Switching from breast to bottle

Sprites

Hi, looking for advice, please no judgement, on switching from breast to bottle.

My lo will be 6 months next week and for various reasons, mainly me returning to full time work, I want to switch to formula feeding.

The problem is he has never been consistent with taking a bottle. He has taken a bottle feed here and there but mainly refuses it and I end up having to feed him myself. He refuses it from everyone , not just me.

Wondering if anyone had found themselves in the same situation and could share what worked for them in getting their babies to take formula feeds.

Thanks

Bacchus

Sprites wrote: »

Hi, looking for advice, please no judgement, on switching from breast to bottle.

My lo will be 6 months next week and for various reasons, mainly me returning to full time work, I want to switch to formula feeding.

The problem is he has never been consistent with taking a bottle. He has taken a bottle feed here and there but mainly refuses it and I end up having to feed him myself. He refuses it from everyone , not just me.

Wondering if anyone had found themselves in the same situation and could share what worked for them in getting their babies to take formula feeds.

Thanks

First of all no-one can judge you. Fair play on 6 months and going back to work is a perfectly normal reason to switch.

We have our daughter (4 months) taking one bottle of formula a day (to give my wife a break) and it took a bit of trial and error. The nuk bottles worked for us... advent didn't. Also getting the temp right was important... to the point where half way through she'd stop feeding but if we warmed it up a bit again she'd get another ounce or two.

We heard all the stuff about having dad do it and make sure mom is out of the room. Tried it, it only made it worse. For the first week we did it together and tried to make it a positive thing for her. For example we let her hold the bottle a bit before trying to get her to take it. We never forced it. We also introduced a trigger song. It still works now if she's not really going for it... two lines in and she's chugging away

jlm29

As above, latex teats are often more acceptable than silicone, because they're squashier like boobs. The number ones here, with the wider neck worked well. Everyone will tell you something different, because no two babies are the same, but for my older boy, giving him a bottle in the middle of a feed, when he wasn't upset or hungry helped. So literally just switching over mid feed from breast to bottle, and he guzzled away.
My younger boy never really took to the bottle (until a couple of months ago, and he's 16 mo now!!), so I continued to feed him after I went back to work.
I know other people have said that their baby needed to be in a different position, so giving them a bottle whilst they were in a bouncer or something worked.
Good luck, it can be stressful, but you'll get there.

bp

I found giving a bottle of formula about 30 minutes before they were due a boob feed worked. It took a while for him to take bottles so took a few days for the first bottle to be fully accepted. Well done for bf for six months - I got to 4 months and then to give myself a break we introduced formula

Kylie06

Hi Sprites. I used so many different teats to try and get my little one to drink from a bottle. I think it's all trial and error but it was the lasinoh bottle that finally worked for us even though she'll drink from any bottle now.
My little one also refused to drink for anyone else and even me leaving the house while my husband tried to feed her didn't work. This refusal went on for weeks until one day she had a very long nap. She woke up after about an hour and fell back asleep again for nearly another two hours so she was really hungry when she woke up. I tried her with the bottle before I fed her myself and she gulped it down! That worked for us even though others would say you should offer the bottle when she's not too hungry so she won't be frustrated so I think it's just trying her with it daily and trying to be patient. Would you consider giving him milk from a sippy cup instead? At six months, he should be ok to drink from one. My little one began drinking from one at this age and loves it now.