How to Wean My 5 Month Old Son?

Try feeding him pumped milk from a medicine dropper for several meals. As my lactation consultant said "he will want to suck so badly he will take anything". Introduce the bottle after several of these dropper feedings and see how he does. I would get him on the bottle first then try to switch to formula. Good luck!

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Hi J.,
My son started daycare when he was 4 months old and we were in the same situation. I was breastfeeding but could not get him to take a bottle from me or my husband (with pumped milk or formula). We tried and tried, and I was getting so stressed out with daycare looming on the horizon. I tried different bottles and different nipples. I tried leaving the house so my husband would offer a bottle without me being around. We tried waiting until he was pretty hungry, but that usually just pissed him off and that didn't help. I eventually decided that I would just keep offering a bottle to him, when he was in a good mood. Usually he would chew on the nipple more than anything. Sometimes he might suck a little. I figured I woud at least expose him to a bottle and then when he was offered it at daycare it wouldn't be totally foreign.

Going to daycare was the trick. I think him being with other women who had done this before and were confident really helped. They would offer him the bottle, never letting him get upset. They just kept trying and trying. If he became real upset they would stop and walk around, calm him down, and then they would try again. It took them about an hour and a half. I guess he was hungry enough and they were persistent enough that he took it. And we've never looked back since. It still took a while for him to take a bottle from me thought(a month or so). It did turn out that he wouldn't take breast-milk from the bottle. They found he would get really upset if you offered him a bottle with breast-milk, but would be just fine if it was formula. I think it just had to be totally different for him.

We ended up using playtex drop-ins with natural latch, slow flow, latex nipples. On a side note, at that age, he still slept while being swaddled, and the daycare ladies actually decided to swaddle him up when they first fed him. I guess it helped him feel cozy while eating.

I hope this helps. All I can say is that he'll be ok and he will figure it out. It might take a little time, but the ladies at daycare have usually done this before, and are usually confident and persistent enough. Sometimes being in a different environment and not having you around can help.

Good luck!

K.

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Try several types of bottles with nipples to see which one he likes. I remember my little brother wouldn't take the regular bottles and my mom bought the playtex naturals (mind you this was back in the late 80s) with the collapsable nipple. It takes trial and error to figure out which ones he will take. If you've been exclusively feeding him with just the breast, then that's what he's accustomed to and he's confused as to why he's being given a bottle with different tasting milk in it (formula). There is a website that sells baby products; they have specailly designed bottles that are exactly like a breast; they are pricey, but I have a friend who used them and she swears they work. The website is Onestepahead.com. I hope this helps and good luck to you!

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My daughter was the same way at 9 months when I was about to return to work and needed to wean her. It was the hardest thing I've been through. My other 3 children had weaned just fine, but she had made her mind up that she wasn't going to take the bottle or cup with formula. When it was time to go back to work-she still wasn't weaned but I had no choice. I sent her to daycare everyday with her bottles of formula. For almost 5 full days she basically refused the bottle at daycare or home. It was horrible. She cried a lot at daycare and I even considered quitting my job because I thought she'd never be weaned. I had to continue nursing her in the evening and night. She wanted to nurse from the time I got her until bedtime and woke up several times at night to nurse. I took her to the doctor because I was so afraid she'd get dehydrated or loose weight. Her pediatrician told me it would be better to wean her completely instead of nursing her in the evenings because she was purposely waiting all day to eat since she knew I'd nurse her all evening and night. She assured me that my daughter would be fine. She said she would eat when she was hungry enough and to keep offering her the bottle at home and daycare. She said if I was too worried about her getting dehydrated, I could offer her PediaLyte as well. Then I decided to try the ready-to-use liquid formula (Nestle Goodstart)in a can. For some reason she took that over the powder formula. (The doctor thought it might be the consistency that she preferred because it was thinner and more like breastmilk). It was much more expensive but after about 3 weeks of taking the liquid formula and getting used to the bottle, I switched her back to the powder formula and she took it with no problems. Also, in the beginning of the process, I had tried every kind of bottle and nipple I could find and at first she wouldn't take any kind. The doctor said to just pick one and stick with that kind so she wouldn't get confused. So I tried the Advent bottles because I heard from other moms that it was best for breastfed babies and that's what she finally ended up taking. After a month or so, when she was totally used to the bottle-she would pretty much use any bottle from that point on. In total, it took a good 3-4 weeks to completely wean her. But the combination of the ready-to-use liquid formula and the Advent bottles (and persistence)worked. Other things I tried that seemed to help was I would send my shirt or blanket with my scent on it to her daycare, and her teacher would hold it next to her cheek while she gave her the bottle (that was also suggested by her pediatrician). In addition, the first week or so I added a tiny little bit of Karo Syrup (a very tiny amount!) because the doctor said that breastmilk tastes sweeter than formula and that's why many breastfed babies refuse formula. The bottles also had to be warmed up-she wouldn't take it at room temperature. Anyways-a combination of all these things is what finally worked. I admit it was really hard for both of us (and the rest of the family). I thought we'd never get through it. I tried to give her extra love and attention. But once she made up her mind to take the bottle, she took it fine. She never got dehydrated or undernourished like I was so afraid of. She's 13 months and she's healthy and fine. Now, I have to wean her from the bottle-and I'm not looking forward to that! Anyways- best wishes for you and I hope I helped in some way!

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hey J.,
I do not have a personal experience with this since our oldest was always on the bottle and youngest loved to eat so he never cared where the milk was coming from:)
A friend of mine however has a daughter who whould not take a bottle as a baby. One day when I was watching her I tried giving her the bottle and she took it after couple of tries and was eating from it fine all day(they say baby will never starve her/himself:)),but refused it again when mom tried. I think it's a normal thing for some babies(you might find that your son will be head strong and particular with certain things when he gets older:))Do not worry, he will learn and I agree that laddies in the daycare has done it before planty of times, they will help you.
PS off the subject, i myself and many of my friends had put little cereal in the bottle to help babies sleep through the night. Our doc recommended it.Babies can have cereal after 4 months from the spoon,so I do not see how a little bit of it can be a choking hasard????They even sell special nipples for that.

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