I have just gone back to work, 4 days a week, i have had to put my daughter in daycare, and am finding it very difficult to get my little girl to take a bottle. i have tried nuby, closer to nature, avent and mam. are there any others?
and which formulas do breast fed babies seem to prefer the taste of? as anything we off her she seems to hate! i do express whilst at work but would like her to be topped up with formula as i rarely can pump a full bottle.
any advice would be appreciated.
You could try an open cup or a sippy cup rather than a bottle. She might prefer them.
Hi,
How much are you hoping to get in a bottle? At this age babies take about 700-800 mls per day so about 100mls per feed. You don't have to "fill a bottle" necessarily. There may be some adjustments for her when you are at work, but just because she misses you doesn't mean that she is hungry,
Is she on solids yet? In the second half of the year solids gradually take over from milk - if she needs more than your breastmilk she can fill up on solids.
Babies don't *need* a bottle - she may take it out of a sippy cup or a straw cup with a bit of practise (practise with a juice box where you can squeeze the liquid up into her mouth - she'll get the hang of it.
Have you tried formula? it just doesn't taste very nice!
I've heard the Bellamy's organic is quite sweet-tasting, more similar to BM than others.
But I think the best option is still expressing if at all possible.
We had success with Bellamy's. I used this for his cereal and I guess he got used to the taste. He wouldn't keen on the bottle though until he got to 11 months and was weaning off me - I think he also saw the other bubs taking a bottle at childcare and he wanted what they were having. DS1 and DH had both managed to give him a bottle of EBM when I wasn't available but it was a struggle.
A couple of the new bubs at my LOs childcare centre have these bottles that you can squeeze so it squirts the milk into their mouths. Both of these bubs are breastfed and were refusing the bottle. Not sure what the brand is, but it's a clear bottle with a yellow lid thing and writing on the side.
thanks for your replies, i have been on holiday, so haven't ignored your responses! i might give bellamys a go then, although we have had some success with the s26 i think it is. i just worry now that she is not eating enough, and just prefers to be breast fed. she is 8 1/2 months and still prefers to eat only a little of the 4month+ baby food pouches, although i think teething makes her eat less than she normally would.
Hi,
it can seem worrying when they don't seem to be eating much - but no healthy baby will starve in the presence of breastmilk and food. Formula is not as nutritious as breastmilk, so it seems like it would be a backward step in your situation. Lots of babies do better if they self select their food - grazing on finger food and especially food from mum's plate - it always seems more interesting that way. At this age breastmilk is the main game for babies - food is just an ad-on. Many babies are not interested in food until 8, 9 10mnths of age (or longer!)
Like Barb, I was also going to suggest finger foods. My son's first food ever was steamed broccoli. Not mashed or anything, just baby-fist-sized pieces that he could pick up and suck on. He loved it. We always just gave him things he was capable of picking up himself and he seemed to enjoy doing it. My daughter turned 6 months yesterday and we gave her her first solids; broccoli of course, lol. She totally turned her nose up at it! She loved chomping and sucking on the cucumber chunk we gave her today though ;)
I can understand the frustration of trying to give a booby-obsessed baby a bottle though. Both my kidlets are still breastfeeding. My 2 year old has never once taken a bottle. I had to leave my kids with their grandparents for about 4 hours for the first time ever recently (first time even for my son!) and I practised giving my daughter bottles of EBM for about a month. It was disastrous. She would never take it. In the end I would manage to get a little into her. Luckily, on the night she drank almost 30ml from the bottle over about an hour with my Mum, and then she was content enough to go back to sleep *sigh of relief*.
Good luck with everything! :D
straw cups are great, and food - avacado, broccoli, pasta, mince - you'd be amazed how much they can eat even without any teeth! and once they made the connection between the food and their little tummy feeling fuller, it can be a free for all :)
DS took about 2 months to really get the hang of food, but while he was learning he would (toothless) still eat meat and veggies and rice and pasta and heaps (and I mean heaps) of things ... just little bits here and there.
with the expressing - what kind of pump are you using? I found that I got a LOT more milk out when using an electric pump, compared to a manual (though some ladies find the opposite) but it may be worth renting another type to find out if you get more success.
expressing is hard work (having gone back to work myself when DS was 9 weeks, and expressing until 10 months, believe me, I know) but it's just such a magnificent way to help them get the best nutrition possible. If you're doing all that work by expressing, you want to know you're getting the best results available!!
that being said, every bit you're getting for her is helping, and I think it's great that you're looking at options to find out what you think is best for her. :hug:
thank you for your encouragement. i don't have friends with babies that i can ask these sorts of things so all your advice is well received. i have tried her with some toast and pasta today, it took her a while to realise what to do with it but she is getting there.
i have also found that i have to wait longer during the day to express the milk. i was trying to do it at lunch time so as not to disrupt my work too much but i think leaving it till mid-afternoon has shown to yield more milk. i just use tommee tippee hand pump, and it seems to be working better now. day care can just top her up with formula if she has drank all my milk and still wants more.
thanks again :)
Hi,
Milk supply is based on the concept of supply and demand - the more you take out the more you make. So in terms of keeping up your supply you are better off doing 2 quick expresses than waiting a long time to express - initially that seems to yield more milk, but then you find the intervals between expressing are becoming longer and longer and you get less and less. So pump for shorter times more often. I have to say, the tommee tippee is not the most effective pump known to man either. You might be able to get a better one. On the other hand, in a few months you will just be able to feed her when you are not working and she will not need milk during the day. You have done a great job, it's great to have a network like this to ask questions