cup or spoon???

[evolve77]

My nearly 4 month old won't consistently take the bottle and a few times a week I have to rush away from work to give her a feed (luckily i live in the buidling i work in) as she has refused the bottle and gotten really upset.

When can we give her a sippy cup or medicine cup or try spoon feeding EBM?

BTW - she was 5 weeks premature and took a bottle for topups of EBM for first 3 weeks, so the bottle refusal is a recent thing. She has been exclusively breastfed all this time, and I'd llike to continue until she is at least 6 months, 12 months would be a bonus.

Has anyone been successful with cup feeding or spoon feeding?

I don't want to start her on solids early and I want to stop having to throw out EBM.:(

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.:)

[the pero clinic]

Dear Evolve77,

What a tricky situation! It’s not easy to see your bub upset or to throw away precious EBM. Good on you too for your efforts in ongoing expressing.

Your little one may be refusing the bottle out of a preference / confusion for breastfeeding, or perhaps because you are trying a teat that isn’t best suited to her. When she does feed from the bottle, does she feed calmly and happily, not too fast or slow, without lots of burping? Use your observations at the better feeds to guide you on the appropriateness of her current teat.

I am not sure if you are still offering some breastfeeds or if you are trying to bottle feed her, but it can be easier to transition to the bottle if it is not given by mum, because of the smells and associations with breastfeeding.

If you have tried these things and still have no luck, than yes, you can spoon or cup feed a 4 month old. I would suggest trying a small medicine cup first. Hold your bub as you would for a bottle feed, put the cup to her mouth, and tip it slowly so that the milk comes to the edge. As much as possible, encourage her to suckle from the cup, instead of pouring the milk into her mouth. While cup or spoon feeding is possible at a young age, it can be difficult as bubs are not used to managing liquids at the front of their mouths.

Where possible, I would encourage you to persist with bottle feeding for the next couple of months, and avoid introducing solids until she is closer to 6 months. Her little body will not be able to manage solids yet, and these will not come close to replacing EBM.

the pero clinic