Bf baby not taking formula

[Beng4l]

Since birth i have been ebf but I have expressed regulary and baby who is nearly 6 months drank from the bottle. Now i have been trying to put him on formula as he is not gaining weight but he refuses to drink from the bottle. Since the formula he wont even take breastmil from the bottle. I cant even express a lot of milk so im trying to get him on formula but he just wont take it. I have even tried with spoon and syringe but no luck.

Any sugestions mums?

Can you add the formula to the breastmilk slowly? So every feed mix a ounce of formula with whatever expressed he has. Then after a couple of days add 2 ounces and keep going until it's all formula?

Why do you want him to drink formula?

Have you tried getting someone else to give him the bottle?? My youngest would not take a bottle if he knew I was near by and absolutely zero chance he'd take a bottle from me!

I have, my husband has tried but no luck :(

Can you express for an extra feed? Also, have you tasted formula, it is revolting so it's no surprise they are rejecting it, if you're weaning, could you just try and feed higher calorie food to DC?

Once dc1 could express a preference he rejected all formula which is why I tasted it and compared to breastmilk. I don't generally drink formula or breastmilk.

So he’s 6m old? Is gaining weight or losing? Or is he just dropping of his growth line?

If you didn’t know his weight would you be worried? Is he happy, healthy and meeting milestones? Weight tends to be less of an issue at this age as you can see by looking whether they are healthy or not by their behaviour.

Is he weaning? When they move to solids they can actually drop their calorie intake significantly as a) pureed carrot has very few calories, and b) it is bulky, so while they feel full they aren’t taking in the same calories from a stomach full of carrot as they would a stomach full of milk.

So i wouldn’t worry about formula too much. Look at his diet and ways to increase the calorie load of solids. Make sure you aren’t focussing too much on fruit and veg, yogurt, cheese, slugs of olive oil in pasta and veg, grains, meat, all high calorie. Healthy fats, stuff like hoummus.

If he’s nearly 6 months can’t you start weaning? You might have more success mixing the formula with baby porridge and spoon feeding. Then carry on breast feeding as normal.