And here we are. 3 (ish) feeds a day. Morning, mid-morning and bedtime. Looking at that schedule and knowing she gets very hungry for dinner I am attempting to introduce a cows milk feed and snack mid afternoon. I have made the decision to make the feed cows milk as opposed to formula to get her used it ready for when we decide to bring breastfeeding to an end...
When?
Oh what a question.
I have every reaction you can imagine. I have heard it exclaimed "ER! BITTY!" I have been congratulated. I have been told world health organisations recommend until two years old. I have been told there is no benefit after a year. I have been pre-warned that people (even family) will not be comfortable with it after a year.
The interesting part is with all these strong views flying around, none of them are my own! I feel strongly neither way. All I know is without much thought or fuss or (after the 4 week establishment) real effort here we are. I didn't really plan to get here. I don't have a plan moving forward. Though in the mean time she's trying some new things out...
And our tested bottle is the Nuby Girl Decorated Feeding Bottles (pack of 2)... Pretty design, soft flexible nipple that's clearly trying to resemble the breast. Lid fits on easily and doesn't need to be screwed on hard not to leak, it simply screws to a soft close and doesn't leak a drip!
What does Euna think? She's really getting there with it. Much more impressed with the whole thing when she's allowed to feed herself or if someone else other than me is trying to feed her. She also seems to get a good "latch" on to these, much like when she is on the breast. She has tried other bottles that she looks less comfortable on than these. She doesn't get windy with them and when she has to take one at bedtime from Steve she hasn't once been sick or even uncomfortable when going straight down after a feed.
Only slight negative is air does not come back in to the bottle as quickly as she sucks it out sometimes, so occasionally she has to break her latch on the bottle and allow air in to the bottle before continuing.
Overall these are great bottles. Really nice to get a great product that's work well, is intelligently thought out and you can get it in a lovely pattern! And who isn't totally swayed with a pretty design?!
Thank you for writing his post. I am starting back at work next monh and still bf my 10 month old. I have tried bottles but she either has to really work for the milk or she drowns in it. I will try her on these. X
ReplyDeleteThey are good! I am not sure if it's still on but recently Boots had a Baby event... Might be worth trying them for bagging a bargain? :)
DeleteHello I am breast feeding my son who will be 12 months next week but he still wakes for a feed at least once a night how did you oveercome this? X
ReplyDeleteWell I am still breastfeeding and intend to continue. All I am doing for now is introducing cows milk so she gets used to it for when I decide to finish or on the odd occasion I am not around. Euna is a very good sleeper but when she does wake I do tend to feed her back off, as most of the time if she does wake in the night it will be for a "good" reason like she is ill or teething etc. However on the odd occasion we have felt her waking has come out of habit we have attempted some sleep training to break the pattern... I would thoroughly recommend the Millpond Sleep Clinic book to give you some ideas? :D
DeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI have just finished feeding my 1 year old last week. I have been back at work since she was 9 months old.She never really took a bottle (partly because I left it late as I didn't want her to!)and so I sent expressed milk to nursery which she drank from a tommy tippee and fed her myself morning and night. At 10 months we went down to twice daily feeds, she has always been a really good eater and she drank water at nursery from her cup.I didn't really want to introduce a bottle at that stage as the advice we were given was that you shouldn't really use a bottle after the age of one if possible (something to do with teeth development??)
Around her birthday I dropped the morning feed by getting up rather than bringing her in bed for a feed and giving her a cup of cows milk.Then after 2 weeks of that I also dropped the night time feed by doing the same.She has not looked for milk since then and has gone down without a feed which I thought would be more of a fight than it was.
Having said all of that if you want to keep feeding just keep going as it is your choice no-one else's :)
Hi! Thanks for reading and commenting! I thoroughly intend to keep breastfeeding... The main thing following Gill Rapley's baby led weaning has taught me is how well baby's know their own needs and how so often it is best to follow their lead. That said I am just making cows milk and a bottle available to her (only necessary on the very odd occasion I am not here. Thank you for the encouragement too! So often as Mum's we need reminding it is our choice :) Plus I am not ready to get rid of that morning snuggle in bed juuuuust yet... I'll need to develop a few more morning skills ;)
DeleteHello... I would really appreciate some advice. My little one is 15 months old, and still breastfeeds and deadly refuses to take a bottle or dummy - which is a real problem trying to stop the breastfeeding. But it needs to, as I work shifts and it is really tiring to get up every hour to settle him; just because he wants feeding (well more a suckle for 10min). He is fine drinking water or juice as long as I am not home. Or he will have juice and water during the day, it is bedtime and during the night that is a problem.
ReplyDeleteANY ADVICE will be appreciated!!
Thank you
GOSH! Every hour AND you make it to work?! Firstly BRAVO for not just curling up and rocking in the corner! Secondly I am a huge believer that Mum always knows best so I can't imagine I would have any hard and fast advice... But have you tried any sleep training? Some of it can be pretty hardcore and I think none of it should be taken devoid of common sense or mothering instinct but sometimes these things can be effective at breaking habits? I would really recommend the Millpond Sleep Clinic "Teach Your Child to Sleep" as it's very solution based and has a lot of ideas for dealing with sleep issues? :) Thanks for reading and good luck! Love to hear how you intend to tackle it? :D
ReplyDeleteWe have these bottles, by far Oscar's favourites when I stopped bf'ing.
ReplyDelete