Help from bfers please!

[chellebelle]

My DH wants us to go away to Paris or Alton Towers or somewhere for the weekend in October as a nice treat to look forward to, just us - not the kids. However, my DD who is just 6 months is well and truly on the breast. Have tried numerous different teats and she will not take them.

I only wanted to breastfeed her for the first 6 - 8 weeks and made sure I incorporated a bottle into her routine so that there would never be a problem if I needed to leave her with other people for whatever reason but at 4 months ish she decided she didn't want the bottle any more and point blank refused it - think it was to do with teething. I am knackered and at the end of the day bfing is so much less hassle than ffing and if she does come off the breast it's not him who has to do all the extra washing up of bottles etc - she's been having solid feeds for the past 2 months and not once has he washed up any of her feeding bowls or spoons yet.

I never thought I'd make it this long.

I guess what I'm saying is DH wants it to stop, I don't paticularly want to and DD won't take a bottle so the whole thing turns into a major hassle with which he tries to help but he then gives up cause he works really hard and is also really tired.

Also on top of all that I'm starting a college course on Tuesday evenings starting next week so haven't got a clue what to do about her last feed at night if she continues to refuse a bottle (I will be leaving the house at 6.30ish and won't be getting back home til 9.30 at the earliest)?

Just feel down about the whole thing.

You could try introducing a sippy cup instead of a bottle if she's 6 months.

DS was the same no interest in a bottle at all. Introduced a sippy cup and he'd occasionally take an ounce or two. Eventually it took my going back to work to get him drinking from the cup and he held out at nursery for a few weeks while reverse-cycling and nursing a lot at night before he gave in and started to take the cup. We're still bf the rest of the time and he's 19 months.

I'd be inclined to try her with a sippy cup and push that for the Tuesday evenings. You are only gone for four hours and she won't starve in that time -- my guess is that after a few weeks she'll start grudgingly drinking from the cup (but it's only a guess). If that works out then you can feel happier that she'll take a cup if you do go away for a weekend in October. I agree though that if you don't want to stop bf you shouldn't give in to pressure from your DH.

Another idea -- she might drink from a regular open cup if held by someone else? DS was quite keen on that even while refusing anything else, because (I hypothesised) he saw it as something that big people did. If you only need to not-bf her occasionally that might be worth trying?

My LO refused a bottle but eventually took mam teats - you've probably tried those already though

Cups friends recommend are the tommee tippee ones and then if you want an open one I think it's called doidy

Have you tried Nuk bottles/ teats? They're the only ones my ds will feed from (he's got a cleft lip so can't manage a silicon teat and these are latex). Lots of people like the Tommee Tippee back to nature bottles too.

Have you tried getting somebody else to feed her while you stay out of the way? If you try you'll smell of milk and she'll know there's an alternative.

Good Luck!

Hi Chelle - I have had similar issues - our dds are same age-ish.
Firstly - mega well done for 6 months BF!!!! Don't give it up until you want to and don't let any one else push you into it.
Can you express at all? (Not sure if you mean it was the bottle or the milk dd didn't like)
If so you can try the breast shaped bottles or like others have said, go for a cup. My dd won't take a bottle from me - she just starts pulling my top up as she can smell it, but she will take from anyone else. It take take a few goes to get her to take it and it is a bit heart rending when they grizzle but trust me, when she got hungry - she took it!
Good luck and tell your dh to get his finger out and do the damn pots!!

MAMulti teat worked for us in a similr situation - lots of persistence required though

Thanks all! I've tried the NUK teats but she will only have the bottle in her mouth when she is sitting upright and even when she does she gets the milk in her mouth and just sits blowing raspberries on the teat (spraying milk everywhere). My sister tried giving her some expressed milk in the NUK one but she did exactly the same again so don't think it's because of the formula, which I was starting to think it might be, even though she used to accept the formula without issue. Even got one of these boob shaped bottles which my DH tried to give her but she wasn't having any of it. Tried a tommy tippee cup but she just spent the whole time trying to bite it and didn't manage to get anything out at all.

Any other suggestions greatly received!

I think in the end it is just going to be persistance.

I spoke to my DH about continuing to breastfeed and he said that it was fine for me to continue. He said he was really really shocked that I wanted to and he thought that I'd be one of the last people in the world to come out with that request but he can see the attachment that I have with DD and he doesn't mind. He is a bit gutted that we won't be going away any time soon but at least I don't feel pressured to stop now.

chellebelle, my ds3 was a nightmare when it came to taking a bottle. After some peristance he took the MAM ultivent teat but then went on solids and started refusing those as well so although was eating enough at his creche was not drinking enough.
Eventually I went away for a day to a health spa (lovely!) and he took Playtex bottles with a latex teat for my mum. In fact he drank 4 of them! You can get them on baby supplies
We had tried every other bottle including the Adiri one.
Re cups, I found ds would not drink from any cup that required any sucking/biting etc. The only success we have had was with an open topped cup.hth