Charli means me
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I have switched both my children to bottles for medical reasons. DS at 6 mths due to reflux and needing to take a hypoallergenic formula, and DD at 9 mths as I needed to start treatment urgently which I could not continue to BF during.
I agree with Shiv that the 'don't give a BF until they have taken a bottle' thing is old fashioned, very hard for Mum and baby, and not appropriate for such a young baby who is not yet taking any other forms of food or hydration. But I do think that some babies do actually need to be hungry in order to want to work out how to take the bottle.
My DS took me 2 days to get him to take a bottle (he did get some BFs during that time though), and DD took it the first morning I tried (after a few hours). She is my angel and she gave in VERY easily compared to DS. Once DS had taken the bottle I gave it him exclusively for 48hrs (pumping to maintain supply) and then went to mixed feeding after that. With DD I mix fed for about 1 week and dropped a new feed every few days - but I here I had no other option.
What have you tried Lissie?? And what end point are you trying to get too?? Willingness to take a bottle every now and again, mix feeding, or stopping breast feeding completely??
Personally I think the most important thing is to pick a plan and stick to it. So pick a bottle (anticolic so the vacuum isn't an issue is likely best for a BF baby), pick a teat that seems roughly appropriate (I like MAM silk teats, and a lot of BF babies like them or latex rather than silicone, likely a size 1 for a 3 mth old unless you have a very fast milk flow), and pick a feed where you will offer the bottle everyday. Decide whether you want eBM or formula (I always did eBM and then diluted later for formula), and how you think your LO will take it (some Mums talk of different positions to a BF but both my babies wanted to be cuddled for milk). Make sure the milk is nice and warm. Both my babies took from me rather than anyone else.
I did a bit of experimenting beforehand to work out how all that stuff would work best
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I am here to help as well if I can
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TBH I think the main thing is to be very calm and stress free as you did it. I do wonder if that is what made a difference with DD - I HAD to get her to take a bottle and I had 1 week to do it - and the last thing I wanted to do was upset her as I had intended to keep feeding - so I approached very calmly instead of fussing and getting flustered (like I did with DS).
What is your LOs personality???
