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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Anyone given up BF even though babe wont do bottles????

20 replies

jorange5 · 16/05/2007 19:16

OK, babe is 7 months old today and fully BF apart from bits and bobs of finger food (don't go there on the puree issue - she wont!) and I want to start giving up. I would like to reduce BF to last thing at night and after her first daytime nap. My reason is that DD is hyperatctive and breastfeeding is always a fight except for at the times I just mentioned. She wont take a bottle but will drink from a cup. I have tried formula on her a few times by cup and she will gulp 3oz and swallow tonnes of air then wont have any more. Has anyone switched to formula without using bottles at this age? I don't even know how much milk she needs in a day. Any help received gratefully!!

OP posts:

VoodooMama · 16/05/2007 19:21

just keep going as you are and let her reduce the breastmilk, my dd would never have a bottle (due to a dumbass midwife in hospital forcing water down her Im sure of it) but loved cups/beakers with spouts etc.

why is bf a fight? does the baby keep wanting to look round wiggle etc? Wait a bit to get her even hungrier?

bf is best, its a shame to stop/cut down loads now when it will still benefit you both enormously

I stuck with it when I noticed the extortionate price of formula, and the faff of sterilising, TBH, but im really glad I did, and dd bit me a number of times once giving me a nipple abcess!!!!

moopymoo · 16/05/2007 19:21

think you are fine to go straight to a cup, infact that is probably what is recommended. And finger food is fine..have read with interest baby led weaning stuff, would have loved to have done this when my ds s were little. im sure someone more informed will be along soon! I know that hte need for milk reduces a bit at this age, i was fully bfing so not sure. maybe she gets what she needs in fewer feeds - they are very efficient when its well established .

Original poster

jorange5 · 16/05/2007 20:57

By 'a fight' I mean i end up with cuts and bruises!! The babe is so strong, she can walk already with one hand on the furniture and has legs like a shot-putter and enough upper body strength to lift her feet off the floor from her cot rail. She wants BF every 3 hours so we sit down, she plays with my nose and feeds for about 3 minutes at the most then starts to wiggle away. I try and settle her so I can get her to feed longer and get the full force of her disapproval including bites! TBH feeding has always been about food rather than bonding for her except at night and I am actually beginning to resent it. She makes up for snacking all day by keeping me up feeding her all night so I have no energy to cope with her during the day now she is so mobile. I know I 'should' carry on BF and I am dubious about formula milks but I just don't want to BF so much any more... i feel sad writing that actually but that feeling will change next time she's hungry.

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VoodooMama · 16/05/2007 21:42

wow!
she sounds a little belter!
how about formula at night only? see if she switches to longer day feeds?
give her a biggish ff just before bedtime? see if she can last a bit longer.
How is the bedtime routine going? can you put her down awake or do you have to feed her to sleep?

The more mobile they are the more they do need to eat, but her weight sounds ace

lou031205 · 17/05/2007 14:34

Hi jorange5

Millie wouldn't take a bottle AT ALL - even when I left her with my mum all day & she was only on tiny amounts of solids.

I had to go back to work at 7months, and I stewed for ages about it. Eventually the health visitor said "you have given your last breast feed" - for Millie, what I had to do was simply change to formula in a cup, and persevere.

1st night was heart breaking, but by the next day she reluctantly took some milk, and by the third day she didn't even look at my breasts!

I hated giving up bf at 7 months, but working shifts & Millie's refusal to accept anything else resulted in a hard decision.

Original poster

jorange5 · 17/05/2007 18:37

I found a cup with a spout yesterday that works quite well. The problem with the spouted cups that I have tried is that buggerall comes out and as the babe doesn't bottlefeed she doesn't know how to suck at them. Anyway, Dr Browns does a big beaker with big handles and a removable valve so the contents flows freely through the spout. It is definately less messy than a cup an she can just about use it herself. This afternoon she drank 4-5 oz but was still rooting around for boob after it. This breaks my heart so I let her feed and I think this will be the biggest hurdle to giving up. Ho-hum, we move house in 3 weeks so I will leave it until then.

