how much milk....?

[NorthLondonMum83]

My ebf 7 month old has taken to food amazingly - we're on 3 meals a day, mostly puréed and some finger food, and really varied diet (I love cooking so it's quite fun for me too while still on mat leave!) He's never been able to get his head around a bottle so gone straight to sippy cup - problem is I can't really get more than a few sips of water or formula (just started to try it) down him. I'm keen for many reasons to stop bf in next few weeks - how on earth will I get 500ml of formula down him?? Any tips and advice most welcome

Have you tried getting someone else to give the bottle? Mixing ebm and f with increasing amounts of f?

Thanks Nicky yes we've tried - doesn't really matter if it's me or anyone else, or breast milk or formula! He just doesn't like the flipping thing. He's losing interest in bf too tbh. He's all about his food!

My dd is losing interest in bf too but still has one or two bottles of f in the evening/dream feed.She's also all about the food! I spoke to the hv about it as I was worried about her milk intake and she said that as long as she's having some milk and lots of dairy rich foods she'll be fine. I do think your baby will need some milk- is he going to nursery/child minder? They have ways of making them take bottles!!

Thanks Nicky I might have q chat with hv she's very sensible! I'm taking full year so he'll be 12 months old before I can ask his nursery to take this on sadly! I wouldn't be that concerned but I'm going to be away from him for 4 days in 3 months' time. It seems far away but isn't really - I'm happy to express while away to keep milk up but he does need a non boob solution that my mother can administer in that time!

By a year he'll probably only need one milk feed a day and you'll be able to try cows milk then. My friend had a fiercely bottle refusing baby and she more or less had to bf for a year but he, for whatever reason, would take warm cows milk from a doidy cup at a year old.

i think (and I know it sounds awful) but cold turkey is the only thing I've heard of really work to make bottle refusing babies take a bottle. I suppose it might come to that whilst you're away, although at 10 months I think he'd be fine without any milk for a few days. I really wanted to avoid bottle refusal (and I mean really) so dd has been mix fed from 3-4 weeks but I'm a bit sad now because bf might be over so soon.

Thanks Nicky. Agreed it's sad that it might be over soon!

I agree that it might be the easiest solution to just keep BF and by 10 months he'll be fine with food and water and some dairy in the form of yoghurt, cheese etc in the day anyway. If he's into his food you'll probably find he drops BF anyway.

Thanks both. That sounds much preferable to cold turkey! I know people say, some people say, they'll take the bottle when they get hungry enough but I'm unconvinced. He's not being rebellious, he just doesn't have a flipping clue what to do with the teat and after a bit of a chew he just wants it out of his mouth. I'm not sure that being crazily hungry would change that really.

Going back after 9-10 months is great because your supply really will adjust. I don't know how it works but they just take what they need when you're around and you don't have an issue the rest of the time. It can even cope with different schedules at weekends. Odd but cool.

Thanks Bertie I hope so! I'm slowly adjusting to dropped night feeds - not sure body has quite caught up but I'm confident it will!

At 7months I moved from BF to ff and just did morning bottle (7oz) and night as that was the only times he would BF. He'd only take about 6oz at night. Just make sure you offer plenty yoghurt/cheese to make sure there's enough dairy.

I did a gradual stop too, bottle to bed for a fortnight then eventually bottle in morning and had no engorgement. So off the boob completely by 7.5 Months. It made me feel better having him settled with his milk for when I went back to work at 9months so not too many changes all at once.

Sorry should have said that you could try the sippy cup with milk in it in place of bottles. Avent do a rubbery teat one which is kind of flat which my LO liked while he was BF.

Have you spoken to a BFC? I think that the current advice is to drop one FB every two weeks. This reduces your chance of mastitis and gives lo time to adjust to the new quantities. A BFC will help you to come up with a plan to move over to formula though. Have you got the helpline numbers?

My ds1 was a total bottle refuser, when I went back to work he just didn't have any milk at all, I expressed loads and ended up throwing most of it away. He would feed like a daemon when I got home though, he was happy enough with food and water when I wasn't around. I ended up feeding him till he was 14 months.

Thanks all that's really helpful. Yes I must admit i live in constant fear of mastitis and have had quite bad engorgement problems a few times. Getting a plan together sounds sensible - should I speak to la leche league or Jilted are there any breast feeding counsellors you'd recommend?

La Leche league or any of the other Helplines. In my experience they all be helpful

Thanks!

Follow bub's lead on this. If they have a good intake of food, including high calcium and iron-enriched foods then no milk is fine.

If they won't drink water either, give them food with plenty of water in it: cucumber, watermelon etc.

I have a friend whose DD self-weaned from BF at about that age and she didn't replace the milk.