Changing from breast to bottle

[nicky1987]

Hi all our second beautiful little girl is 6 weeks old tomorrow and due to various reasons I'm in the process of changing her from breast to formula. However I'm unsure how to go about it really. I've been doing 5am breast 8am bottle 11.30 breast and introduced another bottle around about now. She took 4oz this morning and slept until 11.30 then had a breast feed and slept again until 14 mins ago. Just given her a bottle and she's refusing anymore than 2oz. How do I get her to increase this? I want to have her fully switched over in the next two weeks if I can but I'm starting to worry that it won't happen!

 

[russellmuscle]

This might help:

https://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/mixed-feeding-combining-breast-and-bottle-feeding

xxxx

 

[CARNAT22]

No words of wisdom Nicky as I expressed with James (so always used bottles) and Beatrice is still breastfed.

BUT I just wanted to congratulate you on your second baby. Another wee girly, how wonderful.

X

 

[Colleen1988]

When I stopped bf I had not choice but to just switch straight away... To get my LO onto a more regular feeding pattern Id distract him for as long as possible before giving a bottle, this way he was more hungry and would take more bottle which meant he would also go longer between the next feed! By doing this I got him on 8oz bottles every 4 hours, he quickly started sleeping through as well! he took to bottle really well so I have no advice on that part. But when trying to distract Id do anything from walking round the house carrying him, showing him various toys, singing, put him in front of the tele etc etc xxx

 

[violet13]

I had to stop pretty much immediately and honestly it was painful my hormones where up the wall and I was upset a lot but my dr recommended I just stop and use formula. I'd have a chat with your dr or HV and get some antibiotics because mastitis can happen. Wear a well fitting sports bra nothing too tight and wear it all the time so I advise buying a few if you do just stop also peppermint tea diminished my supply and if you don't want to just stop them keep doing what you're doing cause it seems to be working well Hun I didn't want to just read and run xxx

 

[Phoenix85]

When reducing breastfeeds it's always best to do so gradually to prevent mastitis or painful engorgement.
What you are doing alternating breast and bottle sounds fine.

After a few days you could try offering a bottle instead of one of the breastfeeds if you wanted.

I'd urge you to look into Responsive Bottle feeding.

http://nurturedchild.ca/index.php/2010/12/10/baby-led-bottle-feeding/

http://www.unicef.org.uk/unicef-assets/pdfs/Baby%20Friendly%20responsive%20bottle%20feeding%20tips%20red%20book%20p4.pdf

Even when bottlefeeding, it is better to feed to hunger and feed little and often as you would if breastfeeding.

Encouraging the baby to go longer between feeds and take more milk at each feed stretches the baby's tummy and increases the risk of obesity and digestive problems. http://tribecanutrition.com/2013/05/bottle-feeding-in-a-responsive-way/

 

[JD.Deedee]

I always thought the flow on the bottle is quite more than my boob.. I had issues with boob feeding and now thinking back it was probably my let down reflex and stuff.. But I initially just kept offering bottles (mine never settled with say a 4 to 6 oz amount and leave it for 4 hours.. ) expressed excess milk and when nothing really came out after hours of pumping, I just expressed the excess milk into a muslin when I was feeling like it had to come out.. There's also different bottles and different teats you might want to try.. Have a little observation how your little one is feeding between the two... If it's say more of a suckle, try haberman.. If it's the flow on the teat, try a smaller one or a different bottle that has a lesser flow.. or perhaps bigger if she wants more, more quickly x

 

[violet13]

If you are going to try bottles I highly recommend mam the teats are brilliant also anticolic bottles too like dr brown but without a tube in the middle. I hope you're doing well Hun xxx

 

[Phoenix85]

I like the mam teats too (the ones that are shaped/flat... it looks like the nipple after a feed lol).

 

[nicky1987]

She takes the Tommee tippee bottles fine, she'd already had a few bottles of expressed milk so I know she'd take one. It was more getting her to drink the milk. She's had two formula feeds today and drained both bottles. Now I'm not sure which feed to swap next! She's still awake now and being fussy on the boob so I'm debating whether to just stop completely over the next few days so she's not getting confused

 

[violet13]

That sounds like a good idea Hun if that's what you want to do, Harrison wouldn't take Tommi tippee or avent or any other bottle besides mam but honestly once I stopped and my boobs went back to normal (you'll leak still a littl) I was made up to not have sore tatas and be in normal bras again. I do advise going the dr if you just stop just incase as I engorged quickly and had red lines all over and lumpy parts....it sucks it really does but by day 3 I wasn't hurting much or even leaking much I still occasionally have a teeny wet feeling on one nipple but rarely. Hope all goes well whatever you decide I can only say from stopping suddenly though :/ xxx