tips pleeeasse for getting b/f to take bottle

[hermykne]

i am demented, please give me all your tips/techniques for getting baby (nearly 8wks) to take the bottle, he is just wailing now as soon as it goes near him, i mearly think he pushed it away just 15mins ago,
how long do you attempt it before succumbing to the boob?
how long did it take others in days to get them on to it - i only want it for one maybe 2 feeds a day - just to get out on my bike and feel active!
could it take a week or longer/shorter?

Have someone else offer the bottle. No nice milky smell of mummy then. Also make sure the position isn't the same as when bfing as baby'll turn head for breast. have baby slightly sitting up so that he realises it's a different position.
My dd never took it- I had to plan activities around her feeds. At 16 weeks she started drinking from the lid of the bottle and will take milk from a beaker if I'm not around and water from me. No way will she take milk from a beaker from me though

What sort of beaker? DD (11 weeks) won't take milk from a bottle either and since expressing seems to cause me excess supply problems I've given up. I was hoping to start again in a few weeks with a beaker.

freddiecat my expressinf has me all over the shop with supply too

I use 2. One is a freeflow beaker with 2 handles that she loves to try and hold- the type our parents used- you know the old fashioned ones. the other is from Boots- they do a purple one and a green one- no handle, soft spout about £2.50. Apparently my bf counsellor said the freeflow ones best for bf babies- something about not having to use different suck or something. (Have got others but not used them yet- maybe when she's carting drinks around I'll try the anyway up cup that I bought.)

anywayup cup is great - DS has 3 and they are the only cups I'll take out in a bag as they do not leak

have a freeflow penguin shaped cup from Ikea which is seriously leaky so might try DD on that (mummy's boob or penguin's mouth?!)

Expressing will get easier. Try and settle into routine first with baby. I only used to express if dd fed off one side and I was full on the other. Then I'd freeze it but I have to admit that I left my body to self regulate for quite a while. The other good time is first thing in the morning when you're fairly full. If you want to regularly give your baby the same feed out of a bottle then you could express then. eg. If you want to go out every day at 2pm adn have your baby have a bottle from a sitter then express just before you go every day IYSWIM.
I couldn't be bothered with it myself, much easier to feed and then nip out for a couple of hours if I wanted to. Now I'm back at work 2 days I express at lunchtime and she has milk from the day before- but she's much older now. Plus when your baby's about 4/5 months your milk production changes and you stop being so 'full' before a feed even though there's loads of milk there. Someone else'll explain why

tried expressing first think in the morning but then the next morning i HAVE TO EXPRESS OR I WILL BURST!

DD has been sleeping 12 hours a night for the last 3 weeks which is unusual at her age so I guess my milk supply is just getting confused.

as in this morning i expressed and did two pumps with the pump and then just sat there with no pressure on just collecting the milk gushing out.

It will settle though. Make sure you have plenty of towels in bed. I do think you're wise to let things settle down before expressing again. Lucky you getting her to sleep all night. My dd 7 1/2mths still wakes 2 or 3 times in the night and has a proper feed.

i know i am sooo lucky. means that i am not so fussed about getting her to feed from a bottle as there;s no need for DP to share night feeds.

hermykne, are you trying when he is hungry or after feeding? If hungry, they just get upset, because they have learned that it is a nipple which stops their hunger, so get upset with anything else. better to try when he is between feeds - not starving, but not full to brim. And letting someone else try is a good idea. They have to discover that a bottle will give them the same satisfaction as a nipple.

Have to say, DS never did accept a bottle, but we didn't get into it arly enough, I think.

My dh loved the fact that I was bfing as he didn't have to do any of the night feeds- don't think I'd have trusted him to wake up though

I know what you mean pixiefish. I can imagine that if DD woke up, DP would wake up but take ages to come to, by which time DD would have worked herself up into a paddy, I'd be lying there wide awake and forcibly stopping myself from going to her!

Yes. And I'd be petrified that he'd fall asleep with her and smother her so I'd have stayed awake until he's put ehr back in her cot- defeated the whole object of the exercise.

What types of bottle have you tried? My DS took to Avent ones right away, but DD was fussier. Eventually I found Dr Browns bottles in Mothercare - they are excellent as as well as being anti-colic, they have very soft teats which are a lot easier for little mouths to manipulate than the Avent ones.

Other friends have had great success with NUK bottles, the Playtex ones, and Tommee Tippee ones.

ALso, definitely get someone else to offer the bottles - babies know what's going on and prefer Mummy if she;s around!

pixiefish thanks for your advice
blu yes i have tried at feedning times or just after when he is relaxed so will try at off peak times instead!
lulupop iam using the playtex system. it worked for dd who resisted til 5months!! thats what i am trying to avoid!

just one more thing - the wailing twisting turning is all part of it? and for how long should i attempt it