A friend of mine needs to wean her 9 month old baby ASAP so she can start medication (she has exhausted the possibilities for ones she can use nursing). The baby hates formula and hates bottles. Ideas, anyone? Any suggestions you have would be great!
If she has enough pumped milk, then yes, you can mix formula and breastmilk. Just start with mostly expressed breastmilk (EBM) and and more and more formula until you are mostly formula, then all formula.
Best of luck to her, with this and the new medicine she is needing to take.
Our daughter was also one of those babies that refused to take a bottle, even one with breast milk which was all she had until she went to cow's milk at 14 months. She would, however, take a sippie cup, which others have suggested. That would also be my suggestion. Personally, I wouldn't even try a bottle. If you go from breast to sippie cup, it's easier then you just go from sippie cup to regular cup. No having to fight to take a bottle away later. Pump as much as she can and try a sippie cup. Tell her good luck and hope she's doing much better soon!
The only thing I can tell you is what someone else already did. Tell her to pump as much as she can and store it, someone else gives the bottle, try alot of different formulas. How about mixing the breastmilk with formula. Can you do that? I don't know. This seems like it would be a very stressful situation. Like when my husband keeps our kids when I work (very little even). The 6 month old barely takes a bottle from him and just screams sometimes. At least I have the boobs huh! But, your friends situation would be hectic to deal with. I hope everything works out for her okay. By the way, we do cloth and would love to check out your site.
At 9 months my first (who never would take a bottle) would use a baby sippy cup (the soft tip kind). Good luck!
At that age it should be possible to wean the baby to a sippy cup, but I do not think it will be easy, either on the baby or the mom.
I would check La Leche League website and ask for suggestions....or with a lactation consultant through the local hospital or pediatrician.
All our kids were drinking out of sippy cups by age 4-5 months (though we had to hold them until closer to 6-7 months old). The straw 'sippy' cups are also great and many kids are drinking out of them by 7-8 months old. As for formula, just try different kinds. My son refused all types but the Goodstart2 or whatever it's called -- the one for toddlers. Even then he rarely drank it... just a few times a month. Most breastfed babies hate formula (can't blame them if it tastes as nasty as it smells!!) and refuse.
Try just a regular old cup. I used a 2 oz. plastic restaurant glass with my baby at 6 months. She refused the bottle too, but needed to eat while I got some away time. Baby will lap at the milk in the glass like a kitten. This way if Mom still wants to nurse, she can.
As far as the medication goes, just put it in a oral syringe and dribble slowly it down the side of baby's mouth. Hope this helps and good luck to your friend!
Our pediatrician said it best - a child will not go hungry. They will adapt wonderfully to the new situation. Our daughter didn't like bottles either - much preferred nursing, but it wasn't even a remote possibility when I was diagnosed with cancer and had to go on chemo. She adjusted just fine.
At 9 months, that baby could probably start using sippy cups that are similar to bottles (or perhaps transition to sippy cups all together).
It will probably be harder on Mom who feels she's letting the baby down. But, the baby will adapt amazingly well very quickly.
I had trouble weaning my twin boys too, because they didn't like milk in place of mother's milk. I began mixing a small amount of orange juice in with my pumped milk and increasing the amount until they were willing to drink juice mixed with cow's milk in place of mother's milk. It only took a couple weeks to adjust their taste buds.
My only regret is putting them on cow's milk. Later we discovered, due to many sinus and ear infections and a pattern of frequent illnesses, that they were lactose intolerant. Now we use lactose free milk because it was not as easy to adjust their tastes to soy milk when they were older.
By the way, deep breathing from the belly (yoga breath) whenever you notice you are stressed (shallow breathing) really helps shift your body's autonomic nervous system to restore peace to the mind and body. It only takes awareness and the space of about 4-5 deep breaths to reset you enough to remember you have all you need within you to deal with the moment. I am a healer and teach meditation and self-healing. If you need help with that, call me ###-###-#### or visit www.LauraPieratt.com. Best wishes! L.
I had this problem and I had to switch formulas..... that was most of the problem. At 9 months you could start to try some of the new sippy cups too.
Hopefully the sippy cup idea solves the issue; however, if she's still having issues giving the baby formula, I have a great replacement recommendation that I can give you that others have used in place of formula (of course, breast milk is best!) Personal message me and we can talk further if you'd like.
Congrats on the new biz/website! Wishing you the best!
What a hard situation:(
Does she have milk pumped and stored for a while? Someone else should be giving bottles or cups/sippies of her milk mixed with a small amounts of formula, gradually increasing the formula. But as long as SHE is the one trying to give it to the baby, the baby is going to get mad and want to nurse.
maybe try a sippy cup? 9 mo is a good time to start a sippy cup. Born Free has a great transitioning one! Good luck!
A. V.
Use cups. My kiddos were already using them sometimes for water and juice by this age or earlier. They will need help at first, and will "wear" a lot of drinks for awhile, but that's the way it goes.....
As for formulas, I can't help much there because we were able to nurse. I would say keep trying different ones (buy the smallest boxes/cans until you find one baby likes). Maybe mix 2 together?? If none of them seem to work out, she could ask baby's dr. about going to whole milk a little earlier than the 12 months normally recommended.
Or maybe there's a homemade formula recipe out there that babies might like better?
Has your friend tried homeopathic remedies? It's my understanding that they are safe for nursing, but I don't know too much about them.
Also has she consulted La Leche League's research on which meds are safe for nursing? They are usually at the forefront of that sort of thing, sometimes ahead of some docs.
Good luck to your friend! I hope her health issues get resolved quickly and well!
K. Z.
I had the same problem when I had to wean unexpectantly. What I ended up doing was taking a bottle and enlarging the holes. I used one part water, one part formula, one part baby cereal, and one teaspoon of baby apple sauce. My daughter drank this mixture out of a bottle for four months. She hated plain formula so I had to dress it up for her. It was a bit thick but that is why you have to widen the nipple.
