Weaning from breast to bottle 13 weeks old- help!

[Sammynails]

Hi All,

I'm returning to work part time in a month so I need my DD to have a bottle during the day. She was breast fed from birth with a formula top-up in the evening until 7 weeks when my milk supply caught up and she was purely breast fed.
I wish that I had at least occasionally given her a bottle now as she seems to have completely forgotten how to feed from one. I've tried a couple of different teats but she at best just plays with it and lets some milk go into her mouth, at worst gets upset and refuses it competely. It will be DH feeding her while I'm at work so he has been trying with the bottle as well. Has anyone go any tips please? We haven't let her get properly hungry as it makes her so distressed, I don't know if maybe we should go that route, but she is so young I would feel terrible. But if it doesn't get sorted she will have a nightmare on my first day back at work..
Please let me know if you have any ideas or advice,

Thank you!

Some of them just do this unfortunately :( How long will you be at work for - will it be full days?

Try the brown latex teats rather than silicon ones, they're supposed to be better with bottle refusers. Also leave it for a week or so before you attempt it again otherwise she's just going to end up rejecting it completely.

Does she take a dummy at all?

My DD is mix fed now but was BF until 4 months. She had a bottle from 3 weeks old but at about 12 weeks got really faffy on the bottle of EBM! We persevered and changed teats again and she was ok. One tip I've since read is you should swirl a bottle of EBM rather than shake it because shaking changes it's integrity. When she gets to 4 months you could always try a doidy cup or a tommee tippee sippy cup instead if the bottle is an absolute no.

This gives good tips to mimic breastfeeding with a bottle.

nurturedchild.ca/index.php/2010/12/10/baby-led-bottle-feeding/

I will be out of the house for work for 12 hours but a couple of days a week

Yes she occasionally takes a dummy.

Thank you for all your help and links, the cup sounds like a good second option.. we will persevere! X