Getting 9 Month Old to Take Formula from a Bottle/sippy

one thing that i know helped with my son was that any drink i gave him was not in a bottle but in a sippy. my son took his sippy at 7 months. any water or juice baby gets should be in the sippy.

you can try giving her breastmilk in a sippy but im going to guess that shes going to expect the breast with that kind of milk.

it probably wont work for you to be giving her the bottle. leave the room (or even the house)so baby cant really smell you or tell you are there, and have daddy give bottle. he should probably remove his shirt too to make it more closeness for her.
usually babies might be wierd a few days when starting a day care or anything like that... she might not eat at all or very much during that adjustment time. dont worry she will get back on it.

give her time, and relax. the more worked up you are the more stressed she will be too.

i want to congratulate you for breastfeeding and being so in tune to your babys needs!

www.llli.org is the le leche league. find a group near you and go to some of their meetings. they have LOTS of information, as well as a group of moms who could very well have been through the same thing as you are! its great to have that kind of support, and i really recommend them! :D

good luck

I've actually heard of mothers who have decided to flip their baby's schedule--babies that age obviously go all night without nursing; yours could go all day and then nurse at night. But...that takes a fair amount of dedication...or insanity! Will your baby take a cup? Depending on what your doc says, maybe she could take breastmilk from a cup for the next few months, esp if she's eating well. My doc actually approved an ounce or two of cow's milk at 9 months for our first (he was an excellent eater, eating most of our foods at mealtime, and nursing well) and that eased up my need to nurse/pump so much while he was at daycare for those last few months. Again, ask the doc, but maybe nursing in the morning and nursing intensely in the evening, esp if she has a late bedtime, might be enough?

I would purchase an Adiri Natural Nurser bottle...I have a link below. They are SUPER similar to the breast and make transitions to the bottle less traumatic for little ones.

I would start trying to give her 100% breast milk from the bottle and then slowing introduce formula to the breast milk until you have a ratio that works for you and your work/pumping situation.

And soon enough she'll be transitioned and happy and you'll be looking back at the situation! Best of luck!

http://uggamugga.blogspot.com/2008/03/adiri-natural-nurse...

It's ok if a nine month old doesn't have milk during the day. she can eat food. If she won't take milk from a bottle, then she can wait until you get home to have milk.

Have you contacted your local La Leche League? They are very well versed in all breastfeeding issues. Just google them, and choosed your local leader, and give them a call.

Good luck

Have you tried a small open cup? A paper bathroom cup might work well to start.

My daughter is the same age and has had the same problem. I have found that using an open cup works well. I found some pretty cheap at Target, just small plastic ones. While I am away she eats whatever of her 3 meals that I am away for and drinks milk from the open cup, and nurses before I leave in the morning and then in the evening and bedtime. If I am going to be away from her more than 4 hours I pump. Best of luck.

We had a similar situation with our middle child. He refused to eat unless it was from me. I went back to work when he was 6 weeks old for like two weeks. He refused to eat. My husband was home with him, and would get frustrated, drive him over to my work so I could nurse, and then back over again late in the day again for another nursing. We finally decided for me to be at home with him. Then when he was 7 months old, we found out we were having another baby. My doctor told me I needed to quit nursing, and after a couple days things went pretty smooth with him on the bottle. There is no magical solution to get your kids to eat what you want them to, unfortunatly. But when they are hungry, they will eat. You might be surprised that when there is not the option of the breast milk, she will transition over for you guys to the bottle. Good Luck!

Hi I certainily empathize with you. I had this same problem my daughter did not like breastmilk from the bottle, I never tried her with formula because it was to expensive and I really wanted her to get the benefits of breastmilk. When she was younger I did give her formula for a week because she was not nursing and she got sick. Sometimes kids know what's best for them. I would encourage you to continue breastfeeding your daughter for as long as you can, it is really the best thing. Here are some suggestion from my own experience with my daughter. If you want to maintain breastfeeding when you're are at home, you will need to pump when you are away from your daughter or your milk supply will fall. You'd need to pump once for every 3 hours but no later than 4 hours (depending upon how productiive/engorged your breast are) that you are away from her. That means if you work 8 hours you'd need to pump once in the morning and once in the afternoon. if you nurse her just before you go to work at 8AM, you can pump at mid morning around 11AM and then again at 3PM, then nurse her as soon as you get home at around 5-6PM(it's really a great way to help you unwind and reconnect with your baby), be sure to tell your sitter not to feed her with-in an hour of you picking her up. Since your daughter is nine monthes old continue to offer her the pumped milk in her sippy cup 2 OZ at a time, do you (so you don't waste it if she refuses it), keep offering it to her sometimes it would take up to 15 or more times before babies get used to it. Sometimes it is not the taste they don't like it is the temperature, my daughter used to be more open to the sippy cup of milk if I offered it at fridge temperature. she did not like it warmed up,nor at room temp. I can usually get her to drink at least 2 OZ of Breast milk if it was nice and cold. So try offering her the milk at different temperature and see which she likes best.(By the way be sure not to warm breast milk up on the stove or in the microwave, just place your sippy cup in a bowl of warm tap water for a few minutes if you need to warm up or defrost breast milk, or you can defrost it in cool tap water and offer it to her cold to see if she likes it cold like my daughter. Also Since your daughter can have solid foods at 9 Monthes mix 2 to 4Oz ot Breastmilk with baby cereal and have your sitter offer it to her with other fruit/vegetable purees for lunch and/or snacks. You can also mix breast milk in vegetable purees like green beans, sweet potatoes, corn etc. my daughter loved breast milk in most of her purees. My daughter took her milk mixed with solid foods (about 8 OZ everyday), if yours still refuses to drink B-Milk from the sippy cup, add it to her solid foods. Along with an assortment of purees & Cereal with breast milk, and diluted juices/water (especially during summer monthes, but no more than 4-6 OZ of juice a day) your daughter will do okay until you get back from work. Then you can nurse her as soon as you get home, and at bedtime, and if she wakes up at night. If you add that up you can successfully continue nursing your daughter up to 3 to 4 times a day, while supplementing with solids, pumped milk, and baby cereal. At this age doctors usually recommend nursing your child for about 6-8 times a day in addition to solids, so if you do 4 feedings a day (mornings and evenings) you are still pretty much meeting your babies needs. My daughter still nurses and she is 20 Monthes old and I still work. She got used to nursing in the evenings and morning only, she nursed now about 3- 4 times a day, even on weekends. I stopped pumping milk when she turned 12 monthes because at that time she was able to supplement with regular whole milk, I do still have a good milk supply but she get most of her calories from regular food. So in conclusion, try not to get your daughter on formular it is way too expensive, and it really isn't that good for her, certainly not as good as your breast milk. Get support,and be informed, there are many women out there who are successfully breastfeeding and working fulltime. Contact Le Leche League International LLLI.org for more information on how to successfully breastfeed while working outside the home.I wish you best of luck.