How do I switch from breastfeeding to bottle feeding?

I have to get a job soon, and i can't express my milk the way it should so i have to start my 6 month old son on formula. I've tried giving him formula a couple of times but he doesn't want to take the bottle at all...he just sits there and screams. Sometimes he doesn't even take the bottle when there is juice in it. How do i get him to like the bottle? How do i switch him? I really don't want to but i have to have a job... Need advice!!!

It's probably because you're the one giving him the bottle. He knows YOU have the real thing (breasts) and he doesn't want the bottle. I'd try leaving the room and have someone else try giving him expressed milk.

Or maybe skip the bottle all together and try Stage 1 sippy cups.

After you get the bottle (or sippy cup) situation squared away, you can switch from breast milk to formula by giving him bottles (or sippy cups) of 1/2 breast milk and 1/2 formula, then gradually eliminate the breast milk and give him strictly formula.

Also, if you want to keep giving him *some* breast milk, keep pumping your breasts. Even if you don't feel that it's enough breast milk to accommodate his needs, any amount is still good for building his immune system. Continue pumping and mix in the breast milk with your bottles of formula. Even if it's only in a couple bottles a day, those antibodies are still very healthy! If you get a couple ounces of breast milk a day in him that's better than none at all.
Of course you don't have to do this, it's just important that you know once your milk is dried up, it's almost impossible to get it back if you decided you did want to continue giving him a little here and there.

Good luck!

- 屑a褟泻's 蠅ifee -

My daughter had a hard time switching to bottles... if you still can get a little bit of milk out of your breasts try using a nipple guard, just so your baby gets the feel of a bottles nipple but still tastes your milk. Next try using playtex's vent-air bottles with a wide nipple. They're great! Its really closest in size and feel to your own breast so the baby feels more comfortable. It really worked with mine! Good luck!!

Start trying different bottles, it might be just the nipple or bottle type he has an aversion to. We use playtex drop-ins. Try mixing 1/4 formula in a bottle of 3/4 breast milk. Increase the ratio as he will accept it.

when i was switching i had someone else give the bottle. The babies know your scent. Wait until the baby is hungry and then you yourself leave. Even hearing your voice he may not take it. It will take a few trys but they do get the hang of it. Good luck

"Some Myths:

1. Babies must learn to take a bottle so that they can be fed when the mother is not there.

Not true. Some exclusively breastfed babies will not take a bottle by 2 or 3 months of age. Most, who have not taken a bottle, and even some who did accept a bottle in the first weeks of life will not take one by the time they are 4 or 5 months of age. This is no tragedy, and there is no reason to give a bottle early so that the baby knows how. If your baby is refusing to take a bottle, do not try to force him; you and he may become very frustrated and there is just no need to go through all this. If the baby is at least 6 months of age when you start back at outside work, the baby quite simply does not need to take a bottle. If he is even 4 months, he does not need to take a bottle. He can be fed liquids or solids off a spoon just as any other 6 month old and by 6 months of age he can be taking enough so that he will not be hungry during the day. Furthermore, he can start learning to drink from a cup even by 5 or 6 months of age. The cup can be an open cup and does not need to have a spout. Start with water as your baby may spill a fair amount at first. If, however, he has not got the hang of the cup by the time you must leave him, do not worry, he can take fluids off a spoon, or the solid foods can be mixed with more liquid (expressed milk, juice, water). Obviously, if the baby is to be taking a fair amount of a variety of foods by 6 months of age, he may need to be started on solids by 5 months of age. However, some babies prefer to wait for the mother in order to drink something. This is fine; many babies sleep 12 hours at night without drinking or eating at all.

2. But getting the baby to take a bottle surely won't hurt.

Not necessarily true. Some babies do fine with both. The occasional bottle, when breastfeeding is going well, will not hurt. But if the baby is getting several bottles a day on a regular basis, and, in addition, your milk supply decreases because the baby is nursing less, it is quite possible that the baby will start refusing the breast, even if he is older than 6 months of age.

3. Babies need to drink milk when the mother is not at home.

Not true. Three or four good nursings during a 24 hour period plus a variety of solid foods gives the baby all he needs nutritionally, and thus he does not need any other type of milk when you are at your outside job. Of course, solid foods can be mixed with expressed milk or other milk, but this is not necessary.

4. If the baby is to get milk other than breastmilk, it needs to be artificial baby milk (infant formula) until the baby is at least 9 months of age.

Not true. If the baby is breastfeeding a few times a day and getting fair quantities of a variety of solid foods, infant formula is neither necessary nor desirable. Indeed, babies who have not had infant formula before 5 or 6 months of age often refuse to drink it because it tastes pretty bad. (If you want to convince yourself of how little we know about breastmilk, ask yourself why it is that, although breastmilk and infant formulas have the same amount of sugar, breastmilk is so much sweeter). If you want to give the baby some other sort of milk, homogenized milk is acceptable at 6 months of age, as long as it is not the baby鈥檚 only food. In fact, if the baby is taking good quantities of a wide variety of foods, breastfeeding 3 or 4 times a day, and growing well, homogenized milk or 2% milk is good enough, but also not necessary."

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