Please help my EBF baby is ATTACHED to my breast

[muvaa]

My 4 month old DS is attached to my breast, he won't go to sleep or have a nap without it, he won't take any bottle or formula or dummy. DP took him to see his mum for the day and he was refusing to drink from the bottle. At first, he took both, but then I got into the habit of not bottle feeding as he was always with me. I don't know what to do now to get him back on accepting the bottle and being able to fall asleep without me as I soon am going back to work. He just cries and doesn't take it until I give in

You pretty much have to not give in. Or not go back to work until he is weaned. It sucks, but there it is.

Just go with it. They have a wee growth spurt at 4 months. It is exhausting but won’t be for much longer.

Who's looking after him when you are at work? And are you giving him formula or expressed milk?

Things to try:

1. Expressed milk in bottle. If planning for fomular feed then mix at first and slowly lower the expressed milk ratio.
2. Get someone else to feed him, he will not take the bottle if he can smell you and available boobs.
3. Try a doidy or sippy cup instead of a bottle.

Have you tried popping a dummy in front of you nipple. A big fat one not a teeth friendly one (my sons teeth are great btw). Keep them close like on boob then move away once arm flops when lifted.

But 4 months is a sleep regression and growth spurt time. If you are going back in two weeks then try the above. If in 2 months then chill and just boob him through this phase.

When is “soon” for going back to work? At 4 months a bottle was an impossibility for DS. At 7 months he had expressed bm in a sippy cup at nursery (and then a marathon feed the moment I got to pick up at nursery)

I'd say keep offering. My ds refused a bottle every day for a month and then just one day accepted it. I was persistent, didn't force it but offered every day...it did the trick.

4 months is still tiny it's what they do.

does he have tongue tie?

Depends how soon you're going back to work, but as PP have said 4 months is huge for sleep regression, growth spurts etc. If you've got time, I'd just try and ride it out for the next month, then form a plan.

Teething possibly. Good luck!!! Get teething gel, there's one with lidocaine for the bad days

@CookieMumsters

Depends how soon you're going back to work, but as PP have said 4 months is huge for sleep regression, growth spurts etc. If you've got time, I'd just try and ride it out for the next month, then form a plan.

Thank you for all your replies guys, I think I'm missing something here but a lot of you have mentioned riding it out during this phase and I want to know why? What are the effects of introducing a bottle

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba

does he have tongue tie?

He had a tongue tie, and we got it cut when he was around 6 weeks old

i bf and switched to expressed breastmilk at3months due to work..but my dd also had a dummy-there was no reluctance/nipple refusal as it was called then&after2months i went entirely formula with weaning foods,she couldnt get enough of these.Maybe do what p.p suggested with a big dummy or ensure someone else feeds the expressed milk-your dc will take the milk,you just need to steel yourself as he'll get himself red&screechy plenty before accepting the bottle.But accept it he will.Babies have a survival instinct&he wont go on pushing milk away..good luck.

Entirely normal and very healthy.

It's likely he would nap in a carrier or similar rather than a dedicated attempt to get him to nap.

I suggested riding it out because we spent hours and hours trying and falling to get DS onto a bottle for nursery... then he was mature enough for a sippy cup which was accepted much more easily by the time he went. We could have avoided all that stress.

They can grow out of only getting nutrition from you surprisingly suddenly at 6-7 months. Obviously still most energy comes from milk, but cups are a possibility and 1-2 skipped feeds wouldn’t matter as food/drink are available.

As above. Because at 4 month there is a lot happening developmentally and they need nursing a lot more. It may be a bit of a wasted effort to add the stress of making him take the bottle now, if you aren't going back to work for a couple of months yet.

My EBF baby only napped with breast until about 7 months? When are you going back to work OP? As others have said 4 months is still teeny tiny

Ah it's just the 4 monthlys. More of their lights come on and they're more likely to be unsettled by it. It's just a development thing and it passes.

As an aside, breastfeeding was how I got into gaming. A constantly attached baby, nothing much else to do.

There's no particular harm in introducing a bottle at 4 months, but because that's usually a period they're already unsettled it'll just be ANOTHER thing to deal with. It will probably all be a lot easier in another month.