Need to get baby to accept cup/bottle at 6mo - HELP!!

[SianNic]

I have been exclusively BF for 6 months which has been great but I am planning on working the odd day from next month to ease myself back into working life. However I have a big problem in that I am really struggling to get my baby to take milk from anywhere/anything except my boobs! I was advised to go straight to cup and am now in possesion of every sippy cup known to man! He refuses a bottle - will just play with the teat or puch it away, and is just plain confused by cup! Tried different times of day, before and after breast...he just pushes it away or cries and gets frustrated if he's hungry. Has anyone been in this position and can give me some advice please? I know I perhaps should have got him used to the odd bottle from the start but too late now!
Thanks :)

I was in the exact same position as you. Tried everything and nothing worked. In the end, I had to go to work, leaving dd at the childminder's when she was 6 months old, and she simply didn't have anything while I was at work. I work 9 to 5 and she would have a big breastfeed before I went to work, nothing all day, and a big breastfeed when I got home (and whenever she wanted it in the evening). I panicked and worried and stressed about it, but she didn't seem to bother at all! The childminder fed her - I was making up purees and freezing them etc etc, and she had that while I was at work.

I hope this helps you feel a bit less stressed. I know the feeling of "I wish we had...." - it didn't occur to me to teach her to use a bottle when bf was working so well, and I was annoyed with myself. It wasn't really that long before she did get into using the sippy cups etc, it probably helped that I and my milk were at work to start with

Hi Sian,

We are usin a doidy cup with ds, started around 5.5 months and he got the hang very quickly. I think because of there being no sippy bit iykwim. Apologies if you've tried it.

Sian, I am in exactly the same position - starting to work a day a week from next monday. We have been ex BF and dd has always refused a bottle.. But I have also had some success with the doidy cup and she will take a couple of oz of ebm from it. Today though she took a bottle from me for the first time. I'm sure you have tried this but I sat her on my lap facing away from me (her back to my chest) and we faced the telly and then we she started protesting we moved to look at the garden and then moved to watch grandma making lunch and she took about 4 oz. I wasn't even going to try the bottle again but was panicking that she wouldn't take enough milk from the cup. What Nyk says is reassuring though although my dd isn't eating that much food yet. Try the doidy if you haven't already, good luck x