Taking bottle but only an oz

[jkbmah]

Hey. My lo is 7 months and I'm ready to move over to bottles/formula. She takes the bottle but at the moment only has 1-2 oz at a time and I have to top up with boob. Any tips for getting her to take any more?

 

[noon_child]

Two things occur to me

1) Maybe (depending on how much food she's eating at the moment) 1-2oz is how much she is used to taking from your breasts - breastfed babies don't up the volume of milk they take as they get older to the same extent as bottle fed babies so your LO won't be used to taking anywhere near the amount of milk that the packet of formula says she should. However she wants to top-up on you because she misses the act of breastfeeding rather than being actually hungry

2) Or she is used to being very efficient at feeding from you, getting a big volume quite quickly, and the bottle is actually slower and she gets fed up. What size teat are you using?

I know that all Mum's are different and we have our own needs and wants but I'm curious as to why you want to move over to bottles. No judgement, just curious really.

 

[jkbmah]

Well we had an awful time when she was poorly before Xmas and she needed to be tube fed and on oxygen after contracting a nasty respiratory bug, during this time she didn't feed at all for 5 days, getting bf back on track was very hard and it was soul destroying, she is back feeding now but seems to have developed a habit for nursing strikes, especially if under the weather, at the moment she only feeds to sleep and I cannot get her to feed at all if we are out and about, I just feel bottles would help with this. It's interesting that you say they don't up the amount of milk they take, I didn't know this. She loves her solids and could probably go all day without any bfeeds the only problem is that she gets constipated (rabbit poos) as she only takes sips of water/juice. The other issue which I'm sure is related is that she feeds 4 times through the night when previously (before illness) she was only once or twice. I haven't tried any bottles today but she's done well on juice, I guess if she seems satisfied I shouldn't worry if it's only 1-2 oz as she's not been having a lot from me either at the mo???

 

[noon_child]

Oh that sounds really tough. Sorry she was so poorly.

As long as you can get her to take the 2oz as often as she would previously have breastfed I think it is Ok, especially as she is feeding lots at night (very common for a while after they have been poorly).

Are you using vitamin drops yet? Might be worth it if she is dropping bf and doesn't like formula.

I'm assuming you don't want to pump after all you've been through...just wondered if she'd prefer the taste as formula does taste quite different. Or maybe a different brand of formula??? I dunno as I haven't tasted many.