Breastfed Baby Won't Drink Formula.

I agree with adding formula slowly - mixing it with pumped breastmilk. My son was on formula in the NICU (took my milk 3wks to come in), but I couldn't get him to take formula once he was on breastmilk. So, I started combining them in bottles. He never did like the pre-made formula, but takes the powder just fine. Good luck!

Well, sweetie, I feel for you, but I can't really say that I blame your daughter! Have you ever tasted formula? It tastes like vomit, especially when you compare it to how sweet breastmilk is.

What have you done to try & increase your supply? It's possible that your daughter is just going through a growth spurt & that's why she's eating more right now. Also, it's VERY common for caregivers to overfeed breastfed babies. Every time they cry they offer them a bottle & b/c babies love to suck, they'll drink it down, even if they're not hungry.

There are LOTS of things that you can do to increase your supply and your pumping output.
Here are a few examples:

TAKE FENUGREEK: 3 pills, 3x/day. When your pee & sweat start to smell like maple syrup, you're taking enough

EAT OATMEAL: oatmeal or granola (with whole oats in it)

PUMP WHILE YOU'RE NURSING: You can get a Made for Mom's pumping band to help make it less akward OR you can get a really cheap, snug fitting sports bra & cut a slit on each side that's just barely big enough to put your pump flange through. This will hold the pump for you while you nurse & will take advantage of the letdown that you get from baby.

PUMP BEFORE YOU NURSE: Your baby is always more effective than a pump & will be able to remove any milk that your pump didn't

NURSE RIGHT AS YOU DROP HER OFF & PICK HER UP FROM CHILDCARE: Make sure that your provider knows that she JUST ate & will, therefor, not be hungry for atleast another 2 hours & that you'll be picking her up at "X" time & to not feed her 2 hours (or a little more, depending on her feeding habits) before you pick her up.

Have you ever looked on www.KellyMom.com for info? It is the BEST site on the web for breastfeeding! Here are some quick links:
http://www.picosearch.com/cgi-bin/ts.pl
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bf-links-pumps.html
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/pumping_decrease.html

Here's a very handy "calculator" too that might help to better determine exactly how much milk you'll need to pump for her while you're gone:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

Hang in there! You CAN DO THIS!!!!!!
Good for you, by the way! I know that this takes a lot of effort, but it's, as you know, such a priceless gift. As I'm sure you know from your older child, this phase passes SO quickly! I mean, another 2 mos or so & she'll be on solids!
Hang in there!

Hi L.,

Congrats on your new baby! The best way to get her to take something other than breastmilk in her bottle is to mix it. You said that you tried 1/2 formula 1/2 breastmilk - but I would recommend trying more bm and less formula. Start with a 5:1 mixture and then gradually increase the amount of formula vs breastmilk.

I am also attaching an article on how to increase your milk supply. This may help you so that you don't need to supplement. Let me know if you have any questions after reading this article: http://www.pumpingtips.com

J.

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First of all, good for you for breastfeeding while working. It can be challenging! With my kids, the only formula they would take was Good Start. Also, at first if she won't take the powdered stuff, try using the liquid. It's more expensive, but my kids seemed to take to it more easily at first than the powder. Once you've got your daughter taking a bottle, you can hopefully switch over to the powder.
As for your own milk supply, remember to drink lots and lots of water. You can also try herbal teas like Fenugreek to increase breastmilk supply. There was a thread about this last week if you want to look it up. Best of luck to you!

I can't say that I have breastfed and then had to supplement, however, the way I understand it...the Nestle Good Start is alot easier for them to digest. They have bowel movements similar to breastfed babies. My son had trouble with all other formulas we tried till we switched to the soy Nestle Good Start. I don't know about the flavor difference between breastmilk and Good Start, but my cousin who does breastfeed says her son took real well to the Good Start as a supplement. I don't know if this will help, but I hope it does.

Is she refusing the bottle in general or the actual formula?

I third La Leche. It is a great resource.

I don't know how difficult it will be for you to get, but when I was born in 1968, my Gram (Mom worked--and couldn't nurse) resorted to goat's milk. I couldn't keep any of the commercial formulas down.

Hi L., I have two suggestions for you before you go out and spend more money on a different formula. First, have your husband or someone else give her the bottles when you are not any where in sight or hearing. Second, if you are not using them try the playtex bottles they are shapped and sized more like you are and you can keep her air intake down so she doesn't burp as much.
I bottled fed my oldest two and nursed my youngest and frankly nursing babies nurse ALOT more than bottle fed babies do! And I have tasted every formula my girls have been on (Similac, Isomil Soy, Enfamil, and Good Start) and they all tasted the same (gross) to me. You can try mixing one or two oz of formula w/breast milk to wean her onto the formula, just adding more formula to less breast milk every couple of days until you get her to 100% formula (this works great when you start to intoduce whole milk later on too!). Best wishes!

