Moving baby to bottle

[AuntieS]

Hello

I'm interested in people's advice on moving a 4 month year old from breast to bottle. We tried hard when older child was a baby but without success. There's lots practical help/'direction' on starting breastfeeding but it seems your left on your own to stop. Any thoughts.. Is there a wonderful 'mama'/mary poppins out there who can help

[simonethebeaver]

The staff at breastfeeding cafes are able to offer advice on finishing breastfeeding too. Why not drop in to one and ask?

[cirrus29]

Both mine went on hunger strike when I went back to work at 6 months. The elder settled after a few days on formula from a beaker (having rejected various bottles) while the younger is currently on Mam bottles with a number 2 teat (having tried and failed with numbers 1 then 3) and rejected the brand of formula that the other had accepted after going through 4 different brands! There is no good solution, I think. Also the temperature of the milk may lead to it being rejected...

Various discussion boards (netmums, baby centre etc) talk about mixing expressed breast milk with formula and "weaning" by altering the ratio, but I didn't try it as I was trying to reduce my supply. Good luck!

[AuntieS]

Thank you

[MarianaTrench]

I used a lady called Annette who is a nanny to help me to get my breastfed baby to accept the bottle. I could have done it myself, but I simply didn't have the stamina!

It took her a day, she kept comforting my daughter throughout so it wasn't that bad, but there will be crying!

PM if you want Annette's number.

[nunheadmum]

I tried with a 'Mary Poppins' when my youngest was around 4 months but even she said she was the most strong willed baby she'd seen - so it's not a guarantee of success. But if you need to do it quickly, having someone around - like Mariana Trench used - will be a real help, even if just for moral support and to help you stay strong in your resolve.

We spent a small fortune on different bottles. We passed them on via the forum to others struggling so maybe others will do the same these days. In the end though I don't think it was down to the bottle type - she just got distracted and picked up the one I was using that day without thinking and realised it wasn't that bad.

I don't think there's any one way to guarantee success, sadly. Good luck with it all.