Advice on weaning ebf baby to formula

[Gilly82]

I started weaning my six month old ebf baby to formula two weeks ago. She has never had a bottle so we are weaning straight to a free flow cup. She used to have approx 6-7 breastfeeds a day. We have dropped three breastfeeds so far- two during the day which we are replacing with formula and one at night ( I wasn't planning on dropping the middle of the night one but she has suddenly started to sleep through the night and is not waking for this feed). So at the moment she is having four breastfeeds and two formula feeds a day. I am planning on trying to drop another breastfeed next week.
The problem is that she will only take a very small amount of formula at a feed-about 2-3ozs. I am very worried that this is not enough per feed. Also it can take quite a long time to get her to take this amount of formula. The feed usually starts off well but then she will start refusing/fussing or playing around with the cup. Sometimes we have to take a break and then go back to trying some more.
If she will only take this amount of formula per feed does this mean that once she is weaned from the breast she is going to need 6-7 bottles per day so that she gets enough formula? I am really worried about her not getting enough and the amount of time it is going to take to get her to take that many bottles a day!
Does anyone else have any experience of an older baby only taking 2-3ozs per feed? Did they gradually take more per feed over time?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Lolly]

I'm not sure what to suggest really - I have no experience with your situation!

Is it worth trying a straw cup rather than the free flow, I know breast fed babies often take to straws better than free flow.

I think until she gets used to it you will have to keep an eye on the overall amount. I would be hesitant to keep offering lots of small feeds as she will just be snacking through the day. I think you would be better off trying to keep to a 3.5/4 hour EASY as far as is possible to let her get hungry enough to actually want to have a decent feed. Don't forget too that formula is harder to digest than breastmilk so she will last longer than on the same amount of breast milk.

Laura

[Gilly82]

Thanks for the advice. It has become a real battle with the free flow cup. She often cries as soon as she sees it and it is taking up to 45 minutes to get her to take a feed. My husband wants to persist with the sippy cup as he thinks we should be consistent but I decided to try a straw to see if she would be more willing to take the formula as the situation is becoming very stressful for me and baby. I tried her with just a regular straw and a glass of water and she was able to drink from the straw! So I bought a Nuby Flip and Sip straw cup to try however she does not seem to be able to drink from this straw! It does not seem to be 'free flow' like a normal straw but seems to need a lot of suction to get any liquid from it? Has anyone else used this cup? Am I doing something wrong that the liquid is so hard to suck through the straw? Baby just got really frustrated and angry at not being able to get the liquid. I tried her with just a regular straw again in her cup of formula and she took most of the formula this way. There was a bit of spillage from her mouth but a lot less protesting. Does anyone know of a straw cup with more of a free flow straw like a regular straw that I could try?

[Gilly82]

Can anyone please help? We are still battling with formula feeding. I don't seem to be able to find a cup she is happy to drink from. I have dropped two breastfeeds over the past three weeks but don't feel I can drop anymore until she will willingly take the formula. We have tried having different people feed her but this does not make a difference. I am returning to work in January and need her fully weaned by then but at the moment I just can't see how that is going to happen!

[Lindsay27]

I would honestly try a a bottle.  My DS was ff nearly from birth and we started introducing a free flow cup at 6 months, but there is absolutely no way he would have ever taken a full formula feed from a cup...he could barely manage the thing and didn't really get a hang of it until closer to 8/9 months.  He also would generally just not take formula from a cup, only water.

It's a pretty big transition so I really think that breast to bottle is your best option.  A bottle is more like the breast than a cup, still comforting etc.  I think if you introduce a bottle you can still offer a cup, but more for exploration rather than actual feeds.  We kept the bottle until 1yr and he managed to learn how to use a sippy during that time perfectly fine.  I would not expect a 6 month old to be taking full feeds from a cup tbh.  I'd try a bottle and see what happens

As for straw cups, we used the Playtex ones.  I did find if you had the lid on too tight you could hardly get anything out because it would push the straw to the bottom of the cup and stop the liquid from getting into the straw.

[Elisanah]

I agree with Lindsay on maybe just going with a bottle. My Lo is nearly 9 months and has only just got the hang of a cup. I also still breastfeed and tried leaving her with a cup of milk when I went out but she struggled too much for it to be of any benefit! It sounds like your LO associates the cup with stress so I'd work on creating a positive association with the cup again ...I personally would go with a bottle for milk feeds and then have a cup of water alongside her meals as something to explore.

I know it often says to go straight to cup when breastfeeding but I didn't find that realistic for my LO, for formula feed babies they say you can use a bottle up to one year so I don't really see why breastfed babies can't have a bottle until then either