Advice on switching to formula please!

[dashitauntagatha]

I have an 8.5 month old son who has been exclusively breastfed from birth and started solids around 6 months and now eating decent amounts (a weetabix plus banana for breakfast, fingers foods for lunch, mixture of spoon-feeding plus finger foods for tea to ensure a decent amount). He has never had a bottle (I know: rod, back etc).

I want to switch him to formula and fairly rapidly (he was an IVF baby and we want to start trying again ASAP - I'm 38 - fertility consultant says must stop BF completely - sadly).

Can anyone give me some advice on:
what formula I should start with?
how much should he be getting?
what bottle might be best to tempt him away from the boob?
what might be the best way to tackle the switch?

I've read to switch one feed to formula say, every 3 days - but would be interested to hear if anyone has any other experience or knowledge about it.

Thanks in advance - I know I'm kind of being lazy as the information is all out there but I find it so overwhelming trying to decipher all the (often conflicting) online advice. Thanks!

Has the consultant said why you have to stop? It just seems with you being so close to a year anyway it would be easier to get to that point and then he can just have cows milk if he needs a milk drink.

If it's because of the drugs check with Wendy at the breastfeeding network. Often medication is perfectly safe but Dr's take a computer says no approach anyway

Hi - thanks for your response. No it's because I need to get my cycle back and start ovulating - also even if I do get it back apparently your chances of conception whilst BF are still lower due to higher amounts of circulating progesterone. They won't even consider IVF whilst BF but we want to try for 6 months first and give it our best chance - hence the rapid wean.

No need to switch to bottle. Can go straight to a free flowing beaker. Use any "first " milk. Some taste better than others, so you may need to experiment. No need to worry about volume. Babies that age drink anything from 200 to 600ml formula per day and it's all ok. If your baby doesn't like drinking milk, which is fairly common in breast fed babies, just include plenty of dairy products in their diet. A baby taking less than 500ml formula per day needs a baby vitamin d supplement, as per NHS guidelines.

Dear CanI - thanks very much - I've been told this by others but I although he can drink water from a beaker - its only very tiny amount and not reliably - I can't imagine being able even give him 200mls in a day (unless I didn't do much else!). I've been told that he should still be getting the majority of his nutrition from milk til 1 year old... Also, don't I need to replace each feed with something similar for now? I'm so confused. FTM in case it wasn't obvious

Generally, breast fed babies do not drink large volumes. He is meant to get the majority of his nutrition from solid food at one year, milk is just for calcium at that point. Most babies at 9 months have really taken off with solid food and eat a variety of family foods including meat, fish, eggs, guitar, veg and cereals. A baby that does not eat much solids at this age is normally recommended to cut down on formula milk. So not drinking much milk is not really seen as a big problem. Speak to your HV or baby clinic if you are concerned.

OK - thanks. So on a practical level what do I do? For example, when he wakes up in the morning he always wants to feed. Should I just give him a beaker instead and see what happens?

You can try that, however, many women find it easier to drop the day time feeds first. So you would still give the first feed and the before-bed feed. You would distract him all day when he wants to breastfeed. Probably best to distract with play. Offer meals and snacks and usual, but they may need to be a little more calorie dense. Consider adding quality fats to foods in the form of olive oil and ground seeds and nuts. You could try a cereal mixed with formula milk for breakfast and supper. When he is completely off daytime breast feeds, tackle the before bed feed by changing the bed time routine to that of an older child, ie supper, bath, story, bed, but no feed. Lastly drop the morning feed. Hopefully this will be gradually enough to prevent engorgement.

Thank you so much - this is really really helpful. I already do his evening feed before his bath etc so that shouldn't be too hard. I'm sorry to ask one final question as you've already given me plenty of your time but when I drop the morning feed - should I replace with a bottle? Or should I just be giving small amounts of formula throughout the day in a beaker do you think? He also still wakes once in the night for a feed - do you think he will just drop this naturally once the others stop?

We used mam bottles with I really like they worked well. My first was breastfed then we went to bottle at a similar time to you and wasn't too hard as far as I can remember but she had already had some bottles. We used cow and gate but think they are all very similar. The self steralising mam bottles are good as can do them individually in the microwave.
I would just try replacing one feed with a bottle and see how he does. But he may not need too much milk if he is doing well with food. My daughter wasn't a brilliant eater and loves milk.

Just to add, my DD was bottle fed and didn't pick up how to use a beaker or sippy cup until well after a year old. I had a phase of being terribly worried she wasn't getting enough fluids. I seem to remember it took her a long time to get the hang of it. 360 degree leak proof cups have been really good, though. You might want to look at a Doidycup also.

Thanks Rach and Mybaby. I have been using doidycup for water and he sometimes is super keen and sometimes won't touch it - even when he does it's only tiny sips. I know I should have introduced bottle earlier but hey ho there we go. Fingers crossed it goes ok! I guess I thought he was still getting loads of milk but seems like maybe he isn't as he's eating lots. I think I will try and stop the daytime feeds as CanI suggested and substitute the morning and evening ones with formula and hope he drops the nighttime one as a result. Thanks again for your advice everyone

You could try and give a bottle of formula. I have to say my breast fed children never would drink more than a few sips of a bottle of milk. But as others have said, some will. But don't forget, the NHS advice is chuck all bottles out at 12 months, so it might not be worth it. But I like the suggestion of buying one bottle and seeing what happens. If your baby won't take a bottle, try mixing formula milk with plain ready-brek and adding fruit compote or mashed banana for flavour.

Very similar situation here. She'll take MAM bottles and must have her milk warm 🙄 we use SMA but they're all basically the same. We started with the pre-made cartons just to make things easier for ourselves while we were getting used to the change, working out how much she'll drink etc. (We're also continuing with the pre-made stuff because she flat out refused the powdered stuff...). I've been swapping one breastfeed for formula a week. Personally I wouldn't force the dropping of any feeds, so I'd stick with switching rather than dropping (plus my daughter gets proper hangry if it's been more than 2.5 hours since she last had milk 🙈).

Oh also, I think just start by switching whatever feed you think is easiest. We started with her second feed of the day, which had the bonus of meaning I could go back to sleep after giving her her first feed.

I personally wouldn’t change to bottles at 9 months as you’ll just have to wean off them in a few months. If your baby is eating well I’d just give him a cup of formula and maybe up his dairy solids like yoghurt and porridge made with formula if he doesn’t take to it well.

Thanks all for your advice! It's a little conflicting so I'm slightly confused but that's why I asked I guess - to consult the hive mind and see what others do. I was really fixated on having to swap each milk feed for something else. I think I will try a bottle but not worry too much if he doesn't take it and in that case try a beaker or sippy cup and giving it to him in his food. I'm still not quite sure how he'll react to stopping breastfeeding but everyone faces that at some point I guess. Thanks again

My DD took disappointingly well to having formula instead of boob. Traitor.