[Joyce]

I know a question similar to this has been posted before......

Until my baby was 7 months old, he took the breast and bottle. When I started him on solids, he began to refuse the bottle and would hold out until his next solids, so I ended up b/feeding him exclusively. Now that he's cut down to 2 feeds a day, I feel my milk supply is also dwindling as a result. I know that with older babies, you can skip the bottle and go straight onto cup but he's refusing that too! Any ideas or tips on weaning an older breast fed baby onto bottle/cup? I've heard that when weaning onto bottle, you should present bottle only, but do I give solids at the usual time if he is adamant about refusing the bottle? I know I got a couple of rough days ahead.......

[barbwong_130]

I’m sorry I don’t really have any ideas about how to encourage an older baby to take a cup or bottle, except letting them play with it and not worrying about how much he drinks.

Generally it is advised to breastfeed your baby before giving solids until around a year old. That is making the solid a supplement for the breast milk rather than the breast milk a supplement for the solids. This is for two reasons. The first is that the breast milk is the better food – no matter what the solid is. The second reason is you are less likely to have supply problems if solids are introduced in this way.

Having said that some babies just really enjoy solids a lot. If this is your baby don’t worry too much. Just give your baby as much milk as he will take – even if this means only two feeds a day.

“when weaning onto bottle, you should present bottle only” is very bad advice. As your baby takes less and less breast milk the number of immuglobulins and immune factors increases. Thus as long as your baby is breastfeeding your baby is receiving the benefits of being a breastfed baby even if this is just once a day or once every few days. Don’t be in a hurry to give this great health gift away.

Best wishes,
Barb

[Joyce]

Thanks for your advice.

Did your children go from breast to cup?

My baby is beginning to wake up at night looking for a feed whereas he slept through previously. Do you think low supply might be a reason?

[barbwong_130]

Dear Joyce,

My children went from breast to straw and then to sippy cup. I found that they were actually able to use a straw very early – much earlier than I excepted. But I have a friend whose babies when straight from breast to a normal cup. She would hold the cup to their lips until they were older and able to manage by themselves. As with most things in bringing children up – if it works you’re doing it right – and it doesn’t matter how others are doing it.

Babies wake up at night for lots of reasons – at seven months it is much more likely to be teething, too exciting a day, too boring a day, too cold or too hot than not enough milk. But having said that the easiest way to get a baby back to sleep is usually by feeding him – so why not?

It is estimated that for babies that are feed naturally – i.e. not scheduled or made to go without milk during the night – will take about 35% of their milk intake at night. This is one third of their food at night. This is normal and healthy and definitely not something to worry about.

The question to ask yourself is not is the baby right or wrong to wake up at night but are you managing to cope with the baby’s needs. If you can cope with the baby waking up then you have no problem.

If you can’t cope with the night waking then look at your lifestyle and see where improvements can be made. Would you cope better if you had an afternoon nap with your baby? Would you cope better if your baby was nearer you at night and so nighttime feeding wasn’t as disruptive?

Best wishes,
Barb