how to introduce bootle to breastfeeding baby?

[Alina]

my baby is 4.5 month old.he refuse to drink milk from bottle.my breast milk is not enough for him,he is hungry so woundering how to make him to drink formula

 

[Linda R]

Start feeding him baby foods; cereal, fruits and veggies and then nurse. Stay away from formula and bottles - he does NOT need them.

 

[Joshua H]

put ur breast milk in a bottle. if he taste it he'll like it. then there formulas that taste close to breast milk so u gotta do that but they wont be use to sucking out of the bottle so u gotta let some milk into his mouth so hed keep trying cause he thinks hes getting it.


hes to young, his stomach wont be ready to handle fruits veggies and cereal yet.

 

[Amily C]

My daughter was exlusively breast fed for 3 and half months and then I had to get back to work. She refused the bottle at first. I tried a lot of different bottles. But finally Timmee Toppee from babies r us worked fine. It has a wide mouth nipple which is very close to breast. Initally he may refuse but if you start with giving breast milk first in the bottle then it would be a little easier because he is familiar with the taste. And let the father or someone else give him bottle instead of you. Good luck.

 

[Pippin]

First off -- why do you believe that your milk is not enough for him? Babies rarely choose to starve themselves, so if he's very hungry, he WILL be willing to take the bottle.

But if your supply is low, the better solution would to try to increase it. How often is baby nursing? A typical 4 month old is still nursing every 2- 2 1/2 hours during the day, usually with 1-2 longer stretches at night. (8-10 feeds in 24 hours.) So if he's nursing less than that, try offering the breast more often. If he doesn't want it, trust that he's getting enough. If he DOES nurse more, he'll get more milk and the more frequent stimulation will increase your supply.

As for the bottle ... it's generally recommended that if you expect to want to introduce a bottle at some point, 6-8 weeks is the best range for it. Much earlier and baby is likely to get nipple confusion. Much later and they usually (as you've found), refuse it.
If you still feel you must start a bottle, try having someone else offer it. Babies often refuse a bottle from mama (they know the breast is available), but will take it from daddy or a caregiver. (You need to be completely out of the room.) You may also need to try different nipples, different formulas, different positions while holding him, etc.

If he flat out refuses it, you could wait a couple of months and try a cup. Or, while he's still pretty young for solids, if he's able to sit up and eat from a spoon, you could try a bit of solid food once a day and see if that makes a difference for him.

 

[Michelle C]

sounds like he needs some food as well. can you express some milk into a bowl and give him some rice cereal? plus get him to feed from you as much as possible. the constant sucking will produce more breast milk in you. the more often you do this the better. just a teaspoon of rice cereal to start with and very runny. but do persist with letting him suckle as often as possible to stimulate the milk he needs, don't give up