Can't get 6 month old to drink formula

[Ashla]

Hi everyone

Does anyone have any advice for getting a 6 month old to drink formula?

I breastfed my first for 12 months so have no idea about weaning to formula and am desperate to do so with my LO. After having a hemorrhage during his birth and losing a lot of blood/iron plus having post natal depression, I am desperate to make things a bit easier on myself by finishing breastfeeding. But LO won't take a bottle no matter what I try

 

[Wannabe Mommy]

Have you tried giving it in a sippy cup or even a cup without a lid?

 

[Ashla]

Yep I've tried a sippy cup, two different types of bottles and 4 different types of teats. I've tried giving it to him when he is not hungry, giving it to him when he is hungry, having his father give it to him, sitting him in his bouncer and distracting him with tv, holding him in my arms...

He will take some formula into his mouth and even chew on the teat a little but he refuses to swallow any of it And he liked the sippy cup until he realised there was milk coming out of it!

 

[LoveCakes]

Maybe a stumped question but have you tried expressed milk in a bottle so it's less of a change?

Or try different teats?

 

[Maxy1]

Leave the house for a few hours so your LO can't smell the milk

 

[Ashla]

Maxy1, that is what DH suggested! I think I am going to try it this weekend as absolutely nothing else has worked. I know LO will sob and sob once he realises there is no bm for him, so in some ways I am glad that DH is the one who has to do it Those sobs are way too heartbreaking for a mama.
I'll update on how it goes

 

[Ashla]

It didn't work He went for 9 hours refusing the bottle (he would occasionally chew on the teat but refused to swallow any formula that went into his mouth). After 9 hours DH and I started to get worried that he would get dehydrated and I gave him a breastfeed.

So it looks like I'll be breastfeeding for another 6 months whether I want to or not

 

[pinkpolkadot]

Have you tried breastmilk in a bottle? If he takes that you can try slowly adding a little more formula to it each time!

 

[Bunnikins]

Aww not nice I feel ur pain I went through this with my eldest. It was just a case of trying everything different formula brand, at different temperatures, with every type of bottle/teat size possible!!! In the end I found she would take only one particular brand (hipp organic) very warm, from a tommee tippee variflow teat it took weeks, and weeks, of screaming, refusing, me spending an absolute fortune!!! But we got there in the end! Her way to make me feel guilty for stopping breastfeeding I also had to feed her facing away from me for a while as she wouldn't have it if she could look me in the eye!!