sleep, stubborn as a mule 8mo DD, but just can't bring myself to go cold turkey (mainly because I'm not brave enough for the screaming...) We are however now managing an ounce or two from a Doidy cup after weeks of trying.

[PodgeBod]

Thanks locket I'll do that. It would be just my luck to get her on the bottle and end up with mastitis!
Im feeling a bit wobbly about it now. I think I'll just stop the day feeds. She feeds every 2 hours at night so I can't see that stopping right now. But I'm going to have to do something about those biting 😢 it's making feeding her so unpleasant.

[theoldlocket]

Oh I know mine feeds throughout the evening and overnight too :( thankfully we only had around 1 week of biting once the 2 bottom teeth came up and then it was almost like he learned how to latch again and we haven't had any biting since then! It was also only at nighttime the biting happened, I was barely awake and it was so so painful. I'm hoping it doesn't happen with every new tooth :( I'm really hoping that when I go back to work he will just naturally wean during the day anyway and we can work on the nighttime feeds after that

[AnnaMouse]

PodgeBod, every 2 hours overnight?! You must be so tired! Is she a big baby? Our first was much bigger and always woke to feed for ages. This one, smaller has settled at night better. Is she feeding ok on solids through the day? Our HV assured us they wouldn't need feeding at night so I would experiment with that overnight, try just settling back to bed a couple of times and doing only one/two feeds. See what those helplines say...

[PodgeBod]

She's pretty much average weight but she doesn't eat very well during the day- she doesn't really like being spoon fed and doesn't make much of her finger foods either. It's a good job she's cute, really well she was up before 6 today and I breastfed her until 9 including one really good long feed and it's been cups and bottles since then. She is not happy to say the least. OH just got in from work so I'm going to let him take over now, maybe that will help. At 7 I will give her a bath and then I'll go back to the breast.
Anybody else having any luck?

[AnnaMouse]

Well Done PodgeBod. Hope you get a good night tonight. I found that giving the baby a spoon to play with distracts him if I am doing a spoon fed meal, that and singing to him! haha x
Our day went ok, he's been quiet (I hope not brewing illness) but skipped his bf at 8am and lasted till 11am. So only bf 3 times today (11am, 3pm and 7pm). He took 2 oz over breakfast and same at tea time. So I am chuffed with that and gives me hope that we are headed in the right direction!
Good luck all x

[Riversid3]

I'm in the same boat too - 8 month old bottle refuser but I'm done with bfeeding. She will take 20/30mls from a mam bottle but that's it. I'm thinking of going cold turkey but not sure as she definitely won't get enough milk. Argh!

[AnnaMouse]

So after 2 plus months of getting my son used to the taste of formula by using on his breakfast, taking sips like water. He finally managed 2 oz morning and afternoon Sat and Sun. I then tried a different teat top to the Nuby natural touch beaker and he downed 4 oz yesterday morning. Had to refill it so he could have more. He then managed 3 oz, 2 oz, 6 oz and 6 oz for bedtime. We are now on day 2 of not breastfeeding.
It has been a long time coming, I feel like we have tried every cup/bottle available but we have got there. I hope it continues and I wish you all luck in your quest to transfer to formula. Keep trying x x

[MinisWin]

Anna sorry for the late return to this thread - well done on your efforts! We are still doing a tortoise effort with a Doidy cup, but solids going much better this week and BFs spacing out more night and day. Would you be able to link the teat that you had success with please? Thanks!