starting FT work soon and cannot wean my baby onto bottle

[aty]

i have to start work in april and my baby refuses to take bottle feeds despite being very hungry. i have tried so many different ways. i express milk fo rher which she still manages to take half an ounce of if shes very hungry but otherwise refuses expressed milk or formula coming from a bottle. what do i do? should i change her formula milk? cant express and freeze so much milk though i have started her on solids which she enjoys.

DD never took a bottle and would not take milk from one expressed or otherwise.
My childminder used to feed her from a spoon or mix rusks or baby rice with plenty of expressed BM.
How old is your DD?

she is going to be 6 months in a week. i give her baby rice and veg purees but she needs to take some milk and other than that she gets really cranky if i dont feed her!! starts crying and kicks up a big fuss and makes my heart drown to see her like that and i give in and give her BM. how many feeds of milk does she need if i give her two meals a day?

I started both my older 2 on ebm around 6 months, but from a beaker, have you tried with one? Also have you tried leaving her with anyone else so you are not available?

I think at 6/12 they are having 4-5 feeds a day

It's hard, but if you are determined you'll need to stick to your guns. My dd1 ended up going cold turkey at 12 mths due to biting, and on the second night she begrudging had a few swigs, 3rd night we were just about seeing light at the end of the tunnel. it was tough though, and I wish you the best of luck

Can you get someone else to feed her the EBM when you are not around just to get her started? I agree she probably still needs 4-5 feeds a day.

Aty,at 8 mths,my baby could go all day with nothing but water. I didn't want her to have formula and found expressing hard work.

She will take EBM if she is hungry you know.It will be easier if you are not there too.I know it sounds daft but don't worry,she won't starve.

When dd was 7 weeks I went back to work full time. dd went on hunger strike between the hours of 8am and 6pm. She then fed lots during the evening and at night to make up for the missed feeds. After 2/3 days she realised there wasn't much choice and it was ebm or nothing - she grudgingly accepted bottles.

I wasn't too worried as she just upped her evening and nighttime feeds to compensate. Also, I knew she wouldn't starve, afterall, some babies sleep through the night at 2 months. dd just decided to switch her feeding times around for a few days.

My DS is 5 months and has refused a bottle of any type since 9 weeks (and boy have we tried every single one!)but he now happily takes a doidy cup (a beaker cut at a 45 degree angle so you can see how fast the liquid is pouring)of ebm.It is well worth a try. Good luck.

second that floria
doidy cups - from thatcuteage.com or amazon or john lewis
we are going through the exact same thing - although ds did take an ebm bottle at night from dh until recently - v bizarre. its slow with the doidy cup but we're getting there- - we're just doing it once a day in the bath for now to avoid spills

floria how long did it take for your ds to gt at drinking from it. does it go everywhere?

Hi Luvaduck
It took us no time once we started with it 2 weeks ago (he's 24 wks tomorrow)he took to it straight away, with almost no mess, our only problem is when he grabs the handles and wants to feed himself!(it goes everywhere then!!!!)..I truly dont know why we didnt try sooner because now we remember that in his first week he was too lazy to feed so the mw cup fed him to get him started and was genuinely surprised at how well he cup fed even back then...we could have saved ourselves a fortune in "breast like" bottles and teats!

great - thanks for that. Its getting better but its good to hear of your success!
yes we also have every boob shaped bottle under the sun - but he's far too smart for that - why have plastic when i can have mum?

aty - I was in your position when I went back to work. DD was 8 months old, and would not take any form of bottle. I just gave her a huge feed first thing, then huge feed as soon as we got home and she was fine (and she soon gave up and took NUK bottles at nursery )

have you tried her with a cup? bottles are not compusory, lots of 6 month olds do fine with a lidded beaker, some do Ok with out teh lid! Breast feed morning and evening and what ever- bexpressed, formula, water during teh day should work out Ok, your body will get used to teh new routine.