going out whilst bf

[shelley72]

hello, this is my first post here as i am having a bit of a mental block. has anyone managed to get out whilst ebf without baby in tow? dd is now 5 months old and in her whole life i have been away from her at most 3 hours (ie between feeds) - last time i left a bottle of ebm with dh and she refused to take it: cue screaming fit from her, stressed hubby and a call to me to come home (had only gone to supermarket!)

i would love to have a bit of child free time (we also have ds who is 3.2) as i feel like i need a break and maybe to make a start on christmas shopping but a. i dont know how to go about it and b. i feel so guilty for wanting to leave the kids for the day. at this rate i think i will be taking her with me as i am so worried that she will starve. never had this trouble with ds, he was happy to be fed by whatever means!

i do realise that i sound a bit pathetic but is going out doable? she is not yet eating and still bf every few hours, or more. is there something ive not thought of?

any tips gratefully received!
s

Hello

Have you considered cup feeding as an alternative to the bootle? DO NOT feel guilty - this is totally normal - I am off for a curry tomorrow and my DD is 12 weeks EBF.

Some babies are like this. Ds never took a bottle either, but I didn't push it that hard because I could work around it, so it depends how desperate you are to get out without her. If you keep persevering you probably will get her to take a bottle, but there may be lots of tears involved and you might feel it's not worth it. Trying a cup is a good idea.

But also remember that in a few weeks she'll probably be eating food as well, and then she will be able to go for longer between milk feeds when you need her to.

I have a 9 week old dd and a mission to go to a wedding in 3 weeks leaving baby with my mum. I have the same issue as you, she won't take a bottle yet. I have been advised to express a small amount and give it to her everyday at the same time as a feed so that she gets use to sucking on the bottle but you aren't relying on it to feed her whole meal so it's less stressful for everyone. Someone also suggested latex teats so i am going to try that too. I have to add that I have no idea if this will work but it's worth giving a go! Good luck!

thanks for your help, the doidy cup arrived yesterday so will give that a go!
have decided to take dd out with me in the meantime and the boys are off doing boys stuff as really dont like the thought of her in tears. enjoy your wedding!

Anyone having any luck? Have just lost a battle using a Nuby, she just uses her tongue to push it out of her mouth or gags on it like it's being shoved down her throat (which it's not!). Gah never mind the wedding, what happens when I have to go back to work?

One thing that worked for us - the only thing infact- was getting and keeping the milk super warm - by using a yoomi bottle. We literally tried about ten dif types of bottle before this one.

My DD will take a bottle but I never ever get a chance to express milk so have a very limited stash. I too have only been away from her for 3 hours tops - once in 20 weeks.

What we are going to try next time is having DH meet me in town for a coffee so I can feed her and then take her back again, giving me a longer window. Could you try that?

OP (and others in same situation): I feel your pain.

DS (now nearly a year old) happily took bottles until he was about 12 weeks old, then all of a sudden refused. We tried everything (doidy cup etc) but all unsuccessful. So for 3 months, until weaning, he was basically glued to me - couldn't go out longer than 2-3 hrs without him, which I found really stressful.

In your situation, at least the end is nigh - as others have said, your dd will start to feed less often once weaning starts. Also, when they start eating you can get milk into them in their food: I used to add it to baby rice/mashed up with Farley's rusk etc. We also discovered that DS would take fluid from a syringe (normally used fo rgiving Calpol etc) - a slow process (as you need about 10 syringefuls for 1 feed) but useful in case of emergency when they won't take it any other way.