Working mums of bottle refuses please reassure me!

[Dragonboobs]

Hi all

I have a 6mo DS my 1st DC and am returning to work in a month.

I really thought that it would me a simple matter of changing a feed at a time from BF to the bottle how naive I was! My DS is having none of it and after much trying with every bottle/person/position imaginable we have given up trying.

He is now on solids (we started at 5m because of the bottle business and my return date) and he has taken to them really well. Gobbles up breakfast, lunch and tea. But it's the milk/fluid intake that worries me. He has a sippy cup and has a bit form this maybe half an ounce at a time!

I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that he'll be ok. He's not as interested in BF as much anymore but is still having a 2/3 good feeds in the hours I'll be at work.

Has anyone had this situation - was it all ok. I'm dreading leaving him as it is.
Thanks

[feekerry]

Hi. I can't give you total reassurance as i am in same situation and back to work in 4 weeks. Dd is currently 8 months. Bottle and spoon refuser!
But, in the last 4 weeks dd has fallen in love with her sippy cup!! Even feeds herself with it now. So your dc will prob have no problems drinking some ebm from it!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

dragon have you spoken to a BFC? She might be able to reassure you over the quantities and might have some tips. Try the National Breastfeeding Helpline.

[Dragonboobs]

feekerry Oh no a spoon refuser on top! at least I'm lucky there. You actually have reassured me. I'm hoping he'll get more and more used to the sippy cup and eventually take much more from it. It has to be formula as I have real problems expressing. Have tried lots of different pumps and hand expressing but no joy, although I am hoping when they're busting at work I may have more luck!

Jilted I will do that thanks for the tip, I think if I knew he would be getting a good amount from me still I'd feel much better. I'll be feeding him in the morning, when I pick him up (4.30) and before bed at 6.30 and then as much as he needs through the night.

[ipswichwitch]

DS was a bottle refuser and the bf advisor told me that even if he refused milk all day he'd take enough from me when we were home. So I didn't worry about the bottle so much, and he surprised me by taking to it really well at nursery. Then gradually he accepted it off others (never me though) so there is always hope

[Dragonboobs]

Thanks ipswich that helps, just hope it doesn't result in too many night feeds! But hey ho if that's what he needs!

[charlottery]

My bottle refuser was fine. I used to go to the childminder's to feed her at lunch time, but she'd never take much off the breast then as she was too distracted. Her childminder gradually managed to get her to take a few ounces from the bottle. Have been back at work for 8 months now, and still feeding fine.

[HappyAsASandboy]

My bottle refuses we're fine too - though they were 12 months when I returned to work. They both just fed all night instead

Good luck with the long nights :)

[naughtymummy]

Hello Ds never took a bottle, could take 6oz from a sippy cup by 8months. I stopped bf at 10months and returned to work at 11m , no problem.

[naughtymummy]

Was formula tho

[sittinginthesun]

Both mine were happy with bottles, but both dropped their mid morning and lunchtime feeds at 6 months anyway. They were at nursery until 3pm, and didn't have a milk feed until mid afternoon.

[Dragonboobs]

Thank you all so much. I can't tell you how much better I feel about everything.

Apart from you happy

[PieceOfTheMoon]

Also returned to work when DS was 6 months, he was just starting on solids but not enough and wouldn't have much from a sippy cup. I was mega stressed he was going to starve when I went back to work! HV advised to try breastflow bottles and they were a great success (although a bit leaky).

Only regret is that by 8 months DS had completely gone off breastfeeding and I would have liked to go on longer :(

[Dragonboobs]

piece I think my DS would easily go off too, he's never comfort fed it's all about food for him, and I'd like to keep it up for at least a year. So in a way I guess it could be a good thing.

[feekerry]

My dd loves those semi soft spout type cups. I use the tommee tippee no spill free flow cup. She gets all proper excited when she sees it now!!

I left her with my mum last week for 4.5 hours and she took 6oz of ebm from it!! I was gob smacked!!!
I don't know if it helped but i've stuck with same cup. Think she sees it as her cup now if that makes sense? Even if i send her somewhere i always insist she has water or ebm from her cup. Seems to give her a bit of reassurance

[RubyrooUK]

dragon my DS started setting at nursery at 8mo before I went back full time at 9mo. Total bottle refuser.

The nursery were really good and flexible. They offered him two bottles a day for two months, at which point they asked if they could stop offering as he was eating solids well and simply didn't want a bottle, even when other babies took them.

I panicked he'd starve but he ate well and ate Greek yoghurt or Plum Baby yogurts if he was hungry when other babies had their bottles. The nursery did say he was the only baby never to take a single bottle () but he survived perfectly well.

The only downside was that he did breastfeed all night long but I could live with that as I missed him and it was lovely to feel close at night. I did stop nightfeeds at 16mo though as I was destroyed by exhaustion.

So don't worry too much although basically that impossible so I don't know why I am even typing it.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Complete bottle-refuser here in 6mo DS - nursery have given up trying (as have I. Been trying since he was 9 weeks old and I'm just bored of it). He'll take tiny, mouth-wetting sips of EBM from a sippy cup, but that's it.

He's a spoon-refuser for me as well but, thank the lord, eats like a horse for them at nursery so I get them to mix EBM into whatever they're feeding him. HV expressed concern today that that means they'll still be feeding him mush until he's one, but I'm doing BLW at home, so he gets texture that way and persisting fruitlessly with a sippy cup. HV didn't offer up any helpful recommendations after that bit of scaremongering I hasten to add

Yeah, he feeds upwards of five times a night, but that's nothing new! I'd dearly love that to change before I go back full time in February, but I'm not having much luck!

[chipmonkey]

He will be fine.
But he will always be an entitled, bolshy, child who wants everything his way.

[LadyWidmerpool]

Almost identical situation. Baby was fine overall but prone to constipation. Really push the water and go easy on banana, would be my advice! Good luck.

[teacher123]

7mo DS was an absolute and complete bottle refuser... But he has tommee tippee sippy cups (the cheapest ones from tescos) and now has about 4-5oz from those twice a day. I still bf first thing and at bedtime at the moment. He's taken to his food well and drinks water from a doidy cup with his meals. I hide lots of formula in his food!

[RubyrooUK]

chipmonkey

This is probably true. But when he has his own children, his stubborn ways and bottle refusing will come back to haunt him. That's karma.

Yours,

RubyrooUK, total bottle refuser herself and parent of an even worse and more stubborn total bottle refuser.

[sleeplessinderbyshire]

my DD1 was a bottle refuser but after 2 long days at nursery decided she loved bottles after all. DD2 is 5 months and not very keen on bottles, I'm hoping nursery will have a similar effect on her!

[Oinkypig]

I went back to work full time when DS was 8 months, I was so worried too but he has been fine. I feed him in the morning, then he is at nursery from about half eight until five and just has food, no milk and water from a sippy cup. When we get home he has milk again, I think they either get hungry enough to take milk or just eat more food.