Baby won't switch from BM to formula! Help!

[Dfly]

I’ve been exclusively pumping breast milk for my baby daughter for most of her life (we tried direct breast to start with but latch was an issue and she was then hospitalized for a while and we lost the knack). Anyway, pumping as you know takes its toll. She’s six months and one week old and for the past month or so we have been trying everything to get her to accept formula instead of my bottled breast milk. Anyone been through this who succeeded? So far we have tried the following and nothing has worked... she has never taken more than 2oz.

• tried different formula types giving her a few days in a row of each one to get used to it (we did four types, both ready to drink formula and the powder mixes). Didn’t work.
• tried mixing formula into BM in different ratios. We even did one part formula seven parts BM and like a shark, she still tasted the formula and refused.
• tried waiting until she is super hungry. She took a couple oz but then stops when she has had the bare minimum.
• tried replacing just one feed a day - lunchtime. Then tried replacing morning feed. Then evening feed. None of them took.
• only thing we haven’t tried is cold turkey, whereby she gets no milk at all if she doesn’t take the formula. (Note, when she refuses her formula feed or drinks very little we have NOT given her BM instead that feed. We just end the feed. To avoid training her that she gets BM the minute she refuses formula. She has to wait until the next feed.) Has anyone tried cold turkey and endured a few days of baby taking hardly any volumes of formula until magically they took to it?? Sounds risky and my baby is already on the small side and a small eater, she has max 21-22oz BM per day as it is.

Anyone have any ideas? My mental health is starting to suffer from the pumping, washing, sterilizing, just having to sit down to pump when she needs me to be playing with her or holding her, is really tough on me and my husband. He is wfh and has to stop working to take baby while I pump up to six times a day. I’m desperate!!!

[Ohalrightthen]

Can you try it in a cup? Or a sippy?

[floorplanner]

Oof you poor thing, she sounds smart. 6 months and 1 week old? Is she on solids? She needs to be now. Give her ready break and mix in an oz of formula, add banana or pear to disguise. she will like it and you can build from there.

[Lion8]

The thing that worked for us was expressing some breast milk and dipping the bottle teat in this before the feed. I had tried mixing different ratios of bm to formula to no avail. Only had to do this a few times and she took to it. Also check temperature, maybe difficult to judge but baby is used to body temp milk so try to give formula at same type of temp

[Dfly]

@Ohalrightthen

Can you try it in a cup? Or a sippy?

Will try this, thanks. She doesn't sit upright yet and struggles with holding cup handles. But I can help her. Maybe a cup will remove the association with BM and thus her expectation that it be BM in the cup...!

[Dfly]

@floorplanner

Oof you poor thing, she sounds smart. 6 months and 1 week old? Is she on solids? She needs to be now. Give her ready break and mix in an oz of formula, add banana or pear to disguise. she will like it and you can build from there.

Yes we just started solids and she loves it. I even gave her a formula branded porridge and she loved it. But refused the formula that same day. I've also been mixing formula into some of her puréed veggies and she doesn't object at all. It's the drinking it appears to be the issue.

[Dfly]

@Lion8

The thing that worked for us was expressing some breast milk and dipping the bottle teat in this before the feed. I had tried mixing different ratios of bm to formula to no avail. Only had to do this a few times and she took to it. Also check temperature, maybe difficult to judge but baby is used to body temp milk so try to give formula at same type of temp

Will also try this! Thanks

[QuestionableMouse]

My nephews both had horrible formula milk (neocate) which tastes awful. Sister was advised by the doctor to put a couple of drops of vanilla flavouring in each bottle to hide the taste. Might be worth a try?

She used www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/278532342 because its alcohol free.

[Mylittlepony374]

Try a Munchkin Miracle 360 cup. I got ours at Tesco. They say from 12 months I think but both my kids started on them around the 4-6 month mark. They never had formula but these cups were the only way they would take any fluids not from my breast- water, EBM etc.

[Thatwentbadly]

Unless she has a health problem you don’t need to sterilise when using breast milk - just wash in hot soapy water or the dishwasher.

[Dfly]

@QuestionableMouse

My nephews both had horrible formula milk (neocate) which tastes awful. Sister was advised by the doctor to put a couple of drops of vanilla flavouring in each bottle to hide the taste. Might be worth a try?

She used www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/278532342 because its alcohol free.

Thanks so much, I had heard this but didn't know which brands are alcohol free. Will pick some up!

[Dfly]

@Mylittlepony374

Try a Munchkin Miracle 360 cup. I got ours at Tesco. They say from 12 months I think but both my kids started on them around the 4-6 month mark. They never had formula but these cups were the only way they would take any fluids not from my breast- water, EBM etc.

Have just added to my grocery order this minute. That and the vanilla essence another poster suggested. Now I have many things to try: feeling hopeful! Thank you

[Dfly]

@Thatwentbadly

Unless she has a health problem you don’t need to sterilise when using breast milk - just wash in hot soapy water or the dishwasher.

Thanks, yes I was super cautious before, now I just sterilize my pump parts every few days. We run the bottles through the sterilizer daily though, as we don't run the dishwasher daily it's just easier.

[QuestionableMouse]

Good luck! It worked a treat for my nephews.

I bet you could also use a coffee syrup like this too www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/280515660 though it has sugar in it. You'd probably only need a few ml though.

[ineedmoresleepnow]

I had the same with my daughter refusing formula. She breastfed up to 10 month but would take expressed milk in a bottle regularly and had from three weeks old. I tried to phase in formula and from the first bottle containing formula she completely refused a bottle after that. This went on for weeks with me panicking as I needed to leave her for a week a month later. She was stubborn about no formula, just would not take it. In desperation I eventually went out and left her with her dad for the day, and she eventually took the formula that day and never looked back. I never dared give BM again once she had taken the formula.