Urgent advice needed!

[Sunflowertall]

Offered a job but DD 8 months is ebf. Tried different bottles but she's having none of it. Job starts very soon. Need to crack bottle feeding asap! Please help, which bottles are best, should I just leave her for the day with DH?

Not aibu but I am desperate for some help

Oh and my next baby took a bottle with no fuss (his fave was having boob & bottle available at the same time!) and bf to almost 3 so please don’t think it’s anything you have / haven’t done.

As others have said, try getting your dh to feed and also try an open cup. All of mine were ebf. My twins had no issue with also taking a bottle but dd wouldn’t go anywhere near them. She was my first and I remember being so stressed and thinking I was starving her. In the end, an open cup and dh giving it to her worked. It did take about a week of constantly trying though. They get there in the end!

Ds1 was 9 months when went back to work, 3 full days in a row. He was also end, bottle refusing.

I was worried sick tbh but he was fine. He was with grandparents, and they get him yogurt etc. It was still a while before he reliably drank milk from.any sort of receptive and never did take a bottle, but he ate yogurt, and fruit, and was fine.

How does baby eat otherwise ? Is she eating a varied diet.

Does she drink water from a soppy cup .

How long will you be away?

I would stop trying with a bottle. Get whoever is looking after her to offer a sippy cup and food while you are away and breastfeed when you are home.

I went back to work when DS was 9 months, he never got the hang of a bottle so he just breastfed when I was with him and had water and food when I wasn't. I thought it lead to an increase in night feeds (reverse cycling) but he was always a bad sleeper and when I did the same with DD she continued to sleep well so probably more the baby than me being at work.

I had same with DD. Used to start with a breast feed...have the bottle filled with expressed milk under my T shirt then when she paused would surreptitiously do the “switch”. It did work. Of course eventually she just wanted the bottle and then rejected the boob! 😢

Express milk, give it in bottle.
Express milk, let DH feed it in bottle.

Hi op not read the whole thread but both my boys were ebf when I went back to work, eating solids bit not much. They both drank from tomee tippee cups but they were used to having water in them so childminder/ nursery would offer my milk instead. Will you be expressing or bottles? Either way they will drink it- just not when you're about!

Ask husband to give lots of milky food e.g weetabix if baby won't drink from the cup.

Mine breastfed all night to make up for it........ baby will be fine xxxxxx

I went back to work when DS was 9 months EBF and refused all bottles. Our childminder tried everything g with him and he wouldn’t take milk from anything but his mama 🙄 I did similar to others, fed in the morning before I went to work, and a couple of feeds in the evening (when I got home and then at bedtime). Unfortunately he kept his nighttime feed for a while and I was pretty knackered for the first few months of being back at work. But DS was absolutely fine.

It’s such a challenging time , it’s awful to think that your baby will be hungry, but you will probably find your little one will Adjust just fine and eat food in the day and milk in the evenings. Good luck!

Try mam bottles or a doidy cup, or a Tommy tippy free flow sippy cup. I think at 8m she'll be fine, even if she waits for you to come home, so long as she'll take watery. Also try making the milk up a bit warmer than you might think.

I second going straight to cup.

Also, my DD2 never liked non human/follow on milk (and I am not good at expressing). I tried about all the brands. Then my pediatrician recommended natural/unsweetened yogurt (she said it is the overall calcium intake that counts - does not have to be absolutely "milk"), and she loved that.

Do countercheck the advice is still valid (DD2 is a pre teen now!) but it worked wonder for me to move away from EBF.

Thank you so much everyone. I've got a tommee tippee and some doidy cups so will get DH to try those

Both of mine refused a bottle but took to a sippy cup.

Dr brown bottles were great for me.

My two were EBF until they were 14 months old, and each time I went back to work when they were 7 months old. Neither would ever take a bottle, even if someone else was offering and I was out of the house.

To be honest, they were fine. They adjusted to taking more food whilst I was out, and having water from sippy cup.

How long will your shifts be?

I had this with my youngest and was due to be away from her for a week. I tried every bottle going and she refused for going on 6 weeks. In the end in desperation I left her with husband for 24 hours. She took a bottle that evening - about 8 hours after I left and we never looked back. I felt awful and worried about her but she was fine.

@Sunflowertall try mam bottles!! Teats are amazing!