Can't get baby to stop BF!

nadnad

Help! he's 7 months old and has always been breast fed, we tried him early on with a bottle but was never successful and so we gave up (i was sick of wasting milk). He will take little tiny sips from a cup but most of what goes into his mouth comes straight back out again, he doesnt seem to want to swallow anything from a cup. He's on 3 meals a day now and i suppose i breastfeed him about 5 times a day but i really want to stop! Any tips on how to get him to take a cup?

Jo_R_2

Do you mean you want to stop bf altogether or you want to give him milk from a cup/etc instead of bf?

My two DDs were fanatic bf'ers, they'd give lip service to a bottle of my milk when I went back to work both times but tended to prefer to wait until I got back from work to stockpile milk directly from me!

What I did both times was to introduce a doidy cup and lidded beaker from which they could drink water whilst I was away from them so they were drinking something. In their case I made sure initially it was just for water and not for milk (as I knew what their reactions would be!) and luckily they happily took to it. I then moved on to leaving my milk for them to drink in a cup and they did both do this when it was needed after they'd gotten used to the cups. Not sure if that might be a way to go around it maybe but with milk instead of water?

nadnad

I'm basically thinking about going back to work and i know he still needs either breast milk or formula until he's one, and as he won't take either from a cup i'm not sure what to do! Do you think if i left him with someone and he was thirsty enough he would drink properly froma cup rather than spitting it straight out again?

if he wouldnt take milk from a cup then i don't think he'd be getting enough from me just morning and night if i went back to work.

cazscoob

nadnad if you want to do it then you have to stop feding all together, i must let you know that this will be just as hard for you as it will be him but you really have to be strong. been there done it and it broke my heart!

If he is hungry/thirsty then he will take from a cup/bottle. you can go to the doctors and get something that dries up your milk but you cannot go back and feed baby as it will make baby ill. The best thing to do is get someone else to kind of take over then baby cannot smell your milk and make things worse. you will also be in pain with full breasts and it may seem sometimes just easier to give in and get peace! i found it very hard and in the end i booked a weekend away for me and OH and left him with my sister! he soon realised that i wasnt there and he couldnt get the milk, also as i wasnt there he didnt scream and took bottles and cups from my sister easily. when i came home we carried on and that was it over. i must admit he was 2 by the time he was eventually stopped and this had been going on and off for 6 months.
good luck xx

Nicki

nadnad wrote: »

Do you think if i left him with someone and he was thirsty enough he would drink properly froma cup rather than spitting it straight out again?

Yes is the short answer, but if he hasn't been drinking from a cup yet, he might actually prefer it from a bottle, as the sucking action is quite comforting, and he is still very little.

My DD was the same, and didn't take any fluids from anyone until she had no alternative. Once she started though, it was a fairly easy progression from bottle to cup. My nanny used to bottle feed her milk during the day from 6 months when I went back to work, and I did morning and evening bf until she was about 10 months

skintchick

Gosh I have all this to come! Sounds an difficult decision. I kind of assumed they went off BF after a while but then again my mate's third child still has feeds at age 4 so I guess not!

At what age can they use a cup then?

Nicki

skintchick wrote: »

At what age can they use a cup then?

They all develop at different rates so it depends!

Realistically, they need to have the tummy strength to sit up unsupported, and the fine motor skills to hold the cup independently, and the co-ordination skills to get it to their mouth, fill their mouths with liquid and then swallow (which is harder than just sucking on a teat). Most babies will get there between about 6 and 9 months, but there will be a few exceptions at both ends of that scale.

mrcow

When you say "cup" what do you mean? Do you mean a proper glass type cup or a non-spill sippy cup?

My youngest started with a straw as she liked the novelty. But until that point, I gave her water and milk in a bottle at mealtimes as it was what she was used to.

sarahsarah

I had this problem with my DD, I gave up trying bottles and just gave her a cup, just a normal Tommee Tippee free flow one, she couldn't suck hard enough for the non spill ones to work.

I just dropped one feed at a time, I still fed her in the evenings until she was 13 months. If you cut down the daytime feeds and give him a cup instead he should take it eventually, just persevere. Try and distract him with other things if he doesn't want to drink, then try again a bit later. Eventually it will click that daytimes = no mummy milk!

I really think they need the comfort of the bedtime feed though, try and keep that up if you can!!

nadnad

yeah i think i want to keep the night time feed going, its part of our bed time routine and i would really miss it! i shall take a better note of how many times i actually feed him tomorrow and then work from there. at 7 months i think he's supposed to be getting around 20oz of milk a day so i guess if he took about 5 x 4 oz drinks a day - oh lordy that seems like a lot to get into him, i feel myself giving up again! maybe i should leave him with my OH for a full day and see how he gets on!

Nicki

cazscoob wrote: »

nadnad if you want to do it then you have to stop feding all together, i must let you know that this will be just as hard for you as it will be him but you really have to be strong. been there done it and it broke my heart!

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this advice for a 7 month old baby. It might well be true for a 2 year old, but my experience and that of many other parents is that it is possible to mix feed a baby, and if a parent wants to continue to part breast feed, then there is no good reason why she shouldn't at least give it a damn good try.

It wasn't clear from nad nad's post whether in an ideal world she would like to go completely on to formula or whether she'd like to keep the morning and night breast feeds for a bit longer. If she does want to stop completely, I'd recommend that she gets the daytime feeds on formula established first, and keeps the breastfeeding going for the first few weeks she is back at work (as baby will have enough to be adjusting to at that time). After a few weeks, and safe in the knowledge that baby is coping with the formula, she should be able to drop first the morning and then the night breastfeed and replace it with a bottle. If there are problems, then certainly she could try going away for a weekend, but that seems quite draconian as a first resort for a still very young baby who is adjusting to the weaning process and who has never been separated from mum for more than a few hours before.