Our youngest girl is 6 months and it's time to say bye bye to Mum's boobies. She's actually doing well with starting on food, but she is being awful with the bottle. Not interested and is starting to kick off if she even sees it.
I guess this is normal to an extent, but has anyone any ideas on getting the bairn to take milk from a bottle? Her refusal to do this is destroying our sleep atm.
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Weaning a baby - any tips?
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Posted 6 months ago #
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What's the rush to change things?
Posted 6 months ago # -
what are you using in the bottle, mummy milk or formula? maybe try something different?
with respect to food, try LOTS of things. ours loved parsnip or carrot blends. Use a little milk to make it smoother.
Sleep? ha, not sure we had any last week. (4 and 2) nothing to do with food, more like the bugs they bring back from school/toddler groups etc.
#edit# can't remember when we got ours eating stuff, second was a lot earlier than first, they will let you know as they get hungrier, milk wont satisfy them so much #edit#good luck
Posted 6 months ago # -
Yeah why the rush?
Ours is naturally down to morning and bed feeds at 13 months
Posted 6 months ago # -
Oh can I also chip in with baby led weening as on option too. Ours was on finger foods from 6 months and loved it. Confident self feeder from the off...
Posted 6 months ago # -
Have you tried mums net?
Posted 6 months ago # -
Apparently you can't give a baby booze...
Posted 6 months ago # -
Not even brown booze, and peanuts prized out of machine on pier head?
Posted 6 months ago # -
Mmmmm, you can actually give booze to a baby. But only if you've got enough to share.
Posted 6 months ago # -
But, but, Vic Reeves says you can't?!? I'm confused now...
Posted 6 months ago # -
(I am SO sorry for trivialising/hijacking your thread)
Posted 6 months ago # -
We followed gina ford's weaning program and it worked excellently. It will work whether or not you follow her sleep routines. Basically, from milk to simple foods to introducing more and more flavours one at a time. Highly recommended.
Posted 6 months ago # -
That's ok. You can't give a baby booze, tis true. Unless you're my gran, who swore by a drop of porter in the bottle.
I think our bairn's problem just now is the bottle itself, rather than the formula milk. It's not like she's tasting it and doesn't like it, she's refusing to take the bottle.
Posted 6 months ago # -
We followed gina ford's weaning program
That woman is pure evil
Ours is naturally down to morning and bed feeds at 13 months
We targetted only a
nighta single before bed feed from 10-12m, then dropped. Both ours spat out any kind of formula with palpable disgust. Cant say I blame them.For future, used to make batches of (organic, yah)food, pulverise it and ice cube freeze it then just nuke a few cubes at a time. Saves so much time (and cost) Mix main meal and dessert together, they dont care and it makes it tastier for them.
Handy tip, if they dont eat, get a spoonful in their mouth then just give a short sharp but firm blow of air on their face. The natural 'gulp' mechanism makes them swallow. same thing that makes them hold their breath when you dunk them swimming at that age.Posted 6 months ago # -
Thought the title was "wearing a baby" Quite disappointed now......
Posted 6 months ago # -
have you bottle fed many babies before?
some techniques are better for getting them to latch on just like some are with a nipple.Posted 6 months ago # -
Our eldest never really took a bottle. Sometimes they don't apparently. Our second is quite happy with (expressed) milk from a bottle and always has been.
We didn't really do anything different.
Keep'em on mother's milk (rather than formula) until a year old if you can - it is far better for them.
And a plus 1 for baby led weaning - but make sure you have wipe down floors, tables, walls, ceilings, clothes etc.
Posted 6 months ago # -
That woman is pure evil
What crap.A writer of poorly organised books? Yes. The creator of wonderfully helpful routines for babies and toddlers (albeit contained in poorly organised books!) Yes. Evil? Utter nonsense.
Posted 6 months ago # -
No, he's right ^^^ I got so angry when I heard her baby hating bile on some telly program. Don't forget, she doesn't have children, she has NO real life experience.
Both of ours self weaned just after a year and fed at night (from boob) on demand until they decided to stop.
No hassle, no stress for anyone, my wife was happy to leave them feeding at night while she slept..Not sure what the whole rush at 6 months is all about.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Personally I find toddlers breastfeeding disturbing. There is no reason whatsoever why they should't be off milk and eating proper food by then.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Is it expressed milk? If not she might hate the taste of the formula you have, try another type or buy a milking machine? Ours isn't keen on formula, though she has lactose free which is bloody horrible
When she's refusing we use a pipette to feed her because it's easier. Comes from 10ml bottle from lloyds the chemist, useful for medicines also 
Posted 6 months ago # -
Forgot to say that it might take a bit of time for them to adjust too, so you have to be really patient.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Yeah I guess patience is the game here - it's early days. I just had another failed go so gave her something to eat instead. Our lad took to the bottle nae bother, and also used a dummy, whereas this lass won't take either. Thanks for all of the tips.
Laughing here at a couple of hairy-arsed blokes expressing faux-puzzlement at why a woman would want to stop breast-feeding after 6 months. I mean what's the problem - It's dead easy right?
