How Do I Get My Baby to Eat/drink Something Other than Breast Milk

hi K.,
you may need to start out really slow introducing formula and cereal... i would mix tiny amounts with the breast milk so that little by little she is taking the formula and she won't notice the change. Rice cereal at this age may need to be super diluted and just adding a little to your milk and using a nipple with a larger hole may add enough to fill her little tummy. Good luck... i liked the suggestions given for upping milk supply too.

1 mom found this helpful

My son wasn't a fan of rice cereal either. I though he just wasn't ready for solid foods so I waited a couple of weeks and tried again with no luck. A friend suggested trying oatmeal and he loved it!

My daughter had to be introduced to formula slowly. We started out with 3/4 breast milk and 1/4 formula for a few feedings. We then went to half and half then 3/4 formula and eventually full breast milk.

This worked for us and yes it is recommended to breast feed your child for at least 6 months but at least you have stuck with it this long!

My lactation consultant also recommended I pump often. If you pump every 2-3 hours for 3 days your milk supply should go up and if you pump every 5-6 hrs it will again adjust to what your body thinks you are needing.
Hope this helps.

You've got to keep trying until she finally gives in. She can't be on breast milk forever

Don't know if this will help, all kids are different, but my daughter was the same way. You can try to breastfeed her on demand, this will increase your milk supply allowing you to pump more milk. Then when you introduce her to solids, your milk storage should be back up. At that point hopefully she will enjoy the baby food more so than breast milk.

I am not sure about other things to feed your baby, but you may try taking fenugreek supplements (you can find them at any health food store) and drinking tons of water. You have to take a lot of fenugreek, about 3 capsules three times a day, to get any benefit. You can get it in a tea, but that isn't strong enough to do any good. I tried this when I was losing my mild and it really increased production.

I went "dry" when my baby was 6 months old. Unfortunately he wasn't getting enough nutrients b/c I wasn't producing enough milk. My doctor had me start him on formula. He HATED the powder kind and refused to drink it. So I tried the ready made stuff- unfortunately it is much more expensive, but it was the only stuff he would drink. I like the organic simlac kind. Give it a try! Good Luck!

My second child hated cereal...I started with the rice cereal, without much luck, and moved quickly into the veggies. She loved carrots and sweet potatoes. I think every child is different and can't be expected to start things the same as their siblings...

Try mixing the breast milk with the cereal. She will smell the breast milk. I had this problem with my son, he was a eater and I didn't have the milk production he needed. I first would mix formula with breast milk then gradually moved up to breast milk in the morning, then formula at night then by the time he was 7 mos he was exclusively on formula and then on solids. Four and a half mos seems young for cereal, just try maybe to alternate with formula too and see if that fills her up. Just keep offering her formula when she is really hungry and she won't be so picky, but keep that smell of breast milk by doing half and half. Good luck

I had the same problem. my baby boy wouldn't eat rice cereal or even oatmeal that was suggested by my doctor, and he was wanting more than what my milk supply would give him. my sister in law had the same problem herself and what she did was just skipped rice cereal and went to babyfood. I tried that with my little guy and he LOVED baby food! he did really well with it and that helped fill him up in addition to my milk. so you may want to try that. :)