bf to bottle - help, don't seem to be making progress

[amulree]

my dd is over 6m (and is as big as a 9m) and after exclusively bf-ing i'd like to move to introduce the bottle at least in the daytime or so I can go out without her sometimes. The problem is we've been trying for nearly 2 weeks now and she's only taken the bottle twice and never very much. The bottle is completely new to her (no expressing has been done) but I'm using tommee tippee which is supposed to be best for bf i thought? I wondered if anyone had gone straight to a cup and how that went. What age can you try that? Or any tips for how to coax her to take a bottle? She will develop an aversion to it i think if we try to force it........

Began switch to bottle on similar timescale to you with DD1 & she refused Tommy Tippee bottles & would only eventually accept Medula bottles. Try different bottles. different teet speeds (bf babies might not be ready for fast flow ones), different temperatures (obv not boiling hot but DD like it better warmer), different formulas (DD would drink the expensive pre made cartons better than powdered formula). It'll come. I also replicated everything about bf to give the bottle- where I sat, how I sat etc, which helped I think.

I really empathise amulree! I was in a very similar position to you. I tried Avent bottles with DS at around 7mo, and it was a tearful disaster. I spent the next couple of months worrying, but not doing much about it! Health visitor suggested going atraight to a cup, but I need DH to do the occasional night time feed - I just couldn't see a cup working as during the day DS sees his cup as a stimulating toy - not want I want pre bed!

So, I was given two tips that really worked! First try NUK bottles. They have a shaped teat that is more similar to a nipple. Second, make the milk warmer than you'd expect. Obviously test the feed before you give it, but go for warm rather than tepid.

Using a NUK bottle and warm milk he took 5 ounces at his first bottle feed at 9mo and hasn't looked back. I am thrilled that I now can go out for more than a couple of hours!

Good luck!

amulree - I empathise as my DS would never take a bottle and we tried for months. (There is a reason he is still breasted at night at 15mo old!)

Lots of his friends did take bottles though, although they all preferred different types - some NUK, some Tommee Tippee and so on.

I know it's really frustrating but even - worse case scenario - she won't take a bottle, your DD is 6 months old so it will get easier to leave her in the day for a couple of hours and gradually longer as she eats more solids. My DS had to go to nursery at 9mo full-time eating sugar-free yoghurt when everyone else had their milk. No, it didn't give him the sucking comfort of a bottle but he wouldn't accept that anyway (the nursery also tried offering a bottle for three months before kindly pointing out that he simply didn't like it and could we all give up as he was happy and healthy?)

So try some different bottles but don't get stressed about it. Probably she will find one that is ok - would she take it if her dad/someone else gave it to her rather than you? Try offering on her "least important" feeds so she is less frantic? But whatever, I am sure you will find a way round it so she isn't hungry or distressed. Good luck!

Oh PS. I did go straight to cup and DS has always loved a cup. Mainly for water though - he has just started accepting milk in it now. But as someone said earlier, not so good for night feeds....which is where I have totally failed in the whole "going out" in the evening area....ooops.

You can try cups from 4months so nows a good time to start.

As others have said though you will get to the point very soon where you can leave them for a few hours with food and a drink and not need to worry about leaving milk.

I managed to do this with DD at 8months and she would have milk every 2hours before that. DS i could leave earlier as he would happly go 4hours between milk feeds (some times I think he live's on air).

Just want to add you are at the point very soon she will not need any milk during the day. My DD is BLW so it's slower in solids then puree babies. Some in my NCT group were hardly taking milk during the day by 6.5mo. I went back to work at 7mo and DD were down to 2 feeds between 8-6. She's learned to take the NUK latex teats now but only taking 2 x 20-30ml during 8-6 (at 8mo). She very likely can go without but I feel better she has some since it is not a one off thing. The nursery also offer her snacks mid morning and mid afternoon plus 3 meals.

I think you will easily be able to go out for the whole day even if your DD won't take a bottle in a couple of months.

Thanks everyone, you've given me hope - i feel very ignorant as i'd never even heard of NUK bottles. I'm going to try different bottles/temperatures and formulas (just tried powder so far) and maybe a cup (although I hadn't thought of the stimulating thing which i can see could be an issue) and see how i get on. I'm trying to get dad to do the bottle as she keeps throwing herself toward my boob when I do it. I wonder when is best to try it? - when she's hungry ie desperate for food but maybe moody or when she's not that hungry but maybe not that interested?

I tried about 10 different teats before I could get DS to take a bottle, which he did at around 6 months. The one he eventually took was latex, orthodontic. I wish I'd known about the temperature thing because I'd have tried that as weel - it honestly took weeks and I was wondering if he'd ever take a bottle, but once he did there was no looking back.

Keep trying. You'll get there.

I looked for completely different teats from Tommeetippee and found Mam ones - dd took them straight away. She took a bit the first day then all of it the second day. ( I had norovirus ans she was 8 months old so it was a necessity, I couldn't feed or move without being sick). Also, dh gave bottles so dd didn't smell the milk.

Might be worth going straight to a freeflow beaker with a soft or hard teat.

I would avoid trying to give it when she is really hungry, as they then tend to refuss even more as all they want to the comfort of a BF. Give her the bottle to play with as well this will help her become use to it.