I need your help! Do I need to give up breastfeeding?

[PeppermintPatty]

DD is 7 1/2 months old and still BF. She eats well but I'm worried about her fluid intake when I go back to work (next month).

I've been trying to get her to take fluids from a bottle / sippy cup / normal cup since she was about 4 months old. She will only take a few tiny sips and no more. She gets v upset if I try and get her to take more.

I've tried expressed milk, formula, water and juice.
I've tried lots of different bottles, teats, sippy cups and even a proper cup and NOTHING WORKS.
I tried getting DP to give her milk in bottle /cup when I'm not there.
I've tried witholding booby milk all day but she still refuses, until I give in and BF

The only advice I've been given now is to just stop BFing altogether so she HAS to take the bottle / cup. I'm beginning to think this is my only option now but:

• what if she still refuses to take other fliuds
• I don't really want to give up BFing just yet
• I think DD would be vvv upset

Please has anyone any advice?

No - I don't think you need to give up breastfeeding! And actually I don't think you should if you don't want to - it's such a great way of 'rebonding' at the end of the day. I really valued breastfeeding my older two when I went back at work.

I think you shouldn't worry about her fluid intake if you're feeding her in the morning and after work, and if she's eating well during the day. You can make sure she gets lots of fruit and foods with a high water content. I also think that she'll relent after you go back to work and start to take fluids from a cup - she won't keep it up day after day. And in the meantime - while she's adjusting to not having you around, you can just feed her more when you are there. I'm sure she won't dehydrate.

BTW - have you tried her with a straw?

No, you don't need to give up .

Giving her no breastmilk cannot be better than giving her some when you are around.

Whilst I don't have personal experience of this, I know lots of people (on here and RL) who do, and people usually find that once baby is with cm/nursery, whilst they may try and hold out the first day or two, they will soon start drinking once they realise there really is no other option during the day.

I would pick one method by which you want her to take other fluids, and stick with either expressed milk or water, so as not to confuse her.

The first cup we were able to get my plastic refusing dd to use, at around 9/10 months, was a playtex one. They can be bought from infantcaredirect, but if you get one then check whether it is the soft spout or hard spout that they have in stock. If only hard, then get the einsteins one from them, as that is soft.

I'd scrap the advice you were given. Chances are she doesn't take from other sources as she's well hydrated from feeds and from her solids. When you withheld it, she was likely well hydrated and was happy to hold out until it's available. Both of mine only took a few sips of water now and then until they were 10 months or so.

If you do a morning and evening feed when you're back at work she'll likely get enough to not be dehydrated. I also believe that she will drink if she's thirsty, especially if you're nowhere to be seen. My friends DS was having nothing during the day at nursery at that age until he was there about 4 days and eventually accepted a few sips of formula. Just make sure that whoever is with her in the day is offering drinks a lot, even if they're not accepted. Are you offering purees? They're probably quite liquid too.

no you dont have to give up
when you are not there she will probably jump right in to drinking from a sippy cup
you know yourself that she would rather have you so when you try to give her something else she just says'err. no'

she will be fine

A straw can work really well - DS has loved it since we first tried it.
Its very different when they are with other people and children who are drinking from cups - they like to be in with the in crowd iyswim ?
Also, try a sports cap bottle. But most of all, just try to chill about it, and just keep consistently offering water with all meals in your preferred container, and show her you drinking from it too.

Do you go to any baby/toddler groups? She may start getting interested in cups when she sees other children drinking from them.

Good advice given above. You shouldn't have to give up bfing.

I had a very similar situation with dd1: I went back to work when she was 8 months old and she wouldn't take a bottle at all, just a few sips from a sippy cup. We were apart from 8am to 6.30pm on the days when I worked, but she coped fine by having a big bf when we were reunited.

I fed ds1 morning and night when i went back to work when he was 7.5 months he managed fine in the day and when I stopped feeding him at 1 he started drinking loads in the day so was obviously well hydrated from the bf

This is a pretty common problem, PP and you definitely do not need to give up bf.

Your dd will drink what she needs when she's thirsty and she will either accept the cup at nursery/cm or stock up on bm during the time you at home with her.

She reallly won't dehydrate or have any problems, even if she only has a few sips at a time.

The best cup I've found for babies is the Tommy Tippee First Cup - it's easy for them to hold, fluid comes out without too much effort and the spout isn't too big in their mouths.

Have you tried just giving her the same cup of water every mealtime, so that she gets used to seeing it, playing with it (throwing it on the floor!) experimenting with it? I found that encouraged my 3 to drink from cups, rather than putting it in their mouths and trying to get them to drink.

Whatever you do, don't give up bf yet. Let her settle in at nursery/cm and see what happens.

Thanks for your v quick advice!
YAY so I don't need to give up (hmmm.. so much for HV advice).
I really hope DD will start drinking once she's in nursery and realises she has no choice (she's my 1st child so NO IDEA what to expect when it comes to nursery). Think I was under the impression I had to have her drinking from cup / bottle before she started nursery as not to make things hard work for the staff!

Will DD know how to drink from a straw? How do I get her to suck it? I can imagine she would just chew it like everything else at the moment!
I think I will stick with water as she gets particularly upset about milk in a cup.

Did your HV tell you to make her go without bm to make her drink ?

To teach her about straws, put the straw into the water, put your finger over the end, then take the straw out and let it dribble into her mouth. Combined with a bit of ham acting of drinking through the straw, I think it took DS two days to learn. Now of course, he likes to blow bubbles through it too..
Nursery staff do this all the time, and to some extent, its what you are paying them for. Similarly, if you want DD fed milk on demand, nap when she needs it, they should do that too - I've heard of some people being told they must have baby in a routine to fit in with nursery - which is tosh.