HELP - my 6 month old won't take a bottle from her childminder and I am returning to work soon

[DizziDoll]

My dd (6 months) was exclusively breastfed until she was 5 months old, at which point I started giving her a bottle a day.

I am returning to work at the start of November so dd has been to a few settling in sessions with her childminder.

The problem is that she won't accept the bottle from her. When I get there she'll take it from me without a problem. As soon as I pass her back to the CM though, she starts screaming again.

We have tried feeding her with a muslin that I slept with near her face but that hasn't worked.

Any other ideas?

My DS wouldn't take a bottle at all - ever! I had to return to work when he was eight months and worried a lot. Basically, he breastfed first thing and I gave him milky porridge for breakfast and then he would occasionally have a sip of ebm from a cup through the day. He drank very little in the day whilst I was at work and caught up when I got home! You could get the cm to try a cup or mix milk in with his food?

Meant to say - he was fine, though obviously it wasn't ideal!

She's not really on solids yet though. I have started her on babyrice last week but she is not too keen. She has no problem with the bottle as she takes it from me. Just not from the CM. I have a suspicion that once she is on solids, she won't take them from her either.

She takes the bottle from my DH and my mother but not from MIL.

A lot if bf women seem to have this and many I know end up not having any issue. Baby eats solids and drinks from a cup. Ds only took 120 mls of milk from a bottle when I was at work. He bf evening nighttime and morning and ate solids all around him and was absolutely fine.

Get her to try a cup. There probably is not much need for rice at 6 mths, ds and dd never touched it. We progressed really quickly to lots of finger food mainly and then blitzed combos of soup like dinners. By 7 mths both of them took a lot of solids after starting just before 6 mths so that might help too.

I think solids is the way to go then. She is my third and dc2 also refusedthe bottle for a while. He was fully on solids already though so it didn't feel quite so bad.

I would love to go the BLW route but she isn't interestedin putting anything in her mouth yet.

She does reach for the bottle when she sees it though and tries to hold it herself. Perhaps I could get her to feed herself in her bouncy chair.

I hate to be at work thinking she might be distressed :-(

I would try a cup rather than a bottle. Ds1 started at a cm at 7 months and it took about a month for him to settle and take a bottle from her, but he would eat.

Yes blw would be great but I was like you back to work so some spoon feeds sped up weaning processcso I did not have to concern myself with milk during the day. That said I have always been big time lover of finger foods so it was nearly but not quite blw. I tend to spoon feed the messy stuff porridge, soups which were only for work days but absolutely every thing else was finger food.

Thanks! I have a food delivery coming today and there are bananas in there. I have forgotten the kinds of fingerfood I gave my other two at this stage but I'll look up what people advise om MN. Do any of you have favourite fingerfood for young babies?

Banana and avocados. Both filling, soft and easy to transport or find anywhere when out.

Try a doidy cup. It's an open cup but one side higher so you can see what you are pouring so it doesn't go all down them.

I think it's simply that she doesn't know childminder yet. A week or two with her full time and she will and be more accepting.

And like others said, she can easily get the recommended 20oz in a day before and after childminder and in foods if he really doesn't want it. Approx 7-8oz morning and evening is 14-16 a day as it is. Adding milk to porridge/ eating yogurts/ cheese etc will be plenty.