DS2 is 6mths today, seems he's preferring ff over bf :o(

[burstingbug]

He was exc bf til a month ago when I returned to work 3 days a week. He has 2 ff whilst I'm at work during the day as I couldn't express enough for him.
Over the past week or so he has become less and less interested in bf. He'll happily latch on and give sucking a go, but then pulls off, same with swapping him on to other breast. He's always been a 5 minute feeder and now he seems to spend even less time. He's still hungry after feeding too. He grabbed the bottle from me this morning ( I made formula up to put in his cereal) He's grabbing the spoon and bowl as soon as I get it out and crys if I don't give it to him quick enough.
He generally has C&G sunshine banana breakfast and up to a whole jar a baby food in the evening. (I am planning on cooking and mashing his food by the end of the month)
He drops off to sleep around 9.30pm, then I take him up to bed when I go up around 11pm, I'll offer him another bf even if he's sleeping, put him in his cot and he'll sleep til any where between 4 and 6, then I'll pick him up and bf lying down with him, and we'll both drop off to sleep for another hr or 2 before we get up when DS1 wakes.
Is it time to switch to formula altogether or still try to persevere with bf?
I'm pleased I've got this far, seems shame to give up bf, but I wouldn't feel guilty as I've got to the 6mth mark.

hi bursting! i am in a similar position, have been giving some formula for the last month. she is 6 months next week and i have decided to stop bf in the next couple of weeks as she seems more than happy with the ff. TBH, i think only you can really make the choice of whether to keep on (or your ds will choose actually!)- if you are happy to keep trying, i would say give it a go, he may go with it or may lose interest totally. well done for getting this far - i know how hard it can be at times and i'm afraid i'm going for the easyoption and moving totally to bottles.
good luck, whatever you decide

Burstingbug, the decision is totally yours as to which way you go with this. But, how long have you tried expressing for? It can take some time to build up to expressing the same amount as a normal breastfeed would be.

Hi Olivo will be on Aug thread again soon! It's hard to choose isn't it? As I said, I won't be too upset at giving up bf as I've got to 6 mths, although 1yr is now recomended isn't it?
I know what you mean by switching to ff would be the easy option!

Bigcar, I've tried expressing many times, on the sofa watching DS2 playing, without looking at DS2, in the bath, with and without DS2 in the room. Manual pump, electric pump and hand expressing.
Takes well over an hour to get a few oz's!

Well burstingbug, you certainly can say you havent given it a good go! If hes hungry, how would you feel about a slice of wholemeal toast after his cereal to keep him topped up, have you thought about a banana, or other fruit at lunch time? Good luck .

i know what you mean about expressing - i did it from 6 weeks till about 4 and a half months and it took me two sessions of around half an hour to get enough for the dream feed - that eventually became our first ff!!
didnt know they were recommending a year now - couldnt do that anyway with work etc personally.

oh ,and i'm liking the sound of sunshine banana breakfast!!

I could be wrong about the 1 yr thing just though I'd heard it banded about - perhaps it was mentioned on here somewhere.

The government advice currently is to breastfeed for the first 12 months. When my dd1 was born (16 years ago, now i feel really old!), the advice was 3 months, each time maternity leave has been extended, the government seems to have changed its mind, but maybe thats just me being cynical (i think it probably is!). If ds refuses bf, what else can you do, i dont think he'll be that interested in discussing government policy!

The compromise I found with DS2 (who is now 7) was to keep the early morning feed and last feed as bf, and the rest ff, until he was 1. I am hoping to do that with DD when I go back to work in April.

As he is 6 months now, once you have got him to 3 meals a day, I would start dropping the formula and breastfeed him when you are at home. He will be starting to drop milk feeds anyway so really there is no need to replace with bottles. When he has his solids he can have a drink of water/juice. It is really common for babies to get frustrated that they are not being fed quick enough whether it be breast or bottle. In the long run it will be easier to breastfeed IMO than start faffing with bottles at this stage.

I plan to start the 3rd meal soon, just want to make sure he is getting enough milk. DS1 was formula fed from 15wks so it was easy to see how much he was drinking and eating and regulate it. As for bf, I have no idea how much he has, I'm trying to make sure its about 3hrly, but I've never really taken note on the times of feeds before.
He has no teeth yet, so all foods I guess have to be really mushy.

You'd be surprised how well gummy babies cope with actual solids as opposed to slops - their gums are very tough!
Try him with a stick or two of steamed carrot or maybe a banana and see how he gets on.

Must agree, bananas a good one to start with

DD who is 6 months today loves brocolli (sp), just steamed/boiled. SHe holds the stalk and gums the rest of it to death. Messy, but fun

you would have thought that being my 2nd child, I would know what I'm doing! DS1 is 2 on Wednesday ffs so it wasn't long ago I was doing all this!!
Banana will be put on shopping list, I think I have brocoli in the fridge.