Tips from moving to bottle from EBF at 6months

[eatentoomuchchocolate]

Currently trying to introduce 1 feed a day by bottle, to eventually wind down mums milk bar. He is EBF and won't take a bottle. I think half the problem is he has always been fed to sleep, so I try to feed him before he gets too tired. He resists the bottle then I give in and he latches on to the boob. Only boob will do I guess!

Any tips for bottles similar to boob? We are using the TT Closer to Nature at the moment.

Started weaning and he is enjoying trying, a little porridge in the morning and a fruit/veg puree during the day, either lunch or dineer, not decided what works best yet.

He wakes 2-3 times for feeds in the night, but probably more to do with the fact we are co-sleeping so can smell milk.

Really starting to get confused about weaning, solids before or after milk? And how much at this age? I find it so hard to know how much milk he has had, as to whether to feed more solids etc... with BF he has always fed til he's had enough, or fallen asleep and carried on when he wakes.

Sorry for the rant, guess we've been in BF comfort zone for so long, this is all a bit daunting...

No real tips - I have just moved DS2 (same age) onto bottles in the day as I went back to work. Although he prefers breastfeeding he will drink from the bottles nicely. I never fed to sleep though and he had a bottle of EBM roughly once a week since 6 weeks. Some BF babies will not accept a bottle.

I am giving him lunch at 11.30am (less than an hour after his mid morning bottle) and his tea at 5pm. I don't want to give him too much at 5pm as I want him to take a good breastfeed at 6.30pm. I am going to wait another month or so before going up to three meals as I don't want him to cut back too much on the milk just get.

Have managed to get him sleeping 11-7 using the hipp goodnight milk (4oz) followed by breastfeed - he is in own room though.

No expert but with DD we got her to take a bottle by DH offering it and me not being anywhere near at all. We did this by offering her a small bottle feed just before bed and then I would go in and finish her off with a BF before putting her down to sleep. Eventually she would take a full 7oz bottle and no bf. Meant I had a few uncomfy nights but DD was still waking several times a night and would only feed to sleep so that gave relief.

I then replaced her mid-morning bf with milk when she was taking her bottle at night well. Then did the mid-pm feed and then last of all to go were the night and first thing in the morning feeds.

This took some time - probably from 6months to 8.5months as we decided to go for a slowly slowly approach.

Oh, and should prob add that we coincided bottles and stopping co-sleeping. I found that as DD ate more during the day (and got exhausted from crawling!) she slept better at night and didn't wake so much for milk.

Hope that helps :)

Thanks both, your stories have given me a little hope. I keep feeling pangs of guilt to be stopping bf, but really feel the time is right for us all. Like runningmonkey we are keen to stop co-sleeping, it has been a god send however now he is bigger space is becoming an issue and I have a bad back from staying in the same position all night. I would be interested to know how you handled the transition to cot runningmonkey, was that the same night as first bottle? I have decided to try lunch bottle first to get him used to it.

Today brought it forward half an hour so he wasn't tired. He managed to drink about 50mls but kept pushing it away and after half an hour of crying and fighting with the bottle we couldn't take anymore and I gave in - he is now firmly latched on. Hss had a good feed and is now asleep with nipple pacifier. Think we are going to have to try something else as this isn't working. DH is at work so might try DH giving him bottle after his bath.

Glad it helped. Sympathy re the bad back, I remember well that feeling of waking up after sleeping in one position all night - usually involved a dead arm or two for me.

Re transition to cot: From what I remember we put the cot in our room (was a bit of a squeeze) next to my side of the bed. When we gave DD her bedtime bottle we put her down to sleep in the cot (it did involve one of us sitting with her with a hand on her tummy). When she woke up in the night she came in with us for me to bf and we co slept the rest of the night. The time that she slept for in the cot gradually got longer and longer as she ate more and drank more formula so when she was going about 5 hours or more we moved the cot into her room and then when she woke in the night I would go in, bf her and then put her back into the cot to sleep (again, involved me sitting with hand on tummy to settle her). Eventually she stopped waking for a feed until v early in the morning when I would often just take her into our room and we would have a dozy feed and a cuddle before getting up.

One thing that did help when we put her in her own room was giving her a dummy to settle herself when we put her in the cot. It worked a treat which suggested to me that she was slightly using me as a dummy at night when we were cosleeping... should add though that I know that they're not everyone's cup of tea.

We are currently contemplating getting rid of the dummy (DD is 16 months) but that's a whole other thread I think :) She only has it at bedtime and naptime if we are at home - if we are out and about or she is at the childminders she will nap without a dummy

HTH and makes sense!! Most of all thought good luck. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

Name changed due to my new role!

Thanks runningmonkey. We had quite a disturbed night, lots of on and off boob and I think a lot of it is just comfort, so really keen to step him up onto bottles, to try and break the boob to sleep association. He has never settled himslf to sleep, he will only sleep on boob or in the car or buggy, he wails if we put him in his cot. Today I thought I'd try and work with him, we were up at 8am, which is late for us, but particularly restless night for us all, he had boob in bed, a little porridge then a walk. DH is home so tried to give him bottle which he refused, I thought he must be tired as normally naps around 10am. Tried to soothe him with a dummy and the bottle but he refused both. I gave in after 15 mins of tired crying and gave him boob. He has had a good feed and fallen asleep on boob again.

Really not sure where we go from here, think I am destined to be a human pacifier for a while yet...hence the name change! I think I am just tired but feel so all over the place. Dreading go back to woprk with not a whiff of a routine and he can't be settled without me. Starting to give up!

DH has just come in and said to "take my nipple out of his mouth ffs".

Officially desperate.

Curious about this as will be trying myself soon enough. On another thread someone recommended Breastflow teats as being good for breastfed babies, but I've put off ordering them until I see if what I have will work first (Dr Browns). I keep putting off trying a bottle though... want to leave it as long as possible, but I keep meaning to start with expressed milk so she can get used to bottles.

Understand the name change - feel similar myself sometimes!

Just saw your last message! You might need to harden your heart a little for a day & see how you get on. Have you tried with expressed milk? Could be worth trying that and easing into formula.

Thanks for your post Trillian42 I have real problems expressing, there just seems to be nothing there. I did express in the early weeks and he took a bottle occassionally then. But since he is feeding less I find it a real struggle. (The milk must be there as he was 20lbs at last weigh, and not an issue, he is certainly thriving imo!)

Also, the milk has dried up on the right, I guess he has preferred the left, but this has left it a bit redundant....and 1 boob permanently bigger than the other, ooops....

May look at a different teat/bottle next, thanks for the link.