Hi all, my 6 month old and I have really enjoyed our breast feeding journey. I started giving bottles of expressed milk about 2/3 times per week from about 6 weeks really just to be sure that he would take a bottle. He always took it no problem and used to almost get excited when he saw the bottle and reach out for it. On Christmas day he was sick and probably over-stimulated - he point blank refused the bottle after getting very upset when my husband tried to settle him. He has refused ever since, even after a break of a few days. I want to continue bf until about 10/11 months but I need some freedom too. Twice I have left him with family and he has gone up to 5 hours without a feed - at which point I gave in and bf him. I feel like this is reinforcing things - if you cry and give out for 2 hours, eventually I will give in and offer the breast instead of bottle!
Anyway, I wanted to ask for clarification on the thread 'From breast to bottle: things to consider'...When it talks about trying every hour the 1st day and preparing to ride out the hunger strike. How does this apply when I'm only aiming for 1 bottle/day and not complete cold turkey. Do I refused to bf until he takes a bottle? So, for example, he's due a feed at 10am and refuses. Try again at 11am, 12, 1pm until he takes bottle. And then next feed can be a breast feed again 3 hours later??
Honestly, I will choose to wean off the breast completely if I cant get him to take the occasional bottle - but I really dont want to do this!
Thanks in advance for your advice
