Really stressed and worried about 12 mo refusing anything but breast

[SilentMammoth]

DD has been bf since birth. I have tried to get her to take a bottle/sippy cup but she refuses and just wants the breast. Other people have tried with varying degrees of success to get her to take a drink from a bottle but I can never manage it, she just pushed it away and refuses to take it.

Last week she got ill and was being sick a lot and I took her to the hospital and they advised me to top her up with Dioralyte. I really struggled t get her to take any (was using syringe) and I'm not sure how much got in her before she spat it out. My mother (pretty supportive of bf) now thinks I should wean her as we don't know how much milk she's getting and she thinks the quality may not be very good. I have just tried to give her some water and she has just spat it out. She took the breast just fine though.

I really really don't want to wean her but am so worried now she's been dehydrated all along and I just haven't realised.

Oh yes and have tried expressing but no luck

Don't panic, you've been doing exactly the right thing. Breastfed baby's don't generaly need Dioralyte, breastmilk contains all the right balance of electrolites a baby need's when ill. Don't try and force her to drink anything else just feed on demand.

Have a read hear if it helps.
www.kellymom.com/health/illness/baby-illness.html#vomiting

Dioralyte shouldn't be given to a bf baby/child unless they are refusing to bf or are severely limiting their bfing as it replaces bm just when the child needs it most (plus if you have ever tasted it!!). BM is ideal for ill children as it has the right balance of electrolytes PLUS it has antibodies and fats and proteins and vitamins and minerals which Oral Rehydration Solutions don't have.

BM gets fattier past 12m (moves to around 11% fat) which means it makes even more of a contribution to the child's diet than before (children need fat for brain and nerve growth as well as for warmth and for fuel). The quality doesn't run out (unless you have been on a starvation diet for years and are chronically under-nourished and deficient in nutrients yourself), in fact the milk changes to accommodate the child's growth

Does it matter if you know how much she is getting if she is fed when she asks for it?

For instance - if you know she has had 472mls of milk on a given day (of what ever kind) what does that tell you? Is that enough for her or not enough or too much? It tells you nothing about what she needs just how much she has consumed

If you are bfing when she asks for it, aren't limiting bfs or curtailing feeds before she has finished, and aren't feeding her a diet of dry foods, it isn't going to be so important to get lots of water in her.

Plus BM is about 88% water (though this is for BM tested in earlier stages of lactation so it would have a little less water in it to make way for the higher levels of fat in toddler BM). It may take a while for your DD to get used to water but if you have a cup/beaker of water available at mealtimes and offer it to her during the day as well she should get used to it.

If you don't want to wean now, don't, it's as simple as that.