OK so DS2 has finally taken some formula from a bottle - what should I do now?

[Holymoly321]

DS2 is 19 weeks and was exc BF. Needed him to take a bottle for various reasons - he refused point blank. Today DH had him all day - I went out with DS1 so basically DS2 had to take a bottle if he didnt want to starve. It's formula because it is - tried ebm before and he still didn't take it so got sick of wasting it all!. Anyway, tonight, finally - after a day of only taking 1 oz!!!, he has taken two lots of 3oz - one lot at 7pm and then another 3oz at 10pm. Question is, should we keep giving him formula bottles thru the night just to make sure he will take a bottle, or should I go back to breastfeeding him tonight and reintro the bottle of formula tomorrow? Ideally I would like to continue breastfeeding him but to give him one bottle of formula a night and also be able to leave him with DH or grandparents if I have to go out etc. Phew - sorry for long thread!

bf him tonight
you can try a bottle tomorrow night - one a day is plenty

Hi MrsB - thing is I'm terrified that all the hard work of today will go to waste if he thinks that breast is still available. Is this silly? It's been such a hard day getting him to take a bottle (after weeks of trying) that I really don't want to take a step backwards....

Agree with MRsB, a bottle a day is plenty.
DOnt understand why giving him breastmilk a step backwards?

Oh I didn't mean that giving him bm would be a step backwards, I just meant that after it taking soooo long to get him to take a bottle, am scared he will 'forget' how to take a bottle rather than a nipple IYSWIM... I still really want to breastfeed him all day, just want to give him a bottle at last feed of day and then for emergencies when I can't be with him.

If he's taken 7oz from a bottle today, I think you can assume he will if he has to.

If you want to keep on bf, I would do as the others suggest and try one a day.

It would def be easier on me tonight just to whack out a boob then go downstairs and warm a bottle - as long as you guys are sure he won't forget how to take a bottle... I mean, do babies forget?

well he migth forget if you didn;t give one for months and months

btu if you give another after a few days, or even a week, he'll go 'oh yes I've done this before' even if it takes aminute or two for him to get it just right

dd had one bottle a week and remembered just fine.

So should I just breastfeed him all day and then just giv the bottle of formula tonight? Last night, after he'd taken the 3oz at around 10ish, when he woke up around 12 I breastfed him and then he woke up again around 3 but went back off to sleep before I had woke up enough to get out of bed. THen didn't feed him (breastfeed) until around 5am when he woke up again. Or should I give at least one other bottle during the day to 'bed in' the bottle habit?

I don;t really know - as I say dd only got one a week and she was fine

If you what you want in the long term is to bf all day with just one ff before bed, I certainly wouldn't do more than one bottle a day as a regular thing as it could start compromising your supply.