How Can I Get My 10 Month Old Breastfed Son to Start Taking Formula?

As long as your son "smells" you nearby- he is going to want to nurse! Have someone else(who can handle a little crying) give him the bottle and you must get out of the area! He will not starve-this was the only way to get my son to wean off- once he took to the bottle then you can go back to just once or twice a day

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I don't think it is unusual for your son to still be breastfeeding that much, although I know it is a drag sometimes! I would suggest sticking it out until march 6th - you don't have that long to go! - and then you can just switch him to whole milk.

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Hey i never breast fed but i do babysit and the girl i babysit for what we did was mixed half breast milk and half formula we used the one for 9-24 months and then just keep putting less breast milk

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First start with one bottle a day and have Dad give it to him. (Stay out of sight and hearing the first few times!) When I weaned my youngest my hubby gave her a bottle every day at around 6pm after about a week or two he started giving her two bottles, one at 6pm and the other at 10pm. After another week or so he added a third first thing in the morning. Then after a week or so I started giving her 6pm bottle & it worked. It really has to be a team effort espically if he likes to nurse and is on you all the time! Don't be surpirsed if he will not accept a bottle from you for a while! Until he is used to and in the habbit of getting a bottle from other people you shouldn't even try or be in the room. It should also help if you feed him baby food first when he is hungry instead of nursing him. It could be that he is not hungry so much as using you like a binky for comfort or soothing times. Good luck & best wishes!!

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After my son was 1 yr we switched him from formula to regular milk. He wouldn't take it in a regular sippy cup, what helped him was giving it to him in a sippy cup that has a soft silicon spout.
I would also say try different brands and different types of mixtures (powder, condensed, ready to feed). Mixing your breastmilk in with formula say 1/2 and 1/2 then slowly increase the amount of formula based milk in the mixture once you see he is taking it ok.
Just a few ideas, every child is different so just keep trying different ideas and be patient until you find what works for your son.

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Congratulations on nursing for 10 months! You probably know that the vast majority of moms don't make it this long, so GOOD JOB!

I'd like to interject a bit of a reality check here though...I nursed all 4 of my kids, and all of them were nursing (or getting a pumped bottle/sippy cup--I worked full time) about 7-8 times a day at 10 months old...so your son really isn't "nursing every chance he gets." He's really right within the realm of normal. I'd encourage you to try and relax and enjoy the down-time, and try to remember that the time that he will be willing to snuggle up with you so much is very short-lived, they grow fast!

I nursed my kids for 14.5 months on the low end to 27 months on the high end...so just to also encourage you, you don't have to wean at 12 months. When I was pregnant with my first daughter I was so sure I would nurse at least 12 months (because that is what the "rules" say to do, and I'm a very rule driven kind of personality--LOL). But not a day more! Because I thought it was just WIERD to nurse longer. I was very shocked to realize that it really wasn't. Trust me, if you'd meet me even now, you'd never peg me as someone to have nursed a toddler.

My kids generally cut back to 2-3 nursing sessions a day by shortly after their first birthday, with no effort from me. They were just too busy exploring the world to be bothered to nurse. I had started putting whole milk in their sippy cups at around 10.5 to 11 months old if I didn't have enough pumped milk (all of my kids were off of bottles by their first birthday).

When I did start to make an effort to wean any of them (only 2--the other two self weaned) I started with feedings they were "less attached" to--generally afternoon, then first thing in the morning. Bedtime is the last to go--with my 4th child the bedtime nursing went on for probably 6 months after dropping all of the others.

I would encourage you to replace nursing with sippy cups rather than bottles--so that you aren't looking for help with weaning off of the bottles in a year. I found that weaning my kids off of bottles prior to 12 months old was pretty easy, but I hear lots of moms having great difficulty with toddlers.

Good luck!

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Try pumping your breast milk and giving it to him in a bottle. Then GRADUALLY add in formula, a bit more everday until you are giving all formula.
You could also do this with goat milk, cow milk, or soy milk. You could also try a vitamin drink like Reliv Kid's Now Vanilla, my two little ones LOVE it and I started my youngest son on it when he was 11 months. (I would have started earlier, but this is when I found out about it.) He loved it and helped me to wean him, as well.

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The only formula my breastfed children would even consider drinking was Carnation and Carnation Follow-Up (it might be called something different now). I know I transitioned my daughter to whole milk at 10-11 months without problems because she really didn't like formula. I was in grad school and wasn't always there to nurse her when necessary and she HATED bottles - it didn't matter what was in them - so we did what we could until I could switch her over.

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Why do you want to stop nursing? Your baby is still small. If you start gradually introducing baby foods like cereal and vegetables, he will gradually want to nurse less. I nursed my babies until the next one came along which naturally happened every two years or so. I've heard that steady nursing that keeps you from getting pregnant, and in my case I believe it! (because I did not have a period in between babies).
Now is the time to give your son the emotionally good start that many parents later on wish they had given their teenagers. Believe me, nursing is way easier than what he'll put you through as a teenager.
Good luck,
N

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Hi Joshylyn,

The best way to start weaning is gradually. Anything cold-turkey or a lot at once will just scare your baby and make him want to nurse more. I would recommend waiting a little longer - until 11 months or so and then giving him whole milk instead of formula - it may be an easier transistion and it will certainly be easier on your budget. Here is a site where you can find lots of information: www.kellymom.com - just do a search for "weaning".

