Weaning From Breast To Bottle

Parenting FAQs, parenting issues & concerns, dealing with behaviour problems, disciplining children, sleeping problems, teaching children, pregnancy and more..
Forum rules
Please read: Forum Rules and Regulations and Where to Post What
Post Reply
User avatar
Lorina
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 14330
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:36 am

Weaning From Breast To Bottle

Post by Lorina » Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:03 am

Just wanted to ask has anyone have any tips for weaning from breast to bottle. Trying to get my little one to take milk but she doesn't drink it when I offer it to her. Currently I'm trying 20ml a couple of times per day in between foods. I warm it up for her she has a few sips then that's it. I especially worried about her sleep routine because ever since she was born up until now she fall asleep while drinking my milk. If I don't give it to her she cries and asks for it... If I give her a bottle when she finishes she till wants my milk to fall asleep.

Should I just wait until she stops or do try something else?

:geek:,
L.A
Last edited by Lorina on Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: topic has been split from Starting On Solids


sophiebowaus
Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:52 pm

Re: How Do I Start My Baby On Solid Foods?

Post by sophiebowaus » Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:29 am

If I may ask how old is your baby?

User avatar
Lorina
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 14330
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:36 am

Re: How Do I Start My Baby On Solid Foods?

Post by Lorina » Fri Apr 11, 2014 3:02 pm

She will be turning 1 next month....

:geek:,
L.A

User avatar
Lorina
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 14330
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:36 am

Re: Weaning From Breast To Bottle

Post by Lorina » Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:17 am

Update:

For the past few days I have been giving my little one a bottle of milk after her dinner only 100 ml and so far she has been drinking it. An hour later I give her a breast feed and then she goes to bed. She only takes my feed for 15, 20 minutes before she falls asleep.

I tried giving her a bottle before bed but it didnt work. She only had 10ml, was crying and wanting my milk. Once she had my milk she fell asleep...

I think I'm just going to continue giving her the bottle after dinner and my milk before bed and slowly increase the amounts every few days and see what happens...

:geek:,
L.A

peppa
Newbie
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:24 pm

Re: Weaning From Breast To Bottle

Post by peppa » Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:20 pm

If she's 1 year old, you don't need to give her a bottle - if you're wanting to help her sleep without breastfeeding, Pinky McKay has a great article on how to help her get used to going to sleep without booby:
Mum question:I have spent the first few months of my daughter’s life feeding her to sleep and it works well but now I’m worried I’ll be doing forever! I am starting back at work in a couple of months so I would like to start gradually changing this habit so that she will be able to sleep when I am not there. Can you suggest how I approach this?

Pinky says: There are some magical chemicals in breast-milk that help babies fall asleep easily, as you have discovered. .It is very sensible that you are thinking ahead and wanting to make changes gradually with love, not suddenly by implementing sleep training that involves tears (for both of you – you will miss these delicious snuggles too!).

Also, as long as your daughter has some other sleep cues besides breastfeeding, when you return to work, your baby sitter will be able to help her sleep because the carer won’t smell like breastmilk. This means you can still use breastfeeding to help your baby relax and get to sleep when you are with her and need this magic tool, especially during the night when everyone needs too get back to sleep as easily as possible.

To ‘wean’ your baby off needing to be rocked or fed to sleep, you can use a ‘baby steps’ approach. Firstly, work out a realistic goal, then ‘reverse engineer’ that so you start changing one ‘baby step’ at a time, working towards your ‘goal’. For instance, start by introducing a more easily discarded cue as you feed your baby to sleep, such as gentle music and ‘sleepy words’. Simply swapping one cue for another will be confusing and your baby won’t know what to expect so the idea is to ‘overlay’ the new cue (the music).

Play the music on a low volume without making any other changes to your bedtime routine for at least a week. Regardless of promises on CD labels, it will take your baby 7 to 10 days to ‘condition’ him to any music, and you want a positive association with this new routine. Going too quickly can be stressful to your baby, especially when you have worked so hard to make sleep time a calm and positive experience.

After a week, keep playing the music, but remove your baby from the breast before he falls asleep, just holding him until he dozes off. If he is upset, pop him back on the breast or rock a little until he settles, then try again. Tip: as you remove your baby from the breast, press your fingers under his chin and gently hold his mouth closed – he will suck on his tongue a moment and relax, instead of grasping for the breast again.

Once your baby is happily falling asleep in your arms without being fed /rocked to sleep, the next step is to breastfeed him then pop him in his cot drowsy but awake. Keep your hand on him firmly (patting is usually too stimulating) and gently rock him a little if this seems to help. When baby is settling at this step, you can start moving the bedtime breastfeed back a little and pop him into the cot with his music playing. If he gets upset, always move back a step until he is ready to move forward.

This gentle approach can be used whenever you want to make changes, whatever these are – whether you want to ease off rocking or feeding your baby to sleep or if you have used a dummy and want to discard this. Remember the mantra, ‘gradually with love’ and plan backwards from your goal, then work out baby steps and implement these, one at a time.
I'm sure you're all sorted now though :) Good luck!

User avatar
Lorina
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 14330
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:36 am

Re: Weaning From Breast To Bottle

Post by Lorina » Mon Jun 23, 2014 3:44 am

Thats a really good approach on how to wean! I really like this method and I haven't come across it before. Thanks for sharing it!

So, my bub is 1 years old and I've decided I am going to continue to breast feed her for a little while longer. I am a very lucky mum that has an opportunity to work from home (only when bub is asleep)...I don't think it's necessary to change our routine at this point as I realise that breastfeeding is a natural and bonding experience for us both.

She has been on and off milk for the past month. Sometimes she will drink it and sometimes she won't. I use to freak out about it but I've learned to just deal with it. She is smart, independent, healthy and happy and that's all that matters.

I was so eager to get her to fall asleep on her own without having to breast feed just because it's the common thing to do. So many articles I have read suggest that a baby should be weaned from the breast early on to foster their independence to prove that they are "big" but I realise that it doesn't suit the needs for my child. And just because they can fall asleep by themselves doesn't mean they are more independent or more bigger than the rest.

My baby is so active during the day it's just non stop and it's so nice to be able to take some times out, relax and cuddle each other before bed. Just my baby and me. It's something we both look forward too!

So, for now I am going to stick with the breast and when we are both ready I'll definitely try those techniques in the article you mentioned.

:geek: ,
L.A

Post Reply