Breastfed to bottle

chases0102

Hi all,

Looking for some advise that I'd be greatly appreciative of.

My OH and I have a six month old daughter, as well as her 3.5 year old brother.

She is exclusively breast fed, and we have been trying to introduce a bottle for her for the past 2 weeks. Huge resistance from her, nothing like her brother.

OH will continue to mainly BF, but a bottle or two a day will facilitate greater flexibility.

Can anyone recommend any strategies (time of day, before/after nap, etc.) that worked for them, or even what bottles/teat worked for them.

We are dying to give my OH a significant break, and I certainly want to be more involved going forward.

Any tips most welcome!

Thanks folks

Cakerbaker

chases0102 wrote: »

Hi all,

Looking for some advise that I'd be greatly appreciative of.

My OH and I have a six month old daughter, as well as her 3.5 year old brother.

She is exclusively breast fed, and we have been trying to introduce a bottle for her for the past 2 weeks. Huge resistance from her, nothing like her brother.

OH will continue to mainly BF, but a bottle or two a day will facilitate greater flexibility.

Can anyone recommend any strategies (time of day, before/after nap, etc.) that worked for them, or even what bottles/teat worked for them.

We are dying to give my OH a significant break, and I certainly want to be more involved going forward.

Any tips most welcome!

Thanks folks

My son took to the bottle no bother, my daughter was a different story! We tried a number of different bottles and she eventually took the Nuk bottle with a latex teat. It seemed softer than the silicone teats.

We tried different times of the day, different levels of hunger, me being in and out of the house and nothing worked. Then one day my husband randomly tried again and she started drinking like she’d been bottle fed since day one!!!!

chases0102

Haha, thank you for that! Will get those particular teat today, sounds like perseverance is the key

dbop2003

Cakerbaker wrote: »

My son took to the bottle no bother, my daughter was a different story! We tried a number of different bottles and she eventually took the Nuk bottle with a latex teat. It seemed softer than the silicone teats.

We tried different times of the day, different levels of hunger, me being in and out of the house and nothing worked. Then one day my husband randomly tried again and she started drinking like she’d been bottle fed since day one!!!!

Hi,

Sorry, I've written two replys to this and deleted them both!!! Guessing I'm more tired than I thought

Short answer, you've given yourself an almost impossible task, in introducing a bottle at 6 months for the first time!!
It might be easier to just cut out the bottle stage and give her a beaker, especially if breast feeding is to continue as her main drink.

Some kids will take it, done will never!! You could spend a fortune on different bottles and treats, when in the end, shell end up on a sippy cup/ beaker anyway.

Have a think, see how she goes, my second baby refused anything but the boob, so she went from boob to sippy cup.
They're all different, theres no easy way to introduce a whole new way of feeding and sucking to a baby who is so well established on the boob.

Perseverance is key, it just depends on how badly you want her to take the bottle.

A beaker/sippy cup can be easier too as it's not a new way to feed, just a different way of getting it, if that makes sense.

Good luck!!

jlm29

One of mine never took a bottle. I tried hard but he was having none of it. Tbh, at 6 months I really wouldn’t stress about it. The feeds get less now, and if they’re eating solids and drinking water, they can go longer with no milk.

lazygal

Two of mine refused all attempts at bottle feeding.

fits

If it helps at all. They will be able to go longer stretches without mum from around 9-10 months.

bee06

As said already, skip the bottle and go straight to a sippy cup or open cup. They are supposed to be weaned off bottles anyway from 12 months for teeth development so there’s no point in killing yourselves to get her to take it and then kill yourselves getting rid of it in 6 months. Definitely you’ll find she’ll start going longer between feeds from 6 months as well.

SmallgirlBigcity

My little lad started refusing the bottle at 4 months. He was exclusively breastfed. I think he went off the bottle because we didn't give it to him consistently enough. I tried to reintroduce it at about 6 months but I gave up. It was so stressful making up the bottle and then have him bawling whenever we tried to get him to take it. I think I tried for 2 or 3 weeks and then gave up. Sorry this isn't very helpful! But I've heard others say that consistency is key. So maybe keep trying, at the same time of day for a long period and maybe the baby will take it. Good luck!

My guy is almost 11 months now and breastfeeds first thing in the morning, after his first and second naps, and before bed. So only 4 breastfeeds per day now and he eats a lot of food too. So it does get easier.

SmallgirlBigcity

Oh quick tip, I got my lad to drink water from a cup called the Oxo cup, it has a straw. You can get it from Kidly.com. It was the only cup he would drink liquid from. So that might help.

fineso.mom

I'd echo the posters above who suggested trying a sippy cup. My youngest took to one with no problems at six months so he never had bottles. It's worth a try.