Baby dislikes smell/taste of formula

[CoalCraft]

I've posted before about my baby and my unsuccessful attempts to reduce reliance on breastfeeding. The struggle continues.

She's 6.5 months and if she had her way she'd just eat solids. She's already on two big-ish meals a day and wants more, but I'm not sure her system can handle more yet. She's only been weaning for two weeks. Otherwise she breastfeeds but reluctantly unless she's sleepy. She seems to think BF is a way to fall asleep and not much else. She is a stubborn bottle refuser.

I offer sips of water from an open cup with meals. Well, I say sips, but she takes gulps! Literally glugs it down with a relish. "Great", I thought, "that's how I can get some formula in her" but I guess she took exception to the smell because she was reluctant to even take a sip. The difference between when water is offered was night and day. She did eventually drink some but only a little and soon started pushing it away :(

I'm feeling at a bit of a loss now. I really want to have options other than BF but not sure how to get there, and that aside, currently she's getting hungry midday but refusing BF. It seems like she just wants solids but it seems early to go to three meals a day.

Do different formulas have different smells/tastes? We're using Cow&Gate 1st stage atm. I don't want to express as 1) I hate it, 2) I suffer from over-supply and pumping makes it so much worse.

Any ideas??

I so regret not starting a daily bottle when she was like four weeks or something 😭

The ready pour stuff is a bit sweeter. My first bf baby would only have ready pour.

I’d put her on three meals a day if that’s what she’s asking for, and breastfeed for naps/sleep. She may end up self-weaning off milk early. Compensate for the lack of milk by making some of her solids with formula: porridge for breakfast, rice pudding for pudding, bananas and custard – I used to make Bird’s custard without the sugar – etc.

My DD was a water guzzler too and it’s better than the alternative water refuseniks - less likely she’ll eat constipated!

I find Kendamil smells a lot nicer than Aptimal (haven’t used others) although it is more expensive.

Hi my bottle fed baby refused milk from 4.5 month would only eat off a spoon. The health visitor suggested I watered everything down with either formula or water, soft purées yogurts that kind of thing. I worried myself sick at the time. But he was fine, never drank out of a bottle again and was feeding himself very well by 10 months. Now a lovely adult .

Put her on three meals if that's what she wants.

She likely will start dropping milk feeds in favour of solids. By 9/10 months I could easily not feed in the day if I needed and just do morning or night feeds.

One of the great things about breastfeeding is that baby controls what they take. They can take just as much milk from 2 big feeds as 5 small ones.

If baby is enjoying food then follow their lead.

You can also look at ensuring she has a couple of dairy portions a day. That can be full fat cows milk if in food. So for example weetabix with full fat milk for breakfast and a yoghurt at lunch time / tea time.

My DD only really liked Kendamil, it smells very creamy and was the most similar to milk out of the formulas I tried.
Aptamil and C&G really didn't agree with her for some reason.

Thanks all. I'm wary of moving too fast with weaning as her older sister (who was bottle fed) got quite constipated around seven months and it took months and months to sort out. DD2 is already straining more to go with her firmer stools (though they are still very soft just yet) so don't want to push it. I'm quite prone to constipation too despite loads of fibre and fluids so think it runs in the family.

Still I think if she carries on like this I'll have to up fluids sooner than I intended. I'll give Kendamil a go since it's had a couple of recommendations, and if that doesn't work it'll just have to be three meals a day. She's basically taking nothing between breakfast and tea at the mo', just two quick 5 min feeds on the boob to go to sleep.

To be fair to her C&G does smell pretty rank! Her sister never seemed to mind though 😁