Getting a breastfed baby onto bottles and weaning onto solids - how/when?

[fledermaus]

I have posted in breast & bottle feeding too, but this is also a weaning question.

I'm going back to work and want to get my demand breastfed 4.5 month old having formula and food during the day.

At the moment she is having a bf about 9, a bottle about 11.30 and a bf about 2. I guess in the next few weeks I want to get to the stage of having breakfast, a mid morning bottle, lunch, a mid afternoon bottle instead.

Any suggestions? Should I try to move the current 3 milk feeds into 2 first, or add meals first and then drop a feed/swap for another bottle? Only thing is she only lasts 2-2.5 hours between breastfeeds, so not sure if I can reduce the number of milk feeds unless I put some solids in between

What I did with my three wasn't to drop a feed altogether but to offer them some food first and then let them drink what they wanted afterwards, and then gradually increase the amount of food. It took a long time before they stopped having a meal/milk combination - it was more when they were eating fairly independently that they started having a cup of water with food rather than a milk feed.

She'll extend the period between feeds, but 4.5 months is still pretty young and iirc (because mine are all pretty old so it's been a while) they don't advise solids until 6 months now so you've still got a bit of time.

I'll be back at work part time from now and full time by 6 months so she needs to be fully on day time bottles and started on solids by then.

So would you switch all three feeds for bottles first, and then start meals afterwards?

Personally yes. Do it one thing at a time - sort out bottles and then figure out the weaning part. If you try and change too much at once you'll just get yourself stressed. Who's having her whilst you're at work? I have friends who are CMs who have had babies that young and have happily helped with the transition to solids - it's pretty much part and parcel of the job

I've just gone through this with DS 5mo. I've moved him from ebf to ff for all feeds as I will be at work full time from Sep when he will be in his 6 month. I didn't want to worry about weaning AND milk. We dropped one day time feed a week and introduced a dream feed which he didn't need when ebf. He's dropped the night feeds himself (added bonus!)

I now know that at 6mo the CM can feed him and we can slowly experiment with solids without any worry that he isn't getting enough food.

It has been a good way for us to do it and DS responded very well and doesn't seem to miss the boob at all!

I've just gone through this too. Iy took a long time for him to accept a bottle but we practised once a day, stopping if he got stressed. One day (after a couple of weeks) he just guzzled down a full feed, no fuss. I tried starting weaning early at HV suggestion (he wasn't gaining weight and is sicky), but he wasn't able to swallow. We also tried a cup when bottles weren't going well but it was too slow.

How are you planning to do weaning? These are some of my BLW-tainted thoughts...

There's no rush to get her onto solids. Sort out the milk feeds, then take a step back.

If you want the childminder to be cleaning up the mess after offering solids, fine. If you would rather save that for you as parents, you could offer solids at the beginning/end of the day and/or at weekends for a bit. NHS recommendations are to take several months to build up to three meals a day, whether you BLW or not.