How to bottle feed a baby

[BiscuitLover2391]

This might sound like a ridiculous quesion but I'm really asking.

My almost 5 month old has been ebf from birth. We tried introducing bottle around 3 months with poor success (actually really upset him, so we let it go). Introduced them again more recently after a long break.

If DH sits him on his lap or we prop him up on the sofa he seems happy. We wait until around 40 mins-1hr after his feed to get him used to it. Atm he finds it like a game and will take the bottle in his mouth (sometimes helping us put it in). He drinks some and then plays some more with it.

This is a big result for us but at the same time he's only getting about 10ml and then he gets tired so we put it away so as not to build negative associations with it.

I only express around 30ml as don't want to waste too much breastmilk and make my boobs produce like crazy. I don't actually know how much I should be expressing at this stage? Also when we have been feeding him he sort of chews on the teat and seems confused how to properly drink from it. He does the breastfeeding mouth and everything and seems happy when he swallows some! I have to tip the bottle quite a bit to get 30ml in the teat but not sure this is comfortable for him. So don't know how to properly feed him.

Any tips?

Aren't you giving it too soon after his last feed? How long does he normally go between feeds?

It sounds like you are giving it to him when hes already full. Try waiting until hes hungry and offer the bottle then. It might be easiest to try and replace the same feed each day with a bottle feed to get him used to it.

Haha my DS when through a phase like this, used to drive me up the wall. Would just take a sip, wiggle his head around, then take another sip.
Just a funny phase that they will grow out of

He feeds every 2 hours, sometimes every 1 and a half. Fair enough I can wait a bit longer.

How do you hold the bottle though. Do you tip it up? Also how much should I epxress and is it possible to have an empty bottle or would he swallow air?

This is one thing nobody warned me about. All the NCT classes were about how you should neverrrrr introduce a bottle because they will not want to go back to breastfeeding. I have never heard of such case in real life. Me and several of my friends had bottle refusing babies though. And with DC1, he never drank from the bottle, ever. Nothing worked, and I tried every trick, every bottle and teat, BM, formula, whatever.

With DC 2, a different teat (latex, not silicone) that was warmed under hot water finally did the trick.

How do you hold the bottle though

Just hold baby in a fairly upright position and the bottle should be slightly tilted up, you need to make sure there is milk in the teat so he doesn't swallow air. Its possible however that the bottles you are using are not ones he finds comfortable or the teat size is wrong meaning he finds it hard to get much milk out.