I have a 6 month old exclusively bf baby. can i get her to drink an occasional cup of formula?

[oranges]

Or do I have to go onto a bottle? I'd rather not for lots of reasons, mainly that her older brother has only just got off the bottle (aged 4 ) and I'm worried he'd be tempted to grab it from her and drink it himself.
I also would like to skip the bottle stage altogether if possible, just want to be able to go out for the afternoon without her sometimes.
She's only drank from a breast so far.

yes of course, neither of mine used a bottle at all

yes, DD was drinking competently from a cup at about 8 months - messily at about 7.

ooh goody. and which type of cup? one of those tommy tippy sippy cups, or just a normal open one?

Yes re cup, bottles are not necessary if she is willing and able to drink from a cup. She may not like or accept formula at this point. If she is still BFing a bit, and eating solid foods, the formula shouldn't be necessary if she is getting enough fluids through BFing and a bit of water.

But if I need to leave her for a six hour stretch occassionally, can she exist on food and water, or will she need milk as well? I hate expressing and am crap at it, which is why I thought of formula.

dd is exclusively b/f too and has just started happily and not too messily drinking water from a tommee tippee sippy cup and a vital baby one with a slightly larger squishier funnel. she won't drink formula from anything, or anything from a bottle for that matter.

I seldom look at this area, my DD is 9.3, but I must challenge everything's statement. I don't think that cows milk is suitable until a baby is a year old.

You could also consider giving yogurts. I think 6 hours is fine if she is reasonable established on solids.

ds used doidy cups from a bit before this age I think I recall. It could be a bit messy at first if we didn't have a firm grip on the cup, but had the advantage that he was drinking well from normal cups by himself before one year. He never needed a cup with a spout or a bottle.