I want to stop breastfeeding but she won’t take a bottle

[AwkwardAsAllGetout]

Dd is 18 weeks old and for various reasons I want to stop feeding. Mostly for my mental health if I’m honest, she’s had a very difficult start with colic and I’m kind of fed up of being a walking boob pacifier and having no kind of routine. I fed my others til over a year and I had intended to do the same but I just feel done. I’m happy to keep expressing if I have to. But dd simply won’t take a bottle. We’ve tried different ones at different times but I fear we’ve left it too late. How am I supposed to do this? Go straight to a cup?

[AngelasAshes]

Don’t know if it will work for you, but worked for me.
I had to leave baby, bottle and DH alone in house for several hours over a usual feeding time bottle to be accepted. If I were home, she would not take it. Once she got used to it, I could be in house again but not same room.

[AwkwardAsAllGetout]

Thank you, I feel so guilty leaving him with her though when I know she’ll most likely scream the house down! He wants to go to the cinema this week though (and I’m happy for him to, he needs a break!) butbit got me thinking how I’d never ask the same downtime for myself while she’s still feeding so often. And I want to be able to leave her for a few hours should I need to. So maybe I’ll say he can go one night and I’ll go the next. I’ll probably spend the whole time on edge but I’ve got to start somewhere. We had to just survive the first few months with her and as a result it still feels like we have a newborn really as she’s still very unpredictable with routine and sleeping.

[DonPablo]

It's shit isn't it? I stopped bf my youngest much earlier than I'd planned to, for various reasons, not least of which was I was done.

It took almost 20 miserable hours of no feeding from the boon to get him to take a bottle. I would never recommend cold turkey, but I had to in the end. Ds was 8 months.

Things I learned. The milk needs to be quite warm. Surprisingly warm actually.

The latex tears seemed most like a nipple and did win him over in the end.

He liked a bottle with handles. Boots used to do a cheap one, like a cross between a feeder cup and a bottle. He loved those handles!

It's hard. Hard to watch, hard to relax, hard to be that definite.

I was much happier once it was done. Took a good week or so for my milk to tail off and another couple of months for it to go completely.

[AngelasAshes]

Don’t feel guilty! My DH was the SAHP. Babies are fine with either parent. The take turns going out is a great idea. We did that and called it “tag teaming.” DH would take them so I could exercise and one night a week, I’d go out to do my dance troupe. Then I’d have then whike DH exercised and he had his one night out a week with his mates. Once they’re around 8-9mos we were comfortable getting a child minder so we could go out together.

[AngelasAshes]

You will be on edge the first few times, but as your DH and baby get into a pattern you will relax.

[Hadalifeonce]

When I stopped with DD, DH did all the feeds for a couple of days. I got nowhere near her when she was hungry, if she could smell me she wanted the boob.

[BetaCarotene]

I had a similar problem. Unfortunately she didn't take a bottle until she was 11mo, and that was helped by starting nursery, before which I gradually increased the intervals between breastfeeds. I tried every bottle, a giant syringe and a cup. She would never take expressed milk or formula, but eventually started taking cold cow's milk in this NUK spout, possibly because it is not really a breast substitute, more of a sippy cup.

[WeShouldOpenABar]

My sister left her lo with my mother for a night and by the time she was back she was weaned, she warned her not to let her back on the boob and undo her hard work though, so she had to stop suddenly which was tough on her body. Better in the long run though

[BetaCarotene]

I also tried the staying away technique. She just waited for me to come home.

[WeShouldOpenABar]

And a friends dd went straight to sippy cup just never wanted a bottle, worth a try