Switching to bottle from 5am today, please help me feel better!!

[bluecats]

My DD is 6 months old today and was exclusively breastfed till now.

I am going back to work from September so she needs to have bottles and I have had enough of breastfeeding her now and feel I would be definitely a happier mommy to stop.

I know she can take a bottle as she took once 3 ounce from a breastflow bottle and also she is used to having an ounce every morning... she will never have more than that as she will not eat anything if she knows she will be breastfed later (she didn't have anything for 10 hours once and waited for that breast!!).

I stopped breastfeeding today at 5am, that was when she woke up, and now it's 3pm she has so far had about almost 3 ounce from the bottle and a 125gram of yogurt.

I'm so sad for her as I know she MUST be thirsty and I have been slinging her all day to give her more comfort while she goes through this. I'm looking for bit of support as I'm a bit emotional today obviously...and not looking forward to tonight!!! I wish I could give her to grandparents and go away for couple of days so I don't feel so bad but this isn't possible...

Sorry - have you thought of weaning her off the breast rather than a complete a switch? It sounds rather drastic to me?

I agree with Zimm, dropping a few at a time over a few weeks would be kinder to both of you.

It would be hard for a baby used to the breast for food and comfort to go straight to bottles of formula.

I would start getting her to take ebm from a bottle then gradually replace with formula then start dropping feeds, that way your body will adjust your milk suplly too and you won't get too engorged.

Not sure slinging is great idea as she'll be able to smell you.... I see why it has to be drastic, because she'll only take a bottle if she is very hungry. I am going to wait until my first day back at work to cut day feeds, will then cut night feeds once daytime supply has slowed down.

I did try all of the above...the baby will not take anything....at all. I can't wean her off the breast as she will wait till she is fed on the breast.....I'm so worried that she's going to die soon. It is drastic measure but otherwise she won't take ANY bottle and also for medical reasons I need to lie down to breastfeed her.

oh dear..She still hasn't had proper bottlefeed and it's almost 11 hours since she was last breastfed...

Can someone tell me that she won't starve herself to death?

I'm willing to try for 24 hours...it's not very pleasant at all.

I think advice is not to do it by making them hungry. Cant remember the reasons but it may be to do with them not understanding the whole hunger thing and just being distressed not realising the formula will make it better.
I would breastfeed her and cut down slowly.

I dont think starving her for 24 hours is a good idea for a 6 month old. Surely she will simply become weak and dehydrated.

Will she take a bottle of EBM off anyone else?

The reason I am asking is DD3 would take a bottle from DP if I wasn't in the room, if I was anywhere near her she would want me.

I had to get DD used to a bottle before going back to work, when she was also 6 months.

Good you have started with the bottle now to give yourself plenty of time to get her used to it, and even better news that she will take milk from the bottle, even if only a little bit.

I would agree that it might be easier on both of you (as well as less risk of dehydration) if you perhaps start with substituting one feed per day, maybe one of the feeds DD would definitely have to have whilst at nursery, so she gets used to the idea that she has her milk from a bottle at that time of day and it doesn't come as a shock to her. If it is only one feed you can stand firm about only offering a bottle at that one feed and nothing else, so it's not such a worry if she refuses to start with.

With DD I started with her early afternoon feed. I only offered a bottle at that feed and wouldn't give her the breast, so she eventually got the message that was the only choice. I continued to breastfeed her for her other feeds at that stage. That way, I felt happy she was getting enough milk across the day for it not to matter too much whilst she would only take very little (or none at all) from the bottle at her early afternoon feed. It took about a week/10 days (can't remember now but it was a struggle and I probably posted on here about it!) but eventually she was taking a full feed in the early afternoon from the bottle.

Once I'd got that established, I then gave her the late morning feed from the bottle, although that was dropped not long after as she started to have solids at that time instead.

I kept on b/fing her morning and evening for about 2 months after I started work because I wanted to, had to stop as my supply was drying up. However ifIi'd wanted to stop earlier I would probably have dropped one feed at a time so my boobs didn't explode!

Hope this helps, I know it's not easy but you will get there in the end. She will get the message eventually - my DD did and she is a very stubborn little sausage when she wants to be!

thank you littleduck

The stubborn little thing refused the bottle until 1 in the morning today and had about 3 ounce again in a quick gulp. She isn't taking bottle again this morning. I have lots of reasons to stop breastfeeding. One of them being that I want to be mobile with my toddler and the little one in the daytime as I like to go out with them normally instead of always coming back home to lie down to feed the baby and also the starting work in september. Working schedule will be very erratic as I'm freelancer, could be away a full day, or all evening, or just all morning...etc.

I'm just hoping now that she isn't dehydrated...she is playing normally slept completely at her normal time 8 to 1, then 1 to 6pm.. but only had 6 ounce of bottle total yesterday plus a pot of yogurt...

I wish I could hear from somebody who did go cold turkey....

I didn't go cold turkey, but I had similar problems with my son. What seems to be working for us is using a beaker rather than a bottle. He spat loads out at first, but is gradually getting more and more used to it. With a bottle though, he sometimes wouldn't even allow the teat in his mouth.

He's giving me a nightmare switching his bedtime feed to a beaker now though - even if you do drop the breastfeeds one by one it can still be really hard.

Good luck!

thank you. It's awfully hard. And even harder knowing that lots of people don't approve of it either as I agree it's not nice for my little one or my boobs. On the positive side, I am feeling a bit more energetic albeit with extremely sore boobs. At this stage, I'm quite confident she won't starve herself and I'm giving her extra cuddles and slinging her and she seems to be happy and sleeping in all her normal hours.

Hi Bluecats

Was thinking about you and wondering how it has been going.

At the end of your day you have to do what is right for you and your DD so don't worry about what other people think. As long as your DD is getting all the nutrition she needs and isn't dehydrated or distressed, then I'm sure it will all be OK.

As long as you are still getting lots of wet nappies and the soft spot on the top of her head isn't sunken then I'm sure she is fine.

If your boobs are very sore could you express just a little bit, perhaps in a nice warm bath or shower, so you aren't too uncomfortable? If you are only 'taking the top off the milk' so to speak then it shouldn't encourage your supply too much, whilst keeping you reasonably comfortable and avoiding any problems like mastitis.

Take care
xx

hello littleduck you are very sweet. My little one has taken so far in 24 hours about 16 ounce of formula, each feed she takes about 3 ounces. So I'm not worried anymore, she still arches her back and screams in protest when I give her the bottle, but she sometimes just takes it and sucks like an angel. I'm putting cabbage in my bra and it's helping lots and lots.

I'll report back to see how it's going tomorrow again! This is very exciting and feels like she can survive without me :)