Help! Having surgery and spirited 6.5 month DD won't take a bottle

[Babyk]

Looking for some tips/success stories from others who have had the same issues.

My spirited 6.5 month DD started on rice cereal when she was about 4 months old as she always seemed to be interested in what we ate. About 4.5 to 5 months she started on puréed fruits and veggies. She eats a table spoon of rice cereal in the morning made with expressed breast milk and she has about 70ml of veggies and 50-70ml of fruits at both lunch and dinner. She also gets BM about an hour before each solid feeding and as a snack if needed.

I have pumped multiple bags of milk and stored in the freezer as I have an upcoming surgery and will not be able to nurse her for most of that day. I have thawed a couple of bags and have been trying to get her used to the idea of taking a bottle. I've tried having others feed the bottle to her. I've left her with her father/ grandmother and gone out for a few hours around a feeding time and she refuses. She likes to hold the bottle and chew on the nipple.

I thought we'd try a sippy cup and maybe she'd like that better. She still tends to chew on the spout of that.

I'm getting really worried/anxious because I'm afraid she will not eat while I'm in surgery and instead will be very upset & crying constantly (she is quite spirited / goal oriented and her crying escalates until she gets what it is she wants).

I hate the thought of her going through that whilst wondering where I am on top of that... I had surgery a couple of months ago and since then she seems to suffer from SA.

Please help! Tia

[*Ali*]

Have a read of our FAQ on getting BF babies to take a bottle. Breastfed babies and bottles

If it is just for one day then it may not be too awful if she goes without milk for a while, especially if she is eating solids.

You can also try feeding her milk from a syringe or spoon.

[Babyk]

Thanks, Ali ) I'm not sure how I missed that section, but I just went over and had a look and there are a ton of great tips I'm definitely going to give a try. Fingers crossed!

I was reading someone's question earlier about possibly giving their baby too much solids through the day. I never thought of that before. Is that possible, even if she's still wanting more solids to be feeding her too much of them? How much is too much? I mentioned in my post how much I give to her daily. Is that reasonable or too much?

[*Ali*]

You only really need to worry about solids intake if it is causing her milk intake to decrease or for her to start waking up more at night for extra milk feeds. Then it might be a case of her having too much solid food in her tummy in the day to fit in all the milk she needs.

[Babyk]

I'm not sure how much milk she is eating. She does seem to be nursing for shorter time frames through the day, but I chalked it up to her being so easily distracted. I got a nursing necklace today to wear to try and help with this.

 Sounds like it could possibly be that she is getting too much solids.

[Katet]

When my DS2 was 5mo I was out for the day (6 hours) & so DS2 was going to miss a feed, he wasn't on solids yet & wouldn't take a bottle easily. It was related to my job & DH & I decided that it was worth risking DS2 getting upset even if he didn't take the bottle... 2 days before he started accepting from a sippy cup & while he only drank about 60ml of EBM while I wasn't there he was fine when I got home & that was without any solids.

I think for one day, if she is eating solids, I'd not worry too much & just offer the breast when you can

[Babyk]

Thanks, KateT 
I guess it won't be so bad after all. I'll keep trying to tips I seen on the board that Ali directed me too and see if I can ease her into the transition. I also read on there that BF babies tend to do well with a straw sippy cup which I haven't tried yet so I'm going to pick one of those up and see how that goes.
Worst case, she certainly wouldn't starve herself so I'm sure at some point she would just give in if need be. The thought of her stressed out about it though while she already wondering where Mommy went just breaks my heart.

[*Ali*]

If you think she is taking too much by way of solids you can always cut back a little for a week or two and see if that helps.