Posted 6 months ago # -
I would not go back to all that baby weaning for all the money in China ! Sorry about that, but i think patience is the game. Girls are the hardest i believe. I was lucky with my first two (boys) . The last one projectile vomited all over the place for about 6 months, before we got him on soya milk. He could get it right across any size of room. Sleepness nights for the first year with him.
FlockPosted 6 months ago # -
We followed gina ford's weaning program and it worked excellently. It will work whether or not you follow her sleep routines. Basically, from milk to simple foods to introducing more and more flavours one at a time. Highly recommended.
I have nothing to say about her, but my other half starts swearing whenever she hears the name. Simple foods, pfooey - let them try anything and everything you're having, don't mush it up, just cut it up a bit, and cut things like grapes and cherry tomatoes in half. Start at about 6 months - to start with, not much will go in and stay in, but that changes and it does an incredible amount for manual dexterity as well.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Laughing here at a couple of hairy-arsed blokes expressing faux-puzzlement at why a woman would want to stop breast-feeding after 6 months
Well I suppose that's what you get when you ask such questions on a forum frequented by hairy-arsed blokes
Posted 6 months ago # -
Bencooper +1
Laughing here at a couple of hairy-arsed blokes expressing faux-puzzlement at why a woman would want to stop breast-feeding after 6 months
You know it's so easy to start fights on this subject, or indeed on Gina Ford - see Mumsnet for a fuller experience on those.
However I promise I'll only rise to it very gently.
Hairy-arse? Check
Bloke? Check
Faux-puzzlement? NopeI fully understand why a woman might want to stop - it's bloody hard work, even if your expressing and said hairy-arsed bloke is offering a bottle overnight.
Neither of our sons ever had formula. The younger one is ten and a half months and still breastfeeding - although it's often expressed from a bottle. He'll start getting some cows milk in the new year (ie one year old) and my wife is determined that he won't be having formula.
She's tired, permanently hungry and needs whatever support her hairy arsed husband can give her.
Is it easy? No
Do I understand why people stop? Yes
Do I judge them? No
Do I think it's worth it? Yes, but that's only my opinion (and I believe my wife's)Posted 5 months ago # -
That's told yer....
Posted 5 months ago # -
My kids were OK, my nieces were a nightmare. They refused the bottle, but it had to be done as Mum was returning to work. In the end this is what worked. Send Mum away for the night to avoid upset, get lots of coffee, get prepared for a long night and keep trying. Eventually they will take the bottle. Once they've done this once or twice, you've done it and they'll be fine.
Posted 5 months ago # -
We started introducing baby rice to ours at around 5 months, with the bottle being the main feed (sadly, breast feeding wasn't an option). From them on, she sat at the table with us when we ate. We would grate some cheese or similar for her and put in front of her which she would shovel in after a fashion. By watching us, i figured she would learn what to do. Certainly by the time she was a year old, she ate everything she could get her hands on.
On the other hand, at 2 and half, just getting to eat anyting is an acheivment....
Posted 5 months ago # -
I read this thread as "wearing a baby".
I'm disappointed.
Posted 5 months ago # -
She's only 6 months, you'll be worrying that she's not running at 1, not talking at 2 and cannot ride a bike at 3 and failing their gcse's at 5 if you carry on like that. They all do their own things at different speeds.
Natural weening takes place at different ages for different children, but generally they are well over 1 and usually over 2 or 3 or even more. The WHO recommends breastfeeding till at least 2.We did the baby led weening at that was really good and I'd recommend it. Carrying on breastfeeding helps with this, as will become clear if you read up on it.
Personally, I don't understand formula at all. It's processed food designed to make your life easier. Sleep is a luxury...get used to doing without for a while. Wait till her back teeth start coming through.
My other advice is to ignore all advice as everyone is an expert, has strong views based on their own experiences and everyone is different, so really they know nothing.
Posted 5 months ago # -
We had a similar experience with getting our (then) 6 months old to take a bottle. She is now 18 months and eating us out of house and home. Solutions for us were:
1. Mum expressed her own milk. (Got an electric pump.)
2. Made sure that bottle had naturally shaped teets (knook? SP)
3. DAD and DAD only gave baby bottle for the first few weeks. (Baby would demand boob if mummy tried to give her a bottle so mum left the room and I did it.)
4. After a while baby got used to bottle and started to make no distinction between boob and bottle.We also never lost sight of the fact that the World Health Organisation recommend that babies are breast fed for the first 24 months of life. Our little one still has booby (especially at night)and not even my mental mother who demanded that we stop breast feeding at 4 months could persuade us otherwise.
Stick to your guns. Have fun go mad.
Ohh and Traildog is right----- There is a reason why getting kids to eat food can difficult ---- they don't have any teeth! (You will definately see a marked improvement when their back teeth make an appearance.)
Posted 5 months ago # -
Simon, Traildog
That sounds about right.
Posted 5 months ago # -
OP where are you based? This would be a great next step product for you: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/free-primo-pappa-evo-highchair?replies=2#post-3242708
Posted 5 months ago #
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