How often to give the bottle so they don't forget?!

[ac1974]

My DH was giving a bottle of EBM to our DS at 10.30pm (from about 8-10 weeks) until I couldn't keep up with the expressing regime and ditched it. He's a big hungry boy which was part of the issue.

Now I am anxious about our 12 week old rejecting the bottle forever but not sure I can return to the nightly routine.

Would doing it a couple of times a week serve any purpose at all - or is it a question of one a day or not at all?

To be honest I don't expect to go back to work before he is 9 months so maybe it doesn't matter if he's lost the knack - I just like the idea of having the option to leave him for more than 3/4 hours if the mood took me. Or being able to take a bottle on the rare occasion I want to go somewhere where I'd prefer not to BF.

Thoughts?

My DS wouldn't take a bottle at all until about a month ago (now 9 months old) so I wouldn't worry too much. I think he will take a bottle if he is hungry and you are not there.

I also found that when I did leave him for longer periods before he started taking the botle (not very often unfortunately) he would just 'hold out' for me and then have a mega-feed as soon as I got back. It used to stress me out a lot but he was fine and clearly did not starve (still on the 80th centile).

I wouldn't worry too much. Soon you will be lamenting the fact that he's weaning himself of feeds

Every day at the same time every day IMO and IME.