Problems changing from breast to bottle

Jenniflower87

Hi Everyone,

I'm breastfeeding nearly 5 months now and I want to start weaning the baby onto formula milk by six months. He used to be great taking the bottle of aptimil ready made milk every so often but now refuses point blank. You'd swear you were giving him poison by the look on his face lol.

He will take the expressed breast milk in a bottle now and that is all. I keep trying him with the milk every couple of days, trying all different brands. He will just not take it.

I tried giving him 20mls mixed in with 30 mls of breast milk as he was going asleep and he drank it all. I thought that I was a genius and ran in and made more. He then woke up pretty lively and spat it out again. I then tried on another occasion 20mls of formula and 50mls of my milk, no joy. Then 70mls, still no joy.

I don't know what to do, the PHN wasn't very helpful. any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks a million in advance

January

Stick to one type of formula, that's my only bit of advice... don't chop and change because each one is different and may be upsetting his tummy.

implausible

I don't know if this will help, but my wee man went from boob to sippy cup. The novelty of having a cup with handles might make the formula more appealing.

The other thing to try is changing the time of day. The last thing at night feed was the last one to go in this house, the comfort I suppose. I started off giving him formula for the middle of the day feed, then the mornings.

Has he started solids yet? My fella was exclusively breastfed when he started the grub, but once he got into spoonfeeding, he wasn't as interested in the boob.

Jenniflower87

implausible wrote: »

I don't know if this will help, but my wee man went from boob to sippy cup. The novelty of having a cup with handles might make the formula more appealing.

The other thing to try is changing the time of day. The last thing at night feed was the last one to go in this house, the comfort I suppose. I started off giving him formula for the middle of the day feed, then the mornings.

Has he started solids yet? My fella was exclusively breastfed when he started the grub, but once he got into spoonfeeding, he wasn't as interested in the boob.

No he's not onto solids yet. I haven't started him yet, even though i'd love to. The PHN said to wait till 6 months I usually try feed him the milk at the early afternoon feed. I just chanced him when he was dosing off for a nap with the bottle.

I started him with a sippy cup with water. He loves the cup and hates the water lol. But he will drink a few sips from it. Then I think am I doing too much with him at one time with the water and the formula, so kind of stopped giving him the cup as much.

Do you think that I should wait and start solids first?

lynski

i'd start solids if it were me. and then try to introduce another milk. but you could just end up giving him boob in the morning and evening and water the rest of the time.
breastfeeding is surprisingly flexible like that.

Jenniflower87

lynski wrote: »

i'd start solids if it were me. and then try to introduce another milk. but you could just end up giving him boob in the morning and evening and water the rest of the time.
breastfeeding is surprisingly flexible like that.

I don't want to sound silly, but what happens to the milk in my boobs if I just do that? Do I have to keep expressing?

January

Jenniflower87 wrote: »

I don't want to sound silly, but what happens to the milk in my boobs if I just do that? Do I have to keep expressing?

No, your supply will adjust. Unless you want to pump and keep it for him to drink

How Strange

I'm still breastfeeding my 11 month old son although I'm going to start weaning him at Christmas. I started solids at 6 months (baby led weaning so it was slow to get going) and I was going back to work at 7 months so managing breastfeeding/milk feeds was something I thought a lot about. However my son naturally dropped a lot of day time feeds within the sixth month once we started solids. I always gave a sippy cup with food so he'd get used to it.

As someone else said, introduce the solids first and he will probably drop a feed or two himself. Then space the breastfeeds out over the course of the month and then introduce a sippy cup with formula as a day time feed. He may be more ready for it then. By the end of six months he'll probably be feeding 4-5 times in 24 hours. I'd recommend you use the sippy cup over a bottle from six months so he doesn't get hooked on bottle feeding with the exception perhaps of the night feed (if he still has one).

hunnymonster

Another tip I've read some people doing is mixing expressed milk with formula . Start with mostly expressed and gradually up the proportion of formula so the change is gradual.

clappyhappy

I would agree with all of the above,i b/fed all my 3 up to 6/8 months,last guy was hardest,i had to give him only expressed milk to get him used to bottle,then slowly incorporate the formula. Would also start him on solids,take ur time,it will all work out in the end for you.happy Christmas and enjoy your first Christmas with your little man :-)

implausible

Jenniflower87 wrote: »

Do you think that I should wait and start solids first?

I think starting the solids first would be a good idea. In a month or two, my buck was down to three feeds - morning, midday and before bed and this made it a lot easier to swap one. I started him at 5 and 1/2 months and he was well ready and luckily, he was mad interested in the spoon.

If he takes the sippy cup, I'd stick with it. Why get him used to bottles when there's no need? My fella is 18 months now and I don't have to worry about taking him off the bottle and he'll even drink out of a normal cup (badly and messily!) now.

cynder

Nothing worked for my daughter so i ended up breast feeding her till she was 2.

I tried everything except giving her to someone for the day, as i had no family around.

If i was you could you go away for a day or 2 and leave the baby with your husband/partner. If your there the baby will cry and cry for you and its heartbreaking. I always gave in, she ate her food but she would refuse any bottle and spit it out as it was the dirtiest thing she had ever tasted. I tried every cup/ beaker/bottle/teat/milk under the sun, nothing worked. The gp was no help the PHN was no help they would say look at her she is thriving!

milkandsugar

grindelwald wrote: »

Nothing worked for my daughter so i ended up breast feeding her till she was 2.

I tried everything except giving her to someone for the day, as i had no family around.

If i was you could you go away for a day or 2 and leave the baby with your husband/partner. If your there the baby will cry and cry for you and its heartbreaking. I always gave in, she ate her food but she would refuse any bottle and spit it out as it was the dirtiest thing she had ever tasted. I tried every cup/ beaker/bottle/teat/milk under the sun, nothing worked. The gp was no help the PHN was no help they would say look at her she is thriving!

I feel your pain. I have tried everything with my 8 month old and so far nothing. She will actually starve herself rather than take a bottle and i have left her with people for the day. But on the upside i did get her to take a bottle while in the car the other day. I think she almost knew that there was nothing else i could do. so now all i have to do is go for 3 or 4 hour drives everyday. That should be easy to build into my day.