Moving to formula

[notanaturalmum]

So my DS is 7.5 months and I'm going back to work on April 1st.
He's completely breastfed which has been fine up until now.
I'm getting to the point where it would be nice to give him some formula once in a while and also so he gets used to it as he'll need to have it at nursery.
He's fine with a bottle of expressed milk generally but he HATES formula. Even if I mix it with some breastmilk in a bottle - he acts as if I'm trying to poison him.
Any tips on how to make the switch.
I don't have the time or energy to be constantly expressing and it means I can't leave him for lengthy periods of time without planning (and expressing) in advance.

How do people get their babies to switch to formula.

Disclaimer - please can this not turn into a BF/FF debate.

How is he doing with solids?

When you go back to work he'll be 10months so he could probably have the solids and water, and have milk from you when you're back! Also from 12mo he can have cows milk as a drink which he might prefer to formula?

Are you wanting to completely switch to f or just once in a while?

The floor gets more solids than he does.
Is it okay for him to go the whole day without milk though.
I still think I'll need to do a 7am bottle as I doubt I'll have time to do the first breastfeed as well as get up, get ready, go to nursery and get to work before 8.30

@InDubiousBattle for now once in a while. Come April i would like to have stopped breastfeeding completely.

Neither of my DC would drink formula from a bottle. DD would drink a bit of the Hipp organic stuff from a doidy cup, she was 8.5m when I went back to work. DS won't tolerate it at all even though he used to. He was 10m when I went back. Both of them just held on until I came home, it wasn't a problem as they are decent eaters and will happily drink water.

Have you tried all the brands? Liquid as well as powdered?

I fully switched to formula at 6 months so a bit different but I second what PP says about trying different brands. My DD finally took to Aptamil Profutura (seems to be most expensive!). It did taste better to me than Hipp Organic which I had tried previously. Are you serving it at body temp like breast milk? My DD won’t drink it cold.

Have you tried formula in a beaker cup instead? It may be that because he’s used to breast milk in a bottle he isn’t happy with formula in it but may cope with it in a beaker

What about cows milk? I know it’s meant to be after 1 but a friend of mine gradually moved from breast to cows milk from about 8 months and skipped formula altogether - HV said that was completely fine.

Have you tried mixing expressed breastmilk with formula and slowly increasing the amount of forumula?

At 7 months it is normal for his food intake to be very low or even non and April is a long time away in terms of his development.

At that age you will be able to - if you want - BF directly morning and bedtime and leave him with solids during the day. You can mix formula into his cereal or veg purée.

So I've gone and bought a few more brands and will try experimenting.
He seems to only like drinking water from a beaker. If I put anything else in it, he gets mad. If I mix my milk with formula he gets mad.
There could be other variables e.g. If he's tired or really hungry etc.
I will persevere though. Thankyou all

Remember he does not need milk just 350mg of calcium this can be in form of yoghurt and cheese

If ds is fine with expressed then I’m assuming the bottle isn’t the problem. I had to swap my ds onto special formula which is disgusting taste/smell, I did it by one ounce at a time. So do let’s say 5oz expressed and 1oz formula the next day do 4 and 2 so forth

Also use the same formula in his cereal will help get him use to the flavour