Getting breastfed baby to take formula?!

[gds05]

My baby is 18 weeks old and has been breastfed. He has taken bottles of expressed milk happily using Lansinoh so I don’t think the bottle is the issue.

I’ve tried Hipp Organic which he just spits out and hits the bottle away. I also bought a pre made bottle of Kendamil which he did the exact same thing. I’ve also tried mixing with breastmilk and he won’t take it. My husband usually gives him the bottle and he’s still refusing.

Any ideas or suggestions please?!

Have you warmed the formula (stand bottle in jug of hot water)?

Also, maybe you just have to try different brands until you find one Baby likes?

My DDs drank SMA cartons back in the day. DD1 was a mixture of BF and formula and DD2 was EBF (couldn't get to grips with bottle teat) but had SMA mixed in her baby rice.

Can you mix breast milk and formula and then change the ratio: 20% formula to 80% BM, 50:50 and then 80:20. This way the baby gets used to it. Remember your milk will taste a lot different to formula and the baby needs to get used to it

I never got my dd to take a bottle, she was bf for 2years. She did use a sippy cup though, have you tried that? She was an amazing eater when weaning, she always just fed herself, refused a spoon from me, she hand fed and then used a spoon herself. Thst part was wonderful.

He’s only 4 months so can’t use that yet. Taking a bottle isn’t an issue as he’ll take expressed breastmilk no problem

Try goat milk formula. It's meant to taste closer to breastmilk.

I would say that 4 months was a HARD mark in my breastfeeding journey. I persevered (had no choice) and I was glad I did because BF got wildly easier at 6 months. In my mum groups there was a split between stopping at 3/4 months and breastfeeding for well over 6 months, I think because it gets so much easier at that mark. It's extremely useful when teething and sick. And also weaning is such a faff, breastfeeding was the easy part in comparison!! So if you can't get formula in him, I wouldn't worry. I also went back to work full time at 6.5 months and i pumped in the day and BF at home, no problem. Breastfed well past 12 months as it's so useful.

Unfortunately continuing with breastfeeding just isn’t feasible for me. I hate pumping and my milk supply has dropped drastically due to being sick. I want the ability for other people to feed him, I simply don’t pump enough to make up a full feed.

It's amazing how on practically every thread about formula, someone well meaning jumps in to extol the virtues of breastfeeding. Every woman's journey is different. Working full time, pumping during work and then breast feeding at home is not going to be 'no problem' for many people.

@doglover90 I'm just sharing my experience. I was desperate to stop breastfeeding at 3/4 months and posted several times here under a different name. Baby turned out to have severe CMPA and I had no choice but to continue. I thought it was the end of the world and I will forever be tied to the sofa, BF for hours and handling wake ups every 2 hours. However the change at 5/6 months in my baby was huge. Feeding got efficient almost overnight. Baby started sleeping. If I had known BF gets much easier, I could have mentally handled it better.

Again, I never told the OP what she SHOULD do. I'm sharing my experience.

And breastfeeding is hard enough without constantly being told yeah, just stop. A bit of encouragement is a good thing. I find in the UK the attitude is if BF is hard, you just go on formula. Which is unhelpful at times.

Give goat milk a try. Or like others said, mix BM and formula but do it very gradually.

Also, with dairy free formula, because it tastes absolutely awful, I know the advice is to mix some vanilla essence or Nesquik to make it sweeter at first otherwise older babies just will not drink it. Then you gradually add less and less to wean them off the Nesquik. So you could give that a go. I know you're not giving dairy free formula but if the aim is to get her to like the taste, it might help.