Breastfeeding

[laakhx]

Hi everyone

My youngest has just turned 7 months and I’m starting to think about weaning her off breastfeeding. I breastfed my first child until she was 2, and while I’m proud I managed it, I don’t think I want to do it for that long again.

This time around, I’m feeling ready to have a bit more of myself back. I love breastfeeding and it’s been a lovely bonding experience, but I’d also like some more freedom, a bit of “me time”, and not to be the only one responsible for every feed.

The problem is that she completely refuses a bottle. We’ve tried a few times and she just won’t entertain it at all. Has anyone successfully got a breastfed baby to take a bottle at this age? Any tips or tricks that worked for you? Did you try different teats, have someone else offer it, or just keep persevering?

Has anyone started reducing breastfeeds around this age? How did you go about it? Did you replace feeds gradually with formula or expressed milk, or focus more on solids first? I’m also wondering whether, at 7 months, it’s worth trying a cup instead of a bottle if she continues to refuse one.

Just looking for experiences and advice really. I breastfed my first for much longer, so I do feel a bit guilty about wanting to stop earlier this time, but I also feel ready to have a little bit of myself back. Has anyone else felt the same?

Tbh at seven months I would just try to keep going with breastfeeding for a tad bit longer and then eek it out around a year. From about 9 months my breastfed baby took a straw bottle for water and then we started giving some cows milk from just over a year. I didn’t stop breast feeding until he was a bit older but from a nutritional value he was getting what he needed from food and cows milk from a year. I would also try open cup as some babies take really well to it. Know what you mean about the feeding being all consuming but the more food intake increases, I find breastfeeds drop quite quickly around a year old.

What bottles have you tried ?

my first was a complete bottle refuser and I fed her for 13m, my second is 12 weeks and takes well to the lansinoh bottle.

I read a few success stories at this age. Someone just leaving the bottle around for the baby to pick up themselves and feed. The bottle was always round him and his toys and after a few days he took it.

Another would put their knuckle in the babies mouth so they learnt to suckle and took the bottle of milk.

someone changed to nipple covers so they got a feeling of the different texture.

Also are you putting breast milk or formula in the bottle ? I have started doing 1oz formula and the rest breast milk in the bottle and will do a gradual approach to formula.

By 7 or 8 months, my first could drink a reasonable amount of expressed milk from the simple, free-flow cups from the HV (tommy tippee do similar). If I'd been away from her, she could have managed feeds that way (but it was lockdown, so nowhere to go!). Something like that might be worth a try if she's not taking to bottles. Even if you can't fully wean her off breastfeeding, it could help you get a break.

I'd try cups, it's too old to get onto bottles in my opinion. The straw cups are good, use the Pipette method to teach straw use. You could just swap out some milk feeds for formula in a cup and still BF sometimes? At that age I think they can go a good few hours between feeds, and be offered food/formula, to allow you time away.

I’d try cups too. She only gets currently roughly 1 Floz per hour so if she hadn’t had a feed for 3 hours that’s about 3floz.

If you do manage to completely wean her into formula, by 10 months they only needs 13.5 Floz a day.

So I’d start by replacing one feed with a cup feed and when she’s got used to that, leave it a couple of weeks and replace another.