Anyone tried baby Whisperer's 'cold turkey' method for stopping BFing/combining it with FF?

[MarmMummy]

Am ready (ish!) to stop BF my 8 month DD. Lots of reasons such as biting, pinching, complete distractibility during day etc etc. Oh, and we are going away for the night soon!

Anyway, I've tried to get her to take a bottle with no avail, so am planning to do Baby Whisperer method which is to basically cut out all BFs until they take a bottle, then to do bottles for 24 hours, then you can reintroduce as many BFs as you want.

Basically am interested to hear if anyone has done this successfully! Am a bit worried about how 'mean' it is on the baby.....

Thoughts? Other suggestions?

PS She views cups with the same disdain as bottles at the mo so not convinced that approach will be any easier!

Who is giving your DD her bottle? Many babies won;t take a bottle from mummy when the real thing is nearby Have you tried leaving your DP with her to give her a feed while you go out for a walk or something? TBH, I don't really like the sound of that method you mentioned. It seems a bit harsh to me. I didn't wean my DS on to a bottle but I'm sure there are other mummies who can offer some advice that may be a bit 'gentler'?

To date we have tried me, my DH, my sister, my mother and 2 friends.

No joy.

Sadly I have a good inkling where she gets her stubborn streak from!

I think it's pretty vile, tbh.
sorry.
how much solid food is she getting?

I don't think that's a very nice way of doing it either. There are much gentler ways. You could try distraction or offering a cup/snack. It's not really fair to take it away so harshly when it's all they know.

Weaned both of mine onto bottles using NUK latex teats as much softer than silicone. But of course if you are or family allegic to latex then need to be careful. If you go onto the NUK helpline (sorry crap at links)there is a number you can call and they are very helpful (no I don't work for NUK!!).
Of course watch out for mastitis when weaning off the boob I suffered from it with my second DC when trying to wean.

I know of two people who used this approach, one on the advice of a HV, one on the advice of a maternity nurse. What I have written below is what I was told.

In one case the baby (aged 6 months) refused the bottle and most food for 48 hours. He then started to drink formula from the bottle.

In the other case the baby (aged about 5 months iirc) refused everything for 24 hours, drank a few ounces of formula and then refused anything else for another 24 hours.

Not saying your ds would do either, but imo this is one of those things that it is a LOT easier for someone who is not a mother to tell you to do.

Put another way, how would you feel if a friend or acquiantance treated a young animal in the same way?

(I stress, I am not saying that it is unreasonable to wish that your dc would take milk from another source, just that there are other approaches to the issue)

OK, help me then please!

What other methods are there? I've tried 5 different bottles, 4 cups, different people etc. Offering it as something to play with, putting juice in it (no, I didn't like the idea either but thought it was worth a shot ... it didn't work)

The last thing I want is a starving baby headbutting me for her milk, but I don't know what else to try

There are some ideas here, but really they're aimed at older babies/toddlers. If you've been fully breastfeeding and she's not keen on a bottle or cup then it could be tricky. You'll need to substitute the dropped breastfeeds with formula. Would she take that on breakfast cereal?

Starving her into submission seems really harsh to me as well. You're just coming up to a prime age for separation anxiety too, so now might not be the easiest time.

Are you using formula or ebm in the bottle. I would try emb in a 'breast' shaped bottle - tommee tippee maybe? Pick a feed that your DD likes and takes readily - maybe first thing in the morning? - get completely out of the house and let your DH offer that feed in the bottle and if that doesn't work let him try the cup. Maybe you've tried all this already?

Thanks! Sorry didn't reply last night ... went to bed early. One of the side effects of her not taking much milk during the day is that we are both up lots at night ...joy!

Well, I'm taking on board everyone's thoughts that its mean, and I agree, but I'm still going to do it. Had a long chat with DH about it and we figure 48 hours (max I hope!) of her being upset, is better than a long drawn out process that might just piss her off for longer IYKWIM. We are going to shower her in kisses, cuddles, favourite games, give her her meals as normal, and hope for the best. Thanks for your advice though everyone.

Will start tonight/tomorrow as then one of us can be with her and one with her brother so it makes it less stressful for everyone.

Am giung to use the Breast First bottles and Nuk and then go with whichever one she latches on to first.

As an experimant I offered her aptamil out of a teaspoon at breakfast this morning, and she happily lapped it up, so at least I know its not a taste thing.

Wish us luck ... I'll let you know how it goes for anyone lurking out there thinking of doing something similar

my ds took a day so it might not be that bad, but I did not do it out of choice, he was biting and drawing blood every feed for a week before hand and in the end could not put him to breast was so frightened of the biting, even if I closed me eyes and got dh to try and put him I kept backing away. Over it now am bf dd. But it only took a day and ds was 11 months and 3 weeks old and had never had formula. good luck with it hope is not too bad.

Hi - interested in this as am looking for a way to get a 7.5 month old to take a bottle. I googled "Breast First" bottle but couldn't find anything. I did find "First Years Breastflow" on the Mothercare site, also NUK bottles. V interested in how your experiments have gone (hopefully well / any advice .

Well, here's an update for anyone interested!

It worked ..... but to be honest I wouldn't try unless you have tried everything else first.

I gave her her last BF at 5 am last Saturday morning,and then offered her a bottle every time she normally fed and whenever she looked for milk. She had her normal meals (she's 8 and a half months) but no extra food. I tried both formula and EBM in a variety of bottles.

So, during the day she was her normal happy self, only mildly put out, and enjoying all the extra cuddles etc she was getting. Nightime was a disaster. She cried and looked at me as if to say what the are you doing mummy, just feed me. It nearly broke my heart . She didn't want to be comforted by her father, just by me, and in fact we co-slept (something we very rarely do) for the first 3 nights.

We had a few breakthroughs (1oz of formula, 2oz of diluted juice, 2oz of EBM)but it took till Tues eve before she happily sucked on a bottle and drank 5 oz of formula. I nearly gave up on the Tuesday but happened to talk to someone at the health clinic about her 8 month check and she encouraged me to keep going. I gave her lots of wet food, and she happily drank the odd bit of formula off a spoon.

I do feel sad we stopped so abruptly in many ways, but I look at her and her brother and you realise that the loving relationship you have with them is not purely BF dependent. Does that make sense?

Anyway, mission accomplished. Yes it was hard, but I don't think it was unbearable. And she's very stubborn bless her .... I'm sure it wouldn't take most babies 4 days! .

Where am I now ...... feeling slightly broody for a newborn to feed again, nursing a blocked milk duct, and wondering why iots still me getting up to her in the night now she takes bottles!

chatname - sorry, yes I meant First Years Breastflow. Acually, by chance the first bottle she latched on to was Avent so we used that.

Other tips? My DD only likes the milk pretty hot. She likes to be cuddled, but outwards otherwise I think its a bit confusing! Give lots of cuddles and tickles etc during the weaning process, lots of postive comments when they latch on.Oh, and tell them what the plan is. I always think they understand more than we give them credit for.