I'm looking for a little input...I have a wonderful eight and a half month old girl who is breastfeeding but also eating three solid meals (baby food and cereal) a day. I work full time and when she is at day care, she has two bottles of expressed milk a day plus one solid feeding. During the last two days, she has refused to drink her bottles but has eaten the food. When we get home, she gets right to the business of nursing (we don't give her bottles when at home). Yesterday, at day care, she only drank about two ounces but ate all of her other food. My first idea is that she is aware enough to hold out for the solid food and that she is "saving herself" for it...but I am also wondering if this could be a part of separation anxiety, or something else. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks~!
Thanks to all of you who responded...my daughter is still being a bit picky...there are days when she feeds herself the bottle, days when she refuses everything and days when she drinks and eats. Her doc chalks it up to teething and a little bit of an attitude. She does not seem any the worse for wear, although she continues to wear me and her dad down! She's trying the sippy cup now...I suppose only time will tell! Thanks again!
Try a sippy cup, she is definately old enough. We had the same problem but after a couple weeks of taking just enough from her bottle to have wet diapers, we reduced her solid intake and she now takes more from her bottle. They will get hungry enough.
Hi T.,
It may be that your little one is about to start teething. It is very common at this age. It can hurt a lot for them to suck. If you think about when we have dental work done, such as a tooth pooled, the dentist asks us not to suck from a straw because this causes pressure. What level are your nipples? If they area slow flow, it might be easier to get a slightly faster flow. The food is a lot less painful for them to eat. My daughter went through this off and on with her teeth.
It could be any number of things, but as long as she's eatting something you shouldn't worry. You may want to start encouraging her (or having her teachers encourage) to use a sippy for water so she stays hydrated enough. If she was taking a bottle before this may not help, but maybe she doesn't like the texture of the nipple- when my daughter started taking a bottle she wouldn't drink from anything other than latex because (at least I assume) it felt like skin. If you're worried about her getting full you may have the teachers give her solid snack, too- they usually give them baby friendly stuff like crackers.
For the time that I was working (when he was 10 1/2 weeks to 6 1/2 months), my child would not take more than 5 oz or so from a bottle from my husband for the 9 hours I was away--and he was nursing exclusively, then he would nurse most of the evening, every 1.5 to 2 hours till near midnight, then sleep till 6 am, nurse, and off we'd go again. The LCs assured me he would not starve himself and he was just showing his determined personality early. Good luck.
First of all, that's great that she is taking solids. And, really, bottles are just not the same as the real thing, so no surprise that she prefers nursing and food to the bottle, right? From 18 months to age 2 my baby was taking solids and nursing just once at night before sleep. During this time I used the phrase "all gone" when he finished his food, often enough I guess, that when I decided to stop nursing when he was two, I used the phrase "all gone", with a smile and a kiss, to let him know we were through. Amazingly he tried to nurse just once more after that and when I said "all gone" he got the message and never asked again! My advise is to keep positive. Know that your love is the most important nourishment of all and baby will feel it as well.
Babies are pretty smart. And they're not going to starve themselves. Fortunately, at that age, they and drink what they need.
I know many moms who've said their breastfed babies never took a bottle. some went straight to breastmilk in a sippy cup. it doesn't matter how she gets it, as long as she's getting it. and don't be discouraged about continuing to breastfeed her.
btw, you can add breastmilk to her cereal or solid foods too.
I have worked with some very smart babies and yours seems to be one of those. I would continue to have daycare offer the bottle, maybe in smaller 3-4 ounce amounts, so that you don't feel it is being wasted. You can also send a sippy sup or a straw-cup/straw-bear to see if she will accept the breastmilk from that. My guess is that she will continue to refuse breastmilk at daycare and wait to get it from "the source" I don't believe it is pychological (sep. anxiety), just intuitive on her part. At nine months I would send the cups, maybe an alternative diluted juice and another serving of food and then let her have the "liquid gold" in your arms at home. Good Luck! G.
T.,
It is amazing how at such a young age our children teach us to pay attention and learn from them. If she's healthy, let it be. The solids must be enough for her. She's still nursing when your together and that's what counts. Try not to worry as she'll pick up on your stress and it will become a problem. If mom's all right then the family is all right. Follow your intuition or "gut" feelings. You're doing fine. Good Luck!
Look in the white pages for La Lache League and ask them. Or maybe these days there is a La Lache League online. I was a stay at home mom, so my years of experience is not much help. Although, I can tell you that at 8 or 9 months she can be drinking from a cup ALSO. Do you give her a cup at home? I would start with some of the expressed milk. Maybe you can get her drink from a cup at daycare and nurse at home.
Hello,
I'm a mother to two very stuborn girls...my advice is to put your expressed milk into a sippy cup while she is at daycare and see if she'll take it that way. Who knows, she just may be ready to move onto the cup rather than taking the bottle when she is not with you. Good Luck!!
T.,
Have you tried giving her the expressed milk in a cup? I know my oldest flat out refused to drink anything from a bottle. She nursed to 15 months, but did not like expressed millk. She would sometimes take water from a bottle, but if she couldn't nurse, she wanted a cup. She could connect the milk with the comfort of you and not want it any other way than nursing. Also, do they warm the expressed milk? It's pretty warm when she nurses, so that could be part of it too. My second daughter stopped nursing at 8 months except before dawn. If it was daylight, she refused. At nine months she flat out refused to nurse, she said, "Uh uh, baba!" And that was the end of it for her. I hope this helps a little. :)
Hi T.,
Do not fret. My daughter did the exact same thing. She finally started taking the bottle after a few weeks. However, she was never quite satisfied with the bottle. The silver lining in all of this was that it was very easy to wean her off the bottle after she turned about 15 months old. She is now a healthy, beautiful 16 year old. Just offer the bottle more and less of the breast. Otherwise, you may find your daughter wanting breastmilk with dinner. (LOL)
Since she was taking the bottle just fine and now isn't, you might have a similar situation that I experienced. For two weeks my son suddenly stopped taking the bottle (expressed milk) at the same age as your daughter. It made me very anxious and then I went to my mother-in-laws. She tried to give him a bottle and pronounced the nipple was too small. I had completely forgotten that I needed to move to the next size of nipple on the bottle. Problem solved.
Be glad! You have successfully avoided the problems of weaning! Feed her solid food and give her a sippy cup. Maybe she is learning from the bigger kids at daycare. It's only the first couple of months that breastfeeding is so drastically important. Let it happen.
