How to move from breast to bottle?

[Youngie]

My DD is 6.5 mths, and I'm ready to cut down on my breastfeeding and would like to move her onto formula, at least for the 10pm feed.

I couldn't get her to take the bottle at all, but today tried her on a NUK latex teat and found that better. She only took around 3oz though. She is taking formula in her cereal and with baby rice, and has no problems with the taste of it with her food.

Currently she is on 3 spoon feeds, and is still breastfeeding at least once during the night, and then at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and 10pm.

I'm not quite clear how to go about the transition to the bottle. As she only took 3oz at the 3pm feed, should I have offered her the breast (as she normally takes more) or not? At the moment, it seems like her taking an 8oz bottle is a long way off.

Am I right in thinking at this stage she should still be on around 24oz? I'm very nervous about her not getting enough milk if I push the bottle, but I feel I've done well exclusively B/F to 6 months, and I want to get some "me" time back now. I particularly want to lose the 10pm feed, as I'm not expressing so I can't go out anywhere in the evening.

Help please!!

Hi youngie my ds is 7 months and I have just stared formula feeding him. I used to try and give hime EBM but he would always refuse the bottle, so when I had to stop BF (due to the painkillers I'm now on), I was really worried. Anyway I gave him his 1st bottle during the night when he woke for a feed and because he was half asleep he took it really well and drank the lot. This was last week and since then he has happily taken the bottle.
According the books and the tin of formula they just need between 500-600ml, or approx, 3x 7oz bottle, though my ds has more because he wants it. Hope this helps

My 2 were pretty big (8.10 & 10 pounds at birth) they never took more than 4oz at a feed so dont worry about the quantity they take. HV said basic rule is there should always be a bit left over in the bottle - so if they drain it add another ounce next time. She also said in a day they should have around 20 oz of milk - including milk in their diet. DS1 quickly dropped day milk feeds & Just had an 8ox bottle morning & bed time, so I gave him cheese & Joghurt for snacks

DS1 was very regular & always took the same amount of formula, DS2 (10 months)still varies between 5 -8 oz but I now have a sort of 6th sense of how much to make up based on his food intake & how active he has been.

I dropped the feeds around meal times first, & did a BF between meals. I then dropped alternate feeds so that i didnt get too uncomfortable. I dropped the 7pm & 7am feeds last.

HTH

Do you give water with meals?

No need for a bottle at all now. Try a sippy cup. It needs to be free flowing though.

I cut down by replacing one BF at a time, leaving the bedtime and first thing in the morning feeds until last. It also let my supply adapt as necessary and so when I finally finished, I wasn't too uncomfortable.

I spaced it out from 6months so first feed to go was the mid afternoon one which I replaced with a bottle. After a couple of weeks, I replaced the mid morning BF with a bottle, then after another 2 I did the bedtime BF (my DD was being topped up with a bottle and bf at bedtime anyway - long story!). The occasional night ones and first thing in the morning feed were last to go, when DD didn't show an interest anymore (about 8.5 months).

My DD has never taken more than 4-5 oz per feed apart from her bedtime bottle, best advice I got was not to get hung up on numbers, if you continued to BF you would have no idea how much milk she was drinking so just keep offering and let her decide how much to drink. The only thing I also do is make sure my DD has something dairy-ish with each meal - cheese, yoghurt, etc, etc.

HTH

Thanks all for your help. It's made me feel much better about not getting hung up on how much milk she's taking. Will start giving her dairy desserts and cheese to also up the calcium levels.

Hi Youngie, am also in the same position and am pinning my hopes on the NUK bottles, bought 3 yesterday and ds took a few ounces.

No words of advice, just wishing you good luck!

(Random question: do you put the NUK bottles in the dishwasher before steralizing? This is what I did with dd (TT bottles though) however on the NUK packaging it says not to put in dishwasher? I am very lazy therefore not keen on washing them up by hand first!)

one of my friends just used a beaker for milk as her little one refused a bottle at 6+ months. My ds took to a bottle but refused many sippy cups for water till recently.

& I am sure if you use a dishwasher there is no need to sterilize (but I wash then cold water sterilize my bits)