To not return to work because baby won't drink from a bottle

[Wettingthetopbunkbed]

My baby is nearly 4 months old and I wanted to start returning to work part time in May. She's EBF but just will not take a bottle of my expressed milk.
I need them money really but worry that she'll starve the whole time I'm at work.
Any advice?
WIBU to not go back until September? (teacher)
Will probably mean getting into debt if I don't .

If I were you I'd maybe wait until the start of half term as a compromise, so do a few weeks on SMP only to get you nearer weaning. DW (teacher) and I are doing shared parental leave so I did 7 weeks with DS when he was 6 months. He bottle refuses so I resorted to syringing milk in and using cups. As his weaning has progressed, he's eaten more and more and drinks water so bottle refusing became less of a problem

I went through this too and found that this strategy worked- I would bfeed a little bit then have warmed milk ready to go (Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottle) and quickly switched from one to the other,

It sounds strange I know but it worked and after a few goes both my girls realised that I wasn't trying to choke/gag/poison them with these weird bottle things!

This was DD1- I went back at 51/2 months and on a good day she'd take maybe a 100ml EBM and on a bad about 30ml. There were lots of tears (mine) but she was ok, she just ate food during the day and drank water from a sippy cup. She didn't wake more during the night, I think she was still waking once or twice anyway.

With my second I went back at 10 months and I didn't even bother expressing for her - just fed before and after and she ate during the day.

It'll work out, it might still be stressful but it'll be ok

I went back to work full time as a teacher with ds and he was ebf- he wouldn't take anything from a bottle...well, not from me! He had a good go at drinking from a cup when he was with his GPs and would actually take mile from a bottle for them! Hope all goes well.

Oh tricky. Do try the open cup option other people have suggested. You could perhaps introduce solids little early as that might help.

Are they likely to even grant your part time request? I'm also a teacher and had mine initially refused. In the end it did get approved but I had to find the job share person and it won't start until September, so I go back full time for the summer term (tuesday is my first day back 😭) and will go to four days from September.

Another idea that may earn extra than teaching, with SATs coming up, plus prep for the 11+ exams, next academic year. Do you have the experience to deliver private tuition?

It pays around £10-15 an hour, but you supply resources, although Carol V does a series of support material that is about £3/4 a book for each subject. You could use the examples from the book to see where a child is at, helping them to get better.

That wouldn't interfere too much with BF hopefully. Plus I'm sure parents would pay good money if they want DC to apply to Grammar school, so wouldn't think twice about coaching prior.

Or marking? Though you may be too late for this year.

I honestly believe babies and children have far too much control over the world these days!
You go back to work.
Your baby will take milk from a bottle, she might not be happy about it for a few days but is that really the end of the world?!!
It's ok for babies to get upset sometimes. Their happiness cannot come at the cost of all else.

Have you tried a few different types of bottles? I thought my DD wouldnt take a bottle but I got a free sample of the munchkin latch bottle and thats the only one she will tolerate! The shape of the teat is the closest to the breast action Ive seen.

I went back to work when dd was 8 months . She'd never drunk from a bottle but learned while I was at work to take a sippy cup.

lapin what a rude thing to say to an anxious mother returning to work

My 4 month old went from 8.30am to 5.30pm at nursery with no milk whatsoever for 5 weeks. Fortunately nursery was only ever going to be a temporary 5 week arrangement until I became a SAHM but I have to admit that I would have had to give up work, even if I didn't want to, as it couldn't have continued. Different bottle, different people feeding her, different everything, but she absolutely refused to drink anything. Until then she had taken a bottle at home from people, even though she was primarily breastfed.

The guilt was horrendous.

Lapin-a 4 month old baby cannot be controlling, they don't have any concept of this. They have needs that need to be met and cry as a way of communicating those needs.

Thanks all, I'll have to go back in September I think unless she miraculously starts taking from a bottle.
lapin I couldn't disagree more, a baby's brain development can be seriously damaged by stress hormones.

i'd go back in september. Enjoy your summer and enjoy your baby. Life's too short to not enjoy this time

I went back at 6mo with a bottle refusing ds.
He learned to use a free flow sippy cup really quickly at around 5mo and he took quickly to food (I guess because of not having much milk in the day). He thrived and was fine.

Remember the advice is to be stopping bottles at around a year. And my experience was that everything changed very fast at 6mo. Ds ate plenty of cheese and yoghurt at nursery then bf morning and evening.

Have you tried a straw cup? My daughter was exactly the same and the only way I could get her to drink from something else was with a nuby straw cup. I still bf her til she was 14 months though as fortunately I could have a year off but wanted to be able to leave her. Please don't stress about it though, enjoy your time with your baby.

The stress of being offered a drink from a bottle or cup rather than a breast is not going to damage a child's brain.
And I know a 4 month old cannot be controlling. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that parents' and especially mothers' needs are being increasingly subsumed in favour of the child in modern society.
Just look at the sleep boards if you don't believe me.