help - how to get 7 month old to take expressed/formula

[dawnrise1]

I am hoping someone can give me some advice. My son is almost 8 months, has always refused bottles and has just started to take water in a beaker for meals, he has been exclusively BF. I am so worried, I go back to work in 2 months time and lo will be just over 10 months. I am so worried that he wont take any milk during the day (He literally breaks down when I try to give him more than a couple of sips of formula) I have tried every bottle and cup and its the same result, he has a couple of sips and thats it. Any advice, what will happen if he doesn't take to it when i go back to work - will he be crying because he wants me to feed him and refuse formula, I just feel so stressed about it and don't know what to do to help him-any advice please

 

[Debi]

Have you tried expressed bm in the sippy cup? If he is ok with that you can maybe start diluting it with formula until he gets used to the taste and then upping it (if you don't want to keep expressing that is). With my DD the health visitor wanted me to supplement with formula and she hated it!! I just kept trying and she did eventually take it. I always stopped trying when she got upset. Try not to worry too much though, if he's hungry he will eat! Also a lot of babies don't drink expressed milk/ formula during the day when they are away from their mummy but make up for it when they see them, it's called reverse cycling

 

[Lownthwaite]

As Debi says - you may find your LO begins reverse cycling. I wouldn't worry about it - a lot of babies tend to go with out of sight out of mind when it comes to mummy not being there in the day time. They may refuse EBM / formula but they are generally not upset by it and make up for it with water and solids until they see mummy again.

My DD never accepted a bottle - when I returned to work part time at 9 months she would take expressed milk from the childminder in a sippy cup - although she wouldn't take it warmed up but loved it cold from the fridge.

There are lots of different options of how to get milk into baby - it's just trial and error.

 

[ttc_lolly]

My DD would not accept a bottle from me at all to start off with, so only OH could feed her. If I tried she would just shake her head furiously and would try grabbing at the boob! After a couple of days of trying I finally was able to feed her from the bottle without her refusing it so definitely try that, if you haven't already x