Wanting to go to ff from bf - please help!

[AGCG]

I have been bf my ds from the start, he's now just over 7 months. We've been weaning since 6 months - doing baby led weaning and it's a much slower process than we'd anticipated! He's joining us/me for three meals a day, and food is definitely going down, but not enough for him to drop milk feeds yet. I want to replace his day time bfeeds to formula feeds, to free me up during the day, and move towards stopping bf completely before I go back to work.

Can anyone tell me:

• how much formula he should have at each feed? He's 91st/75th percentile, 20 1/2 pounds at 7 months
• which formula should I choose - a follow on milk or a 'breast milk alternative'?
• what's the best way of getting baby of this age used to a bottle?

Thanks!

not sure about the formula questions i am afraid but if i were you i would skip the bottle and go straight to a cup.

AGCG don't know how much formula he should be having, someone on this thread may be able to help with that or a Bfing Counsellor will have the information you need.

All formulas are the same, ones that advertise as close to breastmilk usually charge more and there is basically no difference. Just choose the one that is in your local shop, that way you know you'll always be able to get some.

Don't how to get them to take a bottle either sorry but if you search the archives there is lots of info on MN plus this may help or again calling a Bfing Counsellor.

"I want to replace his day time bfeeds to formula feeds, to free me up during the day," just wanted to say that I can see why you want to introduce a bottle before returning to work but do you really think that ff will free you up? Buying formula, washing bottles, sterilising bottles and making up feeds just seems to time consuming compared to lifing up your top and latching them on.

How much you give him for each feed depends on what else he eats. I think they are meant to have about a pint of formula minimum per day at this stage.
Formula feeding is not the faff people seem to suggest, and dare I say that you do not need to sterilise bottles at this stage either. Wash them thoroughly with a purpose built brush or stick them in the dishwasher (you can wash the teats separately).
I think a number 3 formula is adequate. I agree that this could be a good opportunity to teach your LO to drink from a cup as well as using a bottle.
BTW people's opinions vary hugely on this topic!

I would go for first milk/breastmilk substitute - follow-on is a bit of a gimmick and I don't think it has to adhere to quite the same standards as first milk, the NHS stance is that it is neither necessary or recommended. The only advantage is that it is a little cheaper.

Formula fed babies over 6 months need around 500-600ml of milk a day including formula and dairy products in food. Are you still bfing morning/evening/night? I would also offer milk in a cup at his normal feed times and see how it goes.

1. It will tell you on the formula milk pack
2. It really doesn't matter. Go for one that's cheap and easily available
3. I'd go for a cup at this age - both of my DDs started having formula in a cup around this time, in additional to morning and nightime bf. I used either an white Avent magic spout (works well because it fits on an Avent bottle so you can measure the formula easily) or a Boots 'bottle to cup' cup thingy.

I would try him on a cup, then you don't need to faff around with getting him OFF the bottle later on. Although it may take a few weeks before he's taking a decent amount from it, but it would be worth it IMO.

And you don't need to sterilise at this age. Just make sure the milk is made up with very hot water so it sterilises the powder.

As to amounts - no idea. The back of a tin will give you a guide, but as with BF, be led by your baby.

I found the opposite to Bramshott in that my ds will not suck on a cup He just refuses anything with a valve, and I went through loads of bottle-to-cup/spouts that fit on bottle types until I got a cheap sippy cup from Poundland He will only drink from free-flow spouted cups where the liquid just pours into his mouth. So you may have to experiment a bit!

Oh yes yes - definitely a tommee tippee type sippy cup with no valve. My kids never ever got on with the valve ones as babies, far too hard work, and as far as I could see, this is the one all my friends used as well!

Mine never did valves either. Think they were just too lazy to suck that hard for something that didn't taste as nice as BM.

Also, another idea - when going over to formula, can you mix with expressed BM, and gradually increase the quantities? eg 1oz formula + 7oz EBM for 3 days, then 2+6 etc etc.

We did that when we had to get DD1 used to the foul hypoallergenic formula, and it was fine. Regular formula is meant to be much nicer though!

Thank you all for your suggestions and advice, sounds like it will be a trial and error process with the milk and the bottle/cup - which at the moment he sees as a bit of a toy so happy to put either end in his mouth!

JiltedJohnsJulie - the bottles do seem a bit of a faff after having been so lucky that bf was so easy, but I'm getting to the point where the important thing is that someone else can do it, so that I can leave him with husband/mil for a few hours, getting him (and me!) practice for my return to work.

RitaMorgan - I didn't know that about follow on, thanks for the tip.

lukewarmmama - will try that with the EBM, hadn't thought of that.

Don't know what I'd do without MN, thanks!