Help please... trainer bottle advice needed.

[lincsdad]

Hi,
I am a newbie on here so please excuse if this topic has been discussed before

My partner and I have a beatiful 21 week old girl. She is bf 4 times a day and I do a 9 oz formula feed last thing at around 10 pm.

My partner and I have been discussing weaning and also the use of a training bottle, as our LO is very bright and is grasping things.

Now - the reason for the post - my other half thinks that it would be OK to use a trainer bottle for a milk feed, whereas I have said that I think this is a bad idea because it would confuse the feeding. Also that we as parents would lose control over the feeding somewhat.

I thought that a trainer bottle would be good for additional water / juice etc (once we are into weaning) but not for feeds - trying to separate the feeding from the drinking.

Does anyone have any reasoned views whether it is OK to use milk in a trainer bottle and if this would mess up feeds, if we should use a trainer bottle before we begin to wean her or only after, or offer any advice generally concerning the use of trrainer bottles.

By training bottle do you mean a bottle that has a spout rather than a teat - Dr Browns do 1 i know?

I have introduced a sippy cup for additional fluids and kept a teat for feeds until 14 months or so when i got rid of the teats and everything was via sippy cup.

Hope That Helps [HTH]

hi and welcome

um, i would give advice but id be talking out my butt if i pretended i knew what was 'best'. i tend to just end up doing whats easiest (after agonising over whats best for a while of course)

just roll with it, is my blanket (unhelpful) advice to day!

I would advise that you don't change anything until she has sterted weaning which I would delay until 26 weeks if you can. You may need to increase the number of breastfeeds in order to do that though.

Keep her milk feeds to breast and the bottle you are doing. After 6 months you can introduce water/dilute fruit juice by cup. You can use a lidded cup that has a trainer spout with handles for her to hold herself, or you can actually encourage her to sip drinkls from an ordinary cup which is actually meant to be better for jaw development and prevents tooth decay which can be a problem with feeder cups that the baby has to suck strogly to get the drink out of.

Once she is established on solids 3 times a day then milk feeds can start to be dropped. Breast milk is the most important aspect of her diet so that should be kept going as long as possible. HTH.

Thanks for your comments on this. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether we should or should not feed milk in a trainer bottle, or should we only use it for additional fluids (once we start weaning)

Thanks for the comments about tooth decay - good point, hadn't thought about that one

bump

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