Breast to bottle - baby whisperer method - need help

[cjjones]

Hi,

I have recently started using the four hour routine recommended for a 4 month old in the "Solve your Problems" baby whisperer book. My DD is just over 4 months and is currently exclusively breastfed. She was given a formula top up in the early days but once I got the hang of the feeding I stopped this (which I now think was a mistake). My DH and I have had little success in getting her to take a bottle with either breastmilk or formula since then. I have tried a cup but she won't take that either.

We would like to try the method recommended in the book - try the bottle at first feed in the morning when she is hungry and stop after 5 mins if this doesn't work. However, the book goes on to say to try every hour until such time as the baby is hungry enough to take it and not offer the breast in the meantime. I know she may object and won't starve during the day, but I'm not clear on how to offer the bottle every hour and still factor in nap times. Am I just being dim and you just wait until she wakes up again to try? Any advice on this method would be much appreciated 

[Erin M]

Well, chances are if she's hungry, she's not really going to be napping anyway.  Do you have a "deadline" that you need to get her to take the bottle by?  Or are you just looking to be able to have a break from her here and there?  I ask b/c I got my dd1 to take the bottle when she was about 4 mo by offering it before each feed -- if she refused (which she did consistently at first) I would just nurse.  After about 2 weeks of this, she took the bottle fine and had no trouble again.  It was a lot less stressful for me than not feeding her at all.  HTH!

[cjjones]

Thanks for your reply Erin M. I'm not too keen on the "cold turkey" approach either, but given that we've tried for so long I'm not sure if there's any other way. I am hoping to have a night out with my sister at the end of this month so about 3 weeks away. We're just getting her used to the 4 month routine as she hasn't had one up to now so were planning to wait until at least next week before trying the bottle so as not to overwhelm her with too many new things at once. She is responding well to the pick up/put down method in the book which allows her to settle herself down for naps/night-time.

[Samuel's mum]

As this is a question about a method of encouraging the bottle I'm going to pop it over to the bottle feeding board where this method is sometimes discussed.
Good Luck

[* Paula *]

There is a sticky at the top of the board on tips to get your BF lo to take a bottle.  Have a look and see if this helps.

Tips for getting your Breastfeeding lo to take a bottle

There is also a link on going cold turkey

I sucessfully went cold turkey from breast to bottle

Hope these links help.

Please keep us posted on how you get on.

Paula

[*Mona*]

my only advice is be persistant- and she will finally learn to take the bottle.
and surely take a look at those links given by Paula