what a mess - please help (sorry a bit long)

[whoneedssleepanyway]

DD2 is nearly 8 months old and until 10 days ago had been exclusively BF and had never taken any milk willingly from a bottle or beaker.

10 days ago we decided to try and wean her off the breast as I needed her to start drinking from a cup (need to go back to work etc). Anyway made the decision that it would be easier to give up completely. 3 horrible days followed but by last Friday she was willingly drinking from a tommee tippee beaker, formula. She drank happilly from it and on the Saturday night for the first time slept through the night (she has been an awful awful sleeper BF two hourly through the night). She slept through Sun and Mon night too.

Tuesday she got a bug and was throwing up all day and had high temp that night. Weds was v listless and not really interested in milk or food. Went to Doc and he was unconcerned said keep offering her fluids and keep giving her Calpol to keep temp down. Thurs and Fri she has pretty much cried on and off all day, refusing all milk pushing the cup away to the extent that last night I syringed water into her mouth before bed, she had drunk nothing all day (eaten a bit though which I put milk in). Noticed she also has her first 2 teeth coming through. Her sleep packed up again and last night she woke a lot of times. This morning again really crying, pushing the beaker away.

In desparation I offered her a beaker of cows milk instead and to our amazement she started sipping at this but refused the formula.

Aghhhhhhhhhhh. Don't know what to do, she is too young for cows milk as a drink isn't she? My milk supply has pretty much gone now so can't even give her EBM. Do you think it is just the illness/ teething and she will start drinking more formula again when she is properly better, do you think if I changed the formula that might help? I tried it myself (it is Aptimil comfort one) and it tasted ok maybe a bit more watery and slightly sweeter than cows.

Going through massive guilt now about stopping BF as feel so bad that I wasn't able to her feed her while she was ill and teething and it is my fault now she isn't drinking.

Thanks for listening.

Please don't feel guilty, it's not your fault that she's not drinking, she's ill and out of sorts and it sounds like she doesn't want to do anything much. Fwiw my breast fed 10mo is teething too & refusing the breast. The most important thing is to be aware of dehydration; did the doctor tell you the signs to look for? Also a screaming baby is a good sign (although it might not feel like it) the time to worry is when they are unresponsive & floppy.

I would think that when she is over the illness she will go back to the cup & formula. Call your gp or nhs direct for advice over the cows milk in the meantime, my daughter has half a cup of cows milk over her weetabix in the morning so I'm sure a few sips won't hurt.

Don't connect the illness to stopping bfing, it's a coincidence.

I'm an advocate of goat's milk over cow's as it's less likely to trigger allergies but I'm not sure whether it, like cow's is suitable for the under 12 months. I would ask a breastfeeding counsellor or doctor. I totally agree with fowl that you mustn't feel guilty. Sure, it's a shame that you couldn't BF when she was ill - but that's noone's fault, just the way it is, and she will be fine in a day or so (you know how kids bounce back!). Then she will probably take the formula absolutely fine. She'd probably have refused BM anyway given how ill she sounded so it's likely to be the fact that she wants nothing as opposed to she doesn't want formula.