By the way - it is completely normal for your son to still be nursing 5-6 times per day at this age. My son was probably nursing 8-10 times per day at 12 months.

Good luck and congrats for doing such a great job nursing your baby!

J.
J.

A Mother's Boutique
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Have you thought of pumping? Using your breastmilk in a sippy cup? I would also try nursing less on demand and offering him other things since he is almost 1. At a year you can start offering him regular milk so why use formula now? Its very expensive to start with and frankly breast milk is just better. You might as well finish out the year.

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I breastfed both of my daughters for over a year. By about one year, they only nursed at nap and bedtime, and in the morning. Maybe one or two other times depending on the circumstances (sick, overtired, etc.). With my second one I considered switching to formula around 9-10 months as well. But consider this...at 12 months you'll be switching/introducing whole or soy milk. Do you you really want to go through the transition to formula- and then milk? Try holding out or putting breast milk in a sippy cup. I also found with both kids that going straight to the sippy cup worked better than trying to switch to bottles. Avoiding unnecesary transitions makes more sense to me. We used the Nuby sippy cup with the soft spout. Once again, both kids loved it and I didn't have any huge problems. If he doesn't take the cup, substitute finger foods or jarred food. Just replace the breastfeeding sessions with food to get him to nurse less. Sometimes it will be harder to distract him from the breast, but in a few days he'll get used to it. Just stick to it. It's only a few more weeks!!! It goes by so fast... you'll miss it when it's over. And you're doing the best thing ever for your baby! (BIG PAT ON THE BACK FOR YOU!!) You've come this far, why stop now?
P.S. the toddler formula...if your baby drinks milk and eats food he shouldn't need it. look at the ingredients and then decide if he really needs all those things. if he's healthy and growing, i would reconsider. i'm not a health freak or anything...just my opinion.

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At 10 months my daughter was still nursing that much. I just slowly started to cut out some feedings. I wouldn't give formula now and then start milk soon. I would just drop the feedings.

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stop trying to get him to TAKE the formula...babies instinctively know what they need..babies DO NOT need any man-made liquids to thrive.especially if its not organic.google and find out whats in a reg can of formula and i'll bet you agree.you would be better off feeding him raw organic milk than the crap they try to pull off as "baby formula".theres well lets see pesticides,hormones,antibiotics and a whole slew of nasties just to name a few.this is not just my opinion.do your homework and see for yourself if this is true or not.Let me know:)
blessings,J.

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Maybe you could try pumping,Instead of letting him nurse then mix half breast milk half formula and slowly take away the breast milk from there. Good Luck.

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5-6 times is pretty normal for his age; think about waiting 2 months and going right to cow's milk

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I agree with Judy... I would use whole milk not formula no need to buy it at this age. I weaned mine off of it this month and now he is on whole milk only at 11 1/2 months and the Dr said he is just fine and dandy!
By the way, everyone has different opinions on here and don't get freaked out about the stuff that 'is in' baby formula. If it wasn't safe for our babies it would not get through the FDA and there would be so many links with illness and issues in babies on formula. Kudos to you for breastfeeding this long most women (including myself) could not handle it.
Good luck!

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Hi, I am a mom to two children, both of which I breastfed! My son I nursed for the entire first year and never gave him a bottle--He was very big and also nursed 5 times per day at 10 mos. of age. And that's fine!!! But, as I gradually gave him more table food, he nursed less--try offering the breast after meals instead of before--this way he will learn to get more nutrition from his food and less from mommy--Also, I always offered water in a sippy cup with each meal to get him use to it. At 12 mos. he was down to 4 breastfeedings per day...I then started cutting out(one feeding per week)starting with mid-day, then mid-morning then morning and then evening and offering cow's milk (or you could offer the next step milk) in a sippy cup. He was content with that, stopped nursing and never looked back!! Since he's already ten months, you could try this...OR...

My daughter however, was very different!! I weaned her at 6 months and it took me an entire month to even be able to touch a bottle nipple to her mouth!! She would go hours on strike refusing to eat while i was at work!! The other option is to eliminate one breastfeeding--(mid day is usually easiest) and have someone else offer the cup of formula with his lunch. If he refuses it, don't worry he will nurse and make up for it later (babies know how much milk they need) and eventually he will get use to it and take it. Although, it is very likely he will be one by then!! In which case he will most likely be more ready to wean. Also, try different sippy cups. The nuby sippy's are most like bottles and work well for young babies.

For the future! I was told by my pediatrician that if you want your future babies to take a bottle, you need to introduce it early ---and they will always remember how to drink from a bottle--older babies refuse to learn! Can you blame them--I wouldn't want to trade mommy for a plastic bottle either!! Good luck!

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You should ask your DR if it would be ok for your son to switch to whole milk. I thought my daughter may have been weaning when she was 10 months and her peditrician said it would be fine to switch her to whole milk 2 months early. I never did though because she didn't stop nursing. I just thought it would have been easier that way rather then switch to formula and then 2 months later go to milk so I was glad her doctor suggested it before I brought it up. Anyway I hope you get something worked out!

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