Anyone sucessfully managed to mix feed a bottle refuser?

[Neeko]

Hi. I've just spent the past 30 hours making my bottle-refusing 6 month old DD take a bottle after months of trying to encourage her to do it willingly. There were many reasons for this which I'll not go into here.
I just wondered if anyone has done this and then managed to successfully combine bottle and breast as this is what I'd ideally like to do. If you did manage it, how? Thanks.

hi neeko no advice here but interested in replies. i just managed to get my 4 month old to take a bottle for the first time today and hoping to be able to combine feed also.

neeko do you mean there's many reasons why she won't take a bottle?

slumbertaker - how did you mange to get your lo to take the bottle? we are trying but having no luck!

soniaweir we have been trying for ages, so feeling quite triumphant today. i have been getting really exhuasted and feeling a bit down so just decided today was the day, as dh was home to help. last fed her at 5am, then just didn't breastfeed her again. i was totally prepared for it to be awful and upsetting, and to give in after five minutes, but she was surprisingly ok. she grumbled a bit for most of the morning, but dh managed to settle her down and she had a couple of sucks on the bottle, but nothing much. i just stayed out of the way. i came down at about 1.30ish, by which time she was pretty hungry. carried her around in cradle-hold, squirted a little bit of milk in her mouth, and away she went! downed the whole bottle was expressed milk so that may have helped

organiccarrotcake I meant there were many reasons why I forced her onto the bottle.

theslumbertaker Congratulations! That's what we did too but DD held out for 11 hours and still wasn't keen. I haven't breastfed her since and I'm too scared to in case she refuses the bottle again
This has been horrendous and I'm really sad and worried that I might not ever bf her again.

neeko i really feel for you. dd2 has been responding really badly to the bottle up to now, pretty mcuh screaming every time it goes near her! she just seemed to turn a corner today. just think that now she has had one bottle, you are over the worst.

i am also not sure when to bf next. i'm thinking that i may bf during the night feeds as it is less faff and hassle.

forgot to say-we are using breastflow bottles. she seems to like them best (also trid tt and avent), and i think they make the transition from bf to bottle and back again easier. apparently anyway

neeko - are you pumping regularly to keep up a supply? i'm trying to pump every 3 hours, hoping that will be enough...

theslumbertaker She has improved as the day went on and swallowed a whole bottle easily. I've expressed 20oz today and I'm planning on trying to feed her myself again tomorrow night providing she takes the bottle all day tomorrow. If she starts to reject the bottle agan then I'm afraid I'll have to stop bf for good, but at least then I'll know I've done my best.

Let me know how you get on.

oh that's great neeko - hope tomorrow goes well for you too, best of luck

Hi theslumbertaker. Just to let you know that we seem to be managing to mix feed (touch wood). Hope it's going ok for you too.

hi neeko glad it seems to be working...can your dd let mine know that bottle isn't that bad!

I had the opposite - a breast refuser! He'd scream every time I tried to feed him from 9 weeks, and I managed to mix feed until 4 months.

Glad to see your DD is feeding better now. Hope it continues!

Hi CuppaTeaJanice That must have been hard too. They are so determined.

Barbie Won't lie. It was awful. I'll come to the sun and teach Dolly and you can CC H in the cold Been to preoccupied to be on our thread but I'll be back soon.

that's great news neeko.

we have been doing ok. dd2 took a bottle more readily over the course of yesterday, so that she wasn't fussing at all in the end. but it seems she will only take it from me. she is flatly refusing for dh. and she will only take expressed milk. but it is early days, so i guess i need to have patienceand keep trying.

today dh is back at work, so i am back to breastfeeding, as i just can't seem to juggle dd1, dd2, bottle-feeding and pumping when on my own. how are you managing?

i am just hoping that breast-feeding during the days won't send us backwards. i think i will give her a bottle at bedtime tonight. hopefully if i can manage at least one per day, that should keep up the momentum

I am glad that you have been able to establish mix feeding. It would have been such a shame to stop breastfeeding completely when you are getting to the stage of establishing solids and reducing feeds anyway. The second 6 months is so much easier than the first :)

Theslumbertaker at least now you know she can take it and if you ever needed to leave her you wouldn't worry so much. I'm finding timings difficult but she took it twice from me yesterday and I already feel my energy levels rising. Keep at it. Surely one a day should be enough to keep your hand in.

Mears Hello! Hope you had a lovely 2nd honeymoon. It's hard to believe that H is 6 months already. Totally agree that it would have been a shame to stop and I feel so much happier now. DH is off next week (finally) so we're going to try to sort out the sleep issues too then H will be so much easier just in time for me going back to work in December! How some people manage to do this four times is beyond me...

Have been mix feeding here since 3mths (for work reasons) and so far, working for us.
Good luck.

Had a lovely time Neeko. It is very strange going on holiday on our own without children for the very first time. Great not to worry about anyone other than yourselves. They felt liberated at home without us :)

Glad you had a good time Mears and your house was in one piece when you returned.

Oops. Meant to say thanks to herewegoloopyloo