Weaning and changing to formula at 6mo

[Partypopper]

My Dd is 24 weeks now and I've just started giving her tastes of purée,which seems to be going well. Until now she has been EBF, and not bery happy taking a bottle despite perseverence! I need to go back to work when she is 7 1/2 to 8 months and am worried that she will not easily switch to formula- I can't pump at work unfortunately. So my question is- how do I combine food weaning with a switch to formula over the next 2 months or so? Anyone had to do similar with a bottle-hating baby?!

I mix fed DD from early on so I'm not in the same boat and I'm sure someone more knowledgable will come along. My first thought is what happens when someone else tries to give her the bottle? I have read an awful lot about babies going to nursery still refusing the bottle and they somehow magically take it when at nursery but still refuse at home!

That would be about right for DD! she takes a bottle from her dad, but never the whole lot and she mostly just plays with it and waits for me to feed her . And the one time we played hard ball she SCREAMED. And boy can that baby scream! But that was at about 14 weeks so I maybe she'd be different closer to nursery time (or at nursery!)

Actually I have done it. My DD was a bottle refuser when she turned 4mo. She would scream and cry herself sick if I gave her a bottle. She was happily drinking EBF pre-4mo. I tried and tried to reintroduce a bottle, tried a cup etc before going back to work. Didn't do any good at all.

She went to nursery at 7mo, full time. I worked close to the nursery so I was able to pop in twice a day to feed her. But within a week or two at nursery, she learned how to feed herself with the bottle. Her key worker first mentioned it when she said DD tried to grab another baby's bottle, so maybe I should sent her in with one to try. I gave her a carton of pre-made formula a day with the NUK latex teat bottles, and she drank this for around two months. I think to her, she's viewing this as just part of weaning, feeding herself a drink. It doesn't matter it is not EBF. She dropped all the bottles herself at around 9mo, when she started to prefer to eat the snacks offered instead.

HTH.

That gives me so much hope, I can't tell you! Similar to you, my little lady will be going to a nursery 2 mins from work, so I was thinking I might be able to pop in and feed her if absolutely necessary. FX she'll do the same as your DD and make own mind up to take it. I also like the idea that moving to formula is part of of weaning on to food. Will try to get some different bottles/cups for her to try too. Thanks again for sharing your experience- it's really helped

How about offering formula in a sippy cup? I'd try this when you're totally out of the house, or maybe start with water first.

I got DS to take one (one of the tommee tippee ones) by first taking the lid off and letting him explore the cup with some water in it, not too much so he couldn't soak himself, also I was keeping hold of the cup so he didn't immediately tip it all out. He could see the water so he was curious and I got him to drink some like this, with me holding onto it too.

He seemed to like this game so I repeated it for a few more mealtimes, holding the cup but letting him control the movement mainly. Then one day I just stuck the lid on it, because it was the same colour as the cup he didn't immediately notice and I kind of guided the cup into his mouth before he could clock that it looked a bit different. The water came out into his mouth as he expected and he accepted it straight away, whereas the first time I'd presented him one (with the lid on) he got upset because he didn't like the water coming out of it - I suppose it was a bit of a shock?

You need to use a free flowing cup for this to work and it has to work well as a cup without the lid - the tommee tippee flip top ones are perfect, although you'll probably have to replace them fairly regularly if using for milk as the spouts are hard to clean, I used to poke around in them with a washing up brush.

If you didn't know, it should definitely be possible to continue breastfeeding in the evenings and even at weekends, your supply can adjust to a pattern like this, so her refusing other milk when you're around needn't be a problem. And if she really really won't take it, you can always instruct nursery to sneak formula into her food - cheese sauces, porridge etc(!) and then once she's 9-10 months she should be fine with food during the day and BF morning and evening.

I was giving DD a free flow cup with water. But at 7mo she isn't drinking much from the free flow. It's about 10mo before she can really drink from them.

I might not have been clear in my first post. DD wasn't given a bottle like a newborn in nursery. She was holding it herself, drinking it like a big girl would with a sippy. I had a valved cup, but since she didn't get how to use it after a few tries, I threw them away.

Thanks ladies. I'm going to stop worrying about it so much and just enjoy BF until she goes to nursery. I suppose they're used to this sort of thing in nurseries anyway! In the meantime i'll definitely try the sippy cup idea. Good idea too about including formula in food V cunning . I've also been preparing her purées with a bit of formula instead of BM so she gets used to the flavour.