Help! Feeding 6-month-old at nursery

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My breastfed daughter starts afternoon nursery next month (at 6 months old). So unless she accepts a bottle there, she’ll go 5 hours without a feed 😕 I’m really worried about it.

I’m keen to move to combo feeding from 6 months, then gradually switch to 100% bottles. Hoping nursery will help, but scared it’ll backfire and she’ll either get unwell, or start feeding more at night 😕

Anyone here had a baby who previously hated bottles, but eventually accepted one when hungry enough?

I wanted to combo feed from birth, but breastfeeding was convenient and we got complacent. I really regret not being consistent with bottles! She was fine with them in the early weeks.

Won't you have started weaning by then so she can have some food can't she? (obviously not lots to start with)

@Lazypuppy - We've given her a few bits of purée already, which she seems to like! But do you think that will help with the 5-hour milk break? All the advice seems to be that they still need the same amount of milk daily :/

Have you tried her with a cup? Either an open cup like a Doidy or tiny plastic shot glass, or a sippy/360 cup?

Honestly, for 5 hours she will find a way to cope even if she never goes back onto bottles. Solids and water, milk from a cup, just taking a mega feed when you pick her up. It'll be fine.

My DD was a total bottle refuser - we started with a doidy cup at 6 months when we started introducing solds with either water or expressed milk it worked really well

You still have a month to try and get her back on to a bottle or to drink from a sippy cup.

Lots of milk into porridge and spoon feed her that. Could either use breast milk or cows milk.

My baby was a bottle refuser and I was panicking about going back to work and him starving, so I gave him a cup (one of those 360 cups or a sippy cup) and he drank from that ok and just used that when he went to the childminder. I would keep trying and hopefully she'll pick it up.

My DS was a bottle refuser. He refused formula all together and wouldn't take expressed BM out of a cup or bottle. I returned to work 3 days per week when he was 6 months. He had solids while I was at work then BF on and off from 5pm - 8pm. He also fed alot more through the night. I read up about reverse cycling and I think that BF babies will just make up for missed feeds once you are home.

This is what i read and it stopped me from worrying that DS couldn't cope without BF while I was at work:

www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling/

Hope you manage to get your DD taking milk before you go back to work, but if not it will be OK

Another vote for doidy cup! My DS started nursery at 8 months at which point he was still 90% breastfed. He totally refused a bottle but got on well with a cup which we started introducing from about 6 months. The 360 is good too. Also he ate a lot more solids at nursery than he would at home!

You may still find night feeds increase a bit as it’s not just milk they’ll want to top up on it’s also mummy time

@QueenAravisOfArchenland - Thanks :) We've tried her with a TT free flow, but she doesn't get it... think maybe 5 months is too soon. Hoping she progresses in the next few weeks!

@Talcott2007 @MadeForThis @ChocolateChipMuffin2016 - Thank you... will definitely consider some other cup designs. Hopefully once she's 6 months old, she'll get the hang of those (and weaning will help too).

She has suspected CMPA so we can't use cow's milk in porridge, but there are some good substitutes out there (Oatly Barista is high-calorie).

@Lightsong @moreismore - I'm keeping fingers crossed for increased morning and evening feeds, instead of overnight, as we currently have good nights! Usually only twice between 7pm and 7am (and sometimes not at all!).

Skip the bottle and go for a cup of some kind, as other have said.

If you feed her before you drop her off and when you collect and she has some food and a bit of milk or water in between, she'll be fine.

Try not to worry. The nursery will have seen it all before and will work with you.

She'll be fine...even if she refuses a bottle she will probably just have a big feed when you pick her up. My dd started at 8m for a whole day per week and whilst she is bottle fed she refuses to drink it at nursery (too distracted) so she'll have a couple of sips now and again. She has one big feed when she gets home and then another shortly after before bed and back to normal. The nursery staff should try to keep her hydrated with sips of water/milk. But if it's just an afternoon I wouldn't worry at all.

Mine refused bottles both started nursery and child minder at 9mths eldest did 7.30-4.30 and fed at 7, 5,7 and at 1yr 7&7. Youngest was longer day by half hr so did 7,5.30,7 but he has CMPA and I expressed 8oz a day at work and nursery used 4oz in breakfast n made custard for mid afternoon with the other 4oz.

Both had 3 meals a day and were fine I did prepare both few wks before though and cut down to above routine.

Yes! My ds went to nursery full time at 7m. He was ebf so i sent expressed milk in a bottle (he was a bottle refuser at home) took him 3 days and then he decided he would have it!! He never had more than a couple of ounces tho...

Thanks everybody - I'm feeling much better about it now. She starts on Monday afternoon (today is Thursday, the previous week).

We've decided she's initially going to do 4 hours per nursery session, then stretch it to 5 hours.

The feed schedule I'm aiming for is approximately 8am, 10am and 12:30pm. Then some solids/water mid-afternoon (plus the offer of a bottle when at nursery). Then 6:15pm before bedtime.

We shall see!

She's started to seem more interested in water from a bottle and cup. So that's a start.