bf-doidy cups-cup feeding advice wanted

[mothersmilk]

i really dont want to give my bf ds a bottle he's 12 wks iv plenty of frozen expressed mlik and theres going to come a time when i both need and want to leave him with my dh iv recently seen these doidy cups advertised but i dont know anyone who has cup fed i know the mechanics of how you do it (in theory) but im not sure how labour intensive it will be for dh we have a two yr old dd and an 8yr old dss would it be fair to ask him to cup feed just because i hate the idea of a bottle? any input info or opinions on the subject would be really appreciated

DS had maybe 4 bottles of EBM when he was under 6 months (just when I went out in the evening), then we started using cups when introduced solids at 6 months. Like you I didn't want him to have a regular bottle, and it wouldn't have bothered me if he hadn't taken it. As it was fairly ad hoc it seemed to work fine, and I didn't have to wean him off a bottle.

Doidy cups say that they are suitable from 4 months, but I would say easier at 6 months when baby is sitting up a little more. DS was cup fed as a newborn as he wasn't feeding effectively - used a tiny cup with small amount of milk. It's a different technique from an older baby as you have to hold them upright and tip the cup slightly at their lips and the baby kind of laps the milk like a kitten!

I suppose the only way to know is for your DH to experiment a little with cup feeding - but do use small amounts at a time, as spilling precious EBM is a bit traumatic (all that hard work pumping...).

BUMP

Use a pelican bib. If you sterilise it (eg in the dishwasher) you can pour any spillages back in the cup. It is annoying to lose expressed milk. I resorted to the doidy in desperation when my DS was about 5 months old after I realised he was never going to take a bottle or a sippy cup. He's now pretty proficient but it did take a long time before he swallowed more milk than he spilt. His technique improved fastest when I got MIL to give him one feed of expressed milk in the doidy every day. It didn't work when I tried although he'll now let me give him water in the doidy.