Going cold turkey on exclusively breast fed 9 month old

[paddypants]

Has anyone gone cold turkey to get their dc off the breast and if so, how long did it take?

9 month old DD has been ebf and now wish to stop but she refuses a bottle. During previous attempts when she was younger I tried all different types of bottles and teats to no avail. In past 48 hours she has had two night breast feeds and during the day,about 3 oz of formula from bottle after many hours trying. She will sit with the teat in her mouth for a long time refusing to suck. Have also tried just expressed milk from the bottle but that was refused too. Am not sure if should cut out night feed altogether or keep this to make sure she doesnt get completely dehydrated. She is not a great eater or drinker of other fluids.

Anyone have any good tips for encouraging her to take the bottle or is it just a matter of waiting for her to decide to go along with it?

She will not drink from a beaker although have been trying it for about 2 months now so that is not an option.

Please dont ask why I am giving up or tell me to just keep breast feeding as I have come to the decision that it is right for me to stop now.

Any advice, encouragement, ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Have you tried an open cup? Are you offering the formula or is someone else doing it?

i went cold turkey for dd aged 3 months so not sure if it will be the same for a 9 mnth old?

but anyway.... the first day she cried for every bottle and only drank enough to stop hunger pangs, second day she cried a bit but drank a lot more and the third day she was smiling and gulping down the bottle :)

i have done cold turkey with everything really, i don't do weaning

(except food as she obviously needed her little tummy to get used to it)

good luck

oh, i think if you are going cold turkey then you REALLY need to stick to it, it usually takes about 3-4 days for a baby to realise that things have changed and they will not be getting it anymore but you MUST be consistant

Moonunit, I have tried open cups, beakers, bottle with no lid on, my cup with no luck. She is a stubborn little tike.

Thanks Mrs RB, I kind of know I just need to wait it out until hunger wins over. Hopefully by tomorrow (our third day) she will be glugging it down

Do you think then that I need to cut out the night feed too?

I'd try to get as much formula as possible into her food, cheese sauces/mashed potato, that kind of thing. Might be better to bypass the bottle and go straight onto cups though, else you'll have to wean her off bottles in a couple of months too.

cold turkey means just that - stopping ALL breast feeds and replacing with a bottle.

But it doesnt have to be with formula straight away - you will need to express some anyway otherwise you will suffer.

Stop her night feeds or she will reverse cycle and take all her fluids at night.

Formula tastes different from breast milk so you could try giving half and half at first. Also, don't offer a bottle any more than 4 hrly because they are more likely to take it when they are hungry.

Well done you for managing 9 months

I went cold turkey with DS 7 years ago: everyone other than me started to give him bottles of formula (he was totally distracted by my ginormous boobs so I couldn't do it) and totally witheld BFs. After a few anxious weeks (he was also starting nursery so all in all a very guilty sad time)everything settled down, he grew to love his 'botbot' and take it off me or anyone else.

What I learnt from this (or have been told since by a mate who has just stopped EBF her 5 month old): try and get them used to the taste (as Germum says), try to get them used to the feel (maybe expressed milk?) and to help yourself have loads of warm baths, breastpads and express just enough to take the ache off them wihtout starting up your supply again.

You'll both get there. NO child could have been a more fanatical BFer than my DS and in the end he LOVED his FF for 6 months.

Thanks all for support - feel a lot less anxious

Hi there,
Just wondering how yor situation turned out? Did your baby eventually accept the bottle? And if so, how long did it take?
My baby girl sounds just like yours! EBF for 9 months, she took expressed milk for the first 3 months and then refused it. She won't drink from a bottle, sippy cup, open cup, medicine dropper etc. My milk production is very low and she is losing weight. She also doesn't like solids much.
I have stopped BFing cold turkey in an effort to get her to take expressed milk so that I can start supplementing. Today is day 2 and she has only had 5 ounces of milk in about 29 hours. Starting to worry a lot and thinking about stopping but then I don't know how I'll ever get her gainig weight again...If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it!