breast to bottle when?

[kristianbird]

when do you know its time and how do you go about changing from breast feeding to bottle feeding?

[meltoadhall]

you dont need to ever put a baby on a bottle, all my girls breast fed up to about 10 months old and then went straight onto a feeder cup with cows milk, they also had tap water to drink.
I never possessed a sterilizer and they are all healthy 8,10 and 12 year olds.

[Richie1976]

Saturday night I like to go from bottle to breast!

[hotpink]

i was breast fed until i was 4! i know i shouldn't admit to that. i can't remember it tho!

[wigglebum]

I don't think you ever know a time to change and you don't have to if breastfeeding is going well. My child had breast milk for the first 2 weeks of his life and that was pumped out as he just did not want to attach no matter how hard I tried. I tried formula and never looked back. At the end of the day it's up to you but perhaps have a chat with you HV as they are there to help xx

[annie0000]

If you are returning to work, then that is maybe something to consider in terms of the timing. How you go about it can vary, and it depends on the child.

My first was never good at latching on, we struggled with it for about 6 weeks, then introduced a bottle with breast milk, my milk dried up quickly though and he was on bottles of formula after that.

My second breastfed really well, but was a nightmare to get onto bottles of either breastmilk or formula and wouldn't take either from a cup. We started at about 4 months as I was intending going back to work at 5 months, but I had to delay until 6 months as he would not take any milk other than from the breast. we had to wait until he had established a good routine with his solids and started to deny him milk for longer and longer during the day, but offered him a bottle. He finally took it the day before I was due back! This was when a HV recommended cheap latex teats rather than the expensive silicone ones - they are much softer in their mouth.

I continued to breasfeed him before and after work and he had a bottle of formula during the day for a while.

Good luck