weaning from bf to ff - was going well, now hit problems

[minipie]

DD was EBF with the odd bottle until a few weeks ago when I started slowly swapping one feed a day to a bottle in prep for going back to work. she is 10 months and has 4 feeds a day as well as 3 solid meals. (each milk feed is fairly small which is why I still do 4 feeds).

last week we had got to 2 BFs and 2 FFs per day and all was going fine, bottle accepted with no problems.

then she got ill - tummy bug and cold - she's been off her food and milk generally. She's now on the mend and eating food again as normal, but at milk feed times she won't take the bottle only the breast.

I am really hoping this is just a temporary thing while she recovers from being ill rather than permanent bottle refusal. Anyone know if this is usual??

in the meantime, what do I do? I could bf at all feeds but my supply is a lot lower now as I'd got used to only 2 feeds a day, and of course it's going backwards in terms of weaning onto bottle.

If she refuses the bottle permanently, is 2 milk feeds a day enough (first thing and bedtime?)

I would think for a 10m old you could stick with 2 bf a day and see what else DD takes from the bottle. If her milk feeds are fairly small she won't be too far down on calories. You could also make breakfast cereal extra milky to make up some of the difference.

thanks. another complete bottle refusal this afternoon :( she was making "want boob" signals but was easily distracted.

I can give morning and evening feeds most days but after December, some days I will have to be at work past her bedtime... will DH be able to get her to sleep without milk if she is used to having it most other days?

TBH if you are going to have to regularly miss some bedtime feeds I personally would get her on to a bottle for every bedtime. I was in the same position with my DD who is now nearly 4. But if you want to carry on withat least some I wouldn't worry about the bottle refusal now - Dec is a long time away in her terms.

You could also try a sippy cup either now or aa Dec approaches?

Sorry for typos - typing one handed on phone while bfing DS ....

thanks! I wouldn't mind getting her onto a bottle every bedtime - just not sure how to do that when she is refusing it. but you're right December is a long time away.

She drinks water from a sippy cup, I could try milk, she probably won't get much but it's more than nothing! Just so disappointed I have run into bottle refusal, it all seemed to be going fine. gah.

thanks for your help.

No worries - I know it's really frustrating. DD was a total refuser from 10 wks until about 7 1/2 months - I was getting pretty stressed as I was due back at work at 9 1/2 months! One thing I did was offer her a quick bfto take the efge off and then offer the bottle straight afterwards, but since your DD is a bit older and has taken the bottle well before it might be overreacting to do that?

No harm in trying it! thanks

I think the trouble is that she isn't really hungry in the day due to the solids, so she's happy to wait for her bedtime bf instead of taking the bottle. but if I only offer bottle at bedtime I know there will be all out screamathon ... so frustrating as you say, she was taking a bottle happily until the past few days.

she also seems to have decided today that she can't self settle any more argh.

Hi minipie :) how are you? I'm just browsing on the feeding board because I am looking for some help with feeding DS. Hope you and dd are well, I remember you from the December threads x

hello Nutella! yes all well, well apart from the autumn colds and the bottle issue argh! Though she did have 100ml from a bottle today, first time she's accepted a bottle for days... a good sign. hope you are both well

That's excellent news. Did she just give in?

I went back to work pt when ds was 10 months and he was quite happy on 2 bfs a day. Just before a year gave cows milk in a cup in the morning then after one had bedtime milk in cup too.
Why not try just the cup and forget the bottle then you won't have to worry about weaning from a bottle.

I gave it to her at a playgroup so she was really distracted and also left it till she was pretty hungry ... she sort of took it without noticing iyswim! then has taken the bottle from DH this weekend, not lots, I think she is stocking up at the BFs but it's reassuring.

of course now I think I ought to be moving her onto a sippy cup for milk I will try doing that shortly but she relies so much on her bedtime bf to unwind and get sleepy that I'm worried a sippy cup won't be as comforting, thought a bottle would be a better boob substitute at that time...

I worried exactly the same but as it turned out the little tinker couldn't have cared less and was quite happy with story, cuddle and sippy cup. I felt quite unloved.x

hah I know what you mean :) that's good to know though.

minipie yes thank you we are both well (except for matching colds glad I'm not teething on top of it). If it helps you to know, DS went to sleep with a bottle tonight because DP and I were out (for our first evening since DS was born!) . He was a bit whiney and has woken a couple of times but I think that is the cold.