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hunkermunker · 17/05/2007 18:44

She might be getting what she wants in those three minutes. She's of an age when the world's exciting and she doesn't want to be stopped to feed when there's stuff to explore.

Try not worrying about cups and only feeding her as long as she feeds, then letting her get down and go off. Don't turn feeds into fights and I'm sure it'll settle down again as she gets older.

Original poster

jorange5 · 17/05/2007 20:21

She isn't getting what she needs in 3 minutes though I don't think. if she was then she wouldnt wake up 3 times at night and feed for 20 mins each time. She has always been like this really. When she was very small she had reflux and I had a very forceful letdown which always choked her. There has never been a time when breastfeeding was a lovely experience for us both. That said I am still sad at the thought of stopping but I do think life would really be easier if I could.

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hunkermunker · 17/05/2007 21:51

Have a look here for more about babies like this

DS2 was one - and it was a struggle to get him to feed at this age. He's still feeding at 15m, so if you DO want to keep doing it, there is hope!

mm22bys · 17/05/2007 22:17

I've heard of a couple of babies at a similar age to your dd who had to go on to bottles for health reasons, when previously they were EBF.

In both cases it was a battle for a day or so, but then their hunger got the better of them, and they took to a bottle eventually.

Even my DS was the same when I introduced a bottle at around five months, he HATED it for a day or so, but now he is pretty good (even though he still loves it from his mum when he can get it!).

Oops just read you want to give bottles a miss entirely. I was actually like this apparently. I was EBF till around seven months, but wouldn't take a bottle, and didn't want it any more from mum, so mum just gave me my milk in a cup...

All the best,

hunkermunker · 17/05/2007 22:31

mm22bys, for what health reasons did the babies you know of need to go onto bottles?

Washersaurus · 17/05/2007 22:33

I gradually introduced DS to a cup when I was bf - I started giving him a cup for one feed a day (afternoon feed I think) until he got used to it and then gradually replaced feeds until he weaned himself off his last bedtime bf at 12 mths.

He never liked bottles when I tried EBM when he was little and I was loathed to introduce them to him when he was older.

Manictigger · 17/05/2007 22:34

Hunker, thanks for that link, I was starting to worry that my 8 month old had ADHD because she is so easily distracted when feeding. The only time she stays on is when she's really tired or during night feeds. I suppose this means that those night feeds are more important than ever though... (damn I've been eyeing up those 'dropping nighttime feeding' threads in a really envious way)

Washersaurus · 17/05/2007 22:35

I've always used the Tommee Tippee first cup (non valve type) btw.

hunkermunker · 17/05/2007 22:37

ManicTigger, you're very welcome.

Have just remembered DS1 getting a mad distracted look in his eye and stopping feeding when he noticed my arm. I mean, like he'd not seen that before!

I actually found wearing a highly patterned top helped with DS2 - he'd watch it and feed absent-mindedly as he studied it. At least he was looking in the right direction then!

Manictigger · 17/05/2007 22:38

Yes Wash, I've never managed to get dd to take a bottle of anything (well apart from first 48 hrs on hospital ward) but she'll drink water with meals from one of those TT cups.

Manictigger · 17/05/2007 22:41

Hunker, am going to rifle through my wardrobe right now (obviously she's bored with navy blue or black t-shirts).

Washersaurus · 17/05/2007 22:56

What about one of those beady feeding/nursing necklaces or a bracelet would that help...or is that a step too far???

DS always loved looking at a top of mine that had bright orange pattern on the front.

mm22bys · 18/05/2007 05:28

In both cases the mothers had to go on antibiotics. One had made it to around six months, and the other to around seven / eight.

Original poster

jorange5 · 18/05/2007 08:57

I can't wear jewellery or else she pulls and pulls at it until it breaks and i am half garotted

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