Am I destined to BF forever?

[paddypants]

DD just over 6 months and exclusively breast fed despite efforts at various stages to get her to take a bottle. Have tried different bottles and teats and giving bottle at different times of day to no avail. Not comfortable going cold turkey. Would like to stop BF or at least combine with bottle/beaker. Is it worth persevering at this stage with bottle attempts and if so does anyone have any other tips? Or should I just try to go straight to beaker? So far, only interest in beaker has been to chew on it. Also, have been attempting to wean for three weeks now and no interest being shown. Have been through baby rice, pear, apple, carrot, sweet potato, broccoli and all have been met with disgust so far. Should I be panicking about this or just giving more time? Thanks for all tips

I would just go for the beaker. Maybe try it with water during meal times?

I BF both of mine for 8 months, which is when they would take a beaker and were getting more solids. I tried a bottle a few times with DS but he was never interested, and tried a beaker from 6 months but it was too early.

Both DS and DD liked mashed banana. Do not panic. You'll both get there, don't worry. [hsmile]

Don't think there's much chance you're going to be breastfeeding forever!
I never really used bottles for either of my children, just introduced a cup for water at 6 months and carried on breastfeeding while they got the hang of solids and drinking from a cup. Those simple Tommee Tippee first cups seemed to be a good design. I found this stage of breastfeeding really easy and quite pleasant, babies relatively quick to feed but still gives you a chance to sit down!

Try an open cup (we use a doidy) as she may get the hang easier though obv you wil need to help her with it.

I wouldn't bother with bottles either as don't you have to stop using them at one anyway? I may be wrong abouut that... if you can get her used to a cup you can miss bottles out altogether. (though youu may need to sterilise the cup if used for formula? Not sure about this either! sorry!)

ALso check out the weaning board for lots of tips, I found it invaluable. AS loopy says, it's a gradual thing, milk should be your babies main nutrition till one. [hsmile]

I went straight to cup with both mine as they didn't like the bottle. The advantage is you don't have to wean them off the bottle.

Re. BFing, I was dying to stop at 6 months with DS but I couldn't because he didn't get enough from the cup. However, I was surprised how much easier it became, and less of a chore. You're entering the easy period where you get the rewards of the first 6 months. Soon your boobs will return to normal, you'll be feeding her less as she eat more solids and the feeds will only last 10 mins tops as she'll become enough efficient feeder.

I stopped at one year with DS as he used me as a dummy. DD takes a dummy so doesn't use me to settle to sleep. She's 20 months and we're still going morning and night (only because she doesn't like any other milk). It's no problem.

I had real difficulty getting my DD onto a bottle, ad had to as went back to work at 5 1/2 months (and at that age they still need too much milk to get it from a beaker efficienty enough). She's been given bottles occasionally since a few weeks old, but either refused or only taken a couple of oz and cried about it. Afraid I went cold turkey in the end - it was the only way I could see, and she settled to it eventually. Things I also foudn helped were to feed her sitting in a bouncy chair or car seat, rather than on me to start - she seemed to panic about it less if we weren;t holding her, and alos used a dummy to calm her / get her sucking first sometimes.

Yu could probably switch to a beaker though at this age - maybe keep offering her water in one first o get her used ot it? My DD loves water from a beaker, but would never take it from a bottle. We use the simple free flow tomee tippee ones.

AS for solids, my 10 month old only seems to have really starte appreciating them in the last month or so, before then I was at my wits end, but just kept trying and treid not to make mealtimes too stressful (hard work when they are refusing)

Good luck!

My DD wouldn't take a bottle either. I felt so frustrated when she got to 6 months, and was dying to give up breastfeeding at the time. But like wannabeglam said, it just got so much easier from then on. DD was down to 2 feeds a day by the time she was 12mo, and fed in 5 minutes flat. It was a pleasure to feed her, and I only stopped at 14mo as I got fed up of being used as a dummy at night. She didn't so much like milk from a beaker, but took what she needed, and we got there in the end!

We did finger foods from 6mo as DD was very resistant to being spoonfed. I gave her a beaker of water with her meals (she mainly just played with it, but did get the hang of it eventually). I just tried to let her get on with feeding herself, as I found the more stressed I got, the less she would eat... Hang in there though, it will get easier and they are babies for such a short time really!

i was the same with ds2 and around 7 or 8 months i think he took a bottle and started loosing interest in bf. eventually we had to make sure he was far away from the kitchen when we made up bottles cause when he saw/heard them being made up he'd go mad and demand it straight away, then get really upset if it wasn't ready!

he also wouldn't let a spoon of anything near his mouth so we did blw - he loved it and took to it straight away unlike ds1 who took weeks to get used to being spoon fed purees. once he'd been at it a while we started offering loaded spoons of stuff for him to feed himself then eventually he let us feed him more.

he loves to copy what we're all doing, especially big brother, so it didn't take him long to start copying us eating at mealtimes and using cups. as he's the 2nd baby he fitted into ds1's routine and was sitting with us for all mealtimes from around 4months watching what was going on so he couldn't wait to join in properly.

Oh gosh, don't...I'm sat here bfing a three year old, more by default than by plan!

I'm sorry I have no ideas - I was in your situation with this one, and he never did want a bottle or formula or cows milk until about a month ago - and that didn't last! Sleep is the main issue.

Good luck!

I can agree with others who say it gets much, much easier bfing after 6 months. DD has never taken a bottle, has taken water from a doidy or free flow cheapy TT beaker with meals from 6 months. She really didn't eat much AT ALL until about 9/10 months and now loves food. We started with BLW but she now allows us to spoon feed cereal & yoghurts etc.

The BLW book really helped give me confidence. DD only feeds first and last thing and once overnight now (11 months) and is fine without milk while at childminder's all day. As soon as I gave up the stress of trying to get her to take different bottles and spending loads of money on different brands that were refused etc, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted.

It is soooo hard to relax and go with it, but now it is all sorted I regret all the energy I expended worrying about it. Good luck!

First child didn't like solids I had to wean her from BFing when she was nearly 2 and pregnant with my second. A nightmare, and she didn't cut down feeds at all ever on her own accord. Hated purees had to do BLW

Second child self weaned from the breast at 8.5months (nothing I could do could make him have more, he slowly did it once solids introduced), never given a bottle, loved solids, drank water from a tommee tippee cup (the simple ones). Loved purees but loves food full stop.

I did nothing different with either child except encourage the water with the second as failed miserably with the first. I would work on the solids to be honest and a free flow tommee tippee cup. Bfing becomes easier after 6 months but not necessarily that much easier. If you have a boob addict and want to do bottles I would go cold turkey to be honest.

oh dear I envisage myself like you, OP :( I've tried several times to get DS2 to take EBM but he's having none of it. He is now nearly 15 wks.

Thanks all, advice much appreciated and it certainly seems sensible at this stage to not bother nwith the bottle. Good to hear that its not unusual to be reluctant to wean - seem to be surrounded by friends with babies who have taken to it like ducks to water but i will relax now and let her go at her own pace.