I was lucky that my son would switch back and forth from breastmilk to formula without any trouble (the formula smelled terrible to me, but he ate it right up!), but my friend had the same problem with her baby. Formula is a lot less sweet than bm, and that may be the issue. I would try doing no more than 1 oz of formula in the breastmilk for a week. If she'll take that, go to 2 oz of formula for a week, and slowly wean her that way. The other option is to add a little sugar to the formula and see if she'll take that. We mostly used the Similac organic, but I think the Good Start IS easier for them to digest... Some kids will be more likely to take formula from dad, but I know kids who wouldn't take it at all, so you are just going to have to try some different things and see what works. You can ask your dr. if they have samples of formula, or borrow a little bit from friends and see if she likes one better than the other.

My breastfed babies did best on Good Start- no DHA/ARA. This stuff really throws off the smell and flavor. Another thing to know is that the feeding slows down after the 3-4 month growth spurt, and solids may be started soon. One of mine would not take a bottle at all for a while, so some rice cereal got us through that time.

L.,
I would definitely add a bit of formula very gradually--just an oz. or so in the bottle to the breast milk at first.
It may be best for someone other than you to give the formula, as she associates you with breast milk.
Also, breast feeding is great...but PLEASE don't feel like formula is a "lesser" option. My son was exclusively formula fed and I have a bright, happy, healthy 5 year old. Frankly, I get so sick of people who are SO on the breat feeding wagon that they look down their noses at formula-feeding moms.
Your question, if I read it correctly, was how to help her accept formula, not how to AVOID formula. End of rant.
Good luck you your little girl..she'll get it. Hang in there.

Hi L.,

I am also a working mom and breastfed exclusively for the first 7.5 months before having to use formula due to my daughter's milk-soy intolerance (No matter what I cut out of my diet she still had symptoms until I started supplementing with a specialized formula). Anyway, what I found helped was breastfeeding exclusively during wekends, evenings, and mornings before work to keep my supply back up, and pumping an extra time when I could to leave an oversupply at home during the work week. I also tried to make sure to set scheduled times for pumping at work (not always easy to do), but that also helped a great deal and made pumping faster. Also, not sure what pump you are using but a professional grade pump can help keep up your supply. When we HAD to add formula we started very slowly, only mixing in one ounce of formula per bottle and slowly increasing over the course of approximately 3 weeks. My daughter did eventually accept a full bottle of fornmula, but it took a while. We are still breastfeeding nights and mornings (she's 16 months) and thankfully she has outgrown the soy part of the intolerance...working on the dairy now. Good luck to you.

I had this problem with my first....and she finally took to Nestle Good Start and switched back and forth no problem. My son was a different story though, refused the bottle completely no matter what was offered in it. My third baby is 8 mos and I have been adding a little formula to her cereal to get her used to the taste in hopes that she will take a full formula bottle every now and then. I would keep offering, and have someone else do the feeding until your baby is doing okay with it. Good luck!

My babies wouldn't take bottles, breastmilk or otherwise, from me. But they would from Dad, and they definately did from the babysitter. Unfortunately, when you try to feed your daughter a bottle, she is looking at you and thinking, "hhmmmmm, I'd rather a breast!" :-)

I used similac and similac soy with one child, and usually the powdered stuff, because I could bring it and add it to a bottle of water, and instant drink. It just seemed easier, and I think it was also cheaper at the time than buying the liquid pre-mixed variety.

I had the same problem with my daughter. She was exclusively fed breastmilk because she would refuse a bottle completely. But at 9 months I had to wean for medical reasons. She wouldn't take formula! I was freaking out! My husband suggested sweetening the formula up with some juice. It totally did the trick! I eventually found Gerber's Splashers in the baby section of the grocery store. Fruit flavored water for babies. I started using that to make the formula and eventually got it down to about 1 oz in a 4 oz cup/bottle. I hope this helps you or you find another solution soon! I know how frustrating it is when your child won't eat!

I had a similar situation. I breastfed until he was 8 months, and then I had to go back to work (no time to pump during the school day- can't just take a 15 minute break when I'm teaching. :) ha! Can you imagine? uh, wait a second, class. I'll be right back!).

Anyway, I started with enfamil because I had a lot of free samples of it. He drank that for about 3 days as I slowly weaned him. I replaced 1 feeding every few days so that I wouldn't be engorged and so that he could adjust easier. After the few days on enfamil, he began to refuse it. I should mention that it was the premixed kind too. It seems thicker than the similac that we now use. I switched to the similac, and he's been doing well ever since!

Now he's going to start transitioning to cow's milk!

Hope this helps!
J.

Hi L.,

Contact your local La Leche League Representative in your
area.

www.llli.org

Hope this helps. D.

Try Good Start. It has less gas and is less expensive, and isn't as thick and syrupy.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HarrisburgPAChat
chat and events within 2 hour radius

The other responder had a great idea, re contacting La Leche League. If you have a Nursing Mother Advisory Council in your area (you can google it, or respond with the area you're in and I can check it for you), that's also a good source. Good luck!