What happens if your baby doesn't like a bottle?

The question in my head that always got me while I was breastfeeding was... what happens if my baby never takes to a bottle. Well with my son my nightmare came true. He loved to nurse and hated the bottle. We couldn't even have it in the same room with him without him screaming at first. He made a conscious effort that the way he preferred to feed was the old-school way! (breastfeeding)And boy did he stick to his plan. It was a good 12 week struggle to get him to take a bottle. The funny thing was the first time we gave him a bottle he took it with ease. After that try number 2 thru try number 122 he could not be convinced to drink his pumped breast milk from this foreign object! Man was it frustration. Not just for me but for the entire household. Mom needs a break, Dad cant help mom in this arena...but wants to. What do you do??? Not to mention that maternity leave only last so long! What happens when you return back to work and he's still not taking a bottle.... The baby's gotta eat right???

Nope not my son... he would hold off until I was there (hours, man was he a stubborn boy... I hope this characteristic serves him well later in life! Taking it one step at a time, one little win, we'd call it was how my family got thru this challenge. Even if he'd only take an ounce to start, "Hey it was a start right!" So little by little my stubborn little prince decided to eat during the day, slow to start. I would just love to listen to people try to coach me on how to handle this situation. Everyone has a different idea, different approach. But every kid is so different, what works for one may not work for the other. I was told to buy all different types of bottle.. (what a waste of money, the one that worked was the original one we had Dr. Browns!) We were told that he'll eat when he's hungry, (Yeah then he starves all day and keeps me up all night eating because he's starving, obviously that didn't work!) But no the less there is a light somewhere at the end of the tunnel, you'll get there eventually... just keep searching for it. And every step forward is a step forward, no matter how small....

How to transition to cows milk

After the one year mark, pediatricians ok you to start transitioning from breast milk or formula to cows milk. I can only hope that my son will make this transition easy. Thinking back to when I started to integrate this into my daughters schedule, she drank whole milk like a champ. But then again she never fussed about taking a bottle either. I'm a little worried that my son will be different. He refused the bottle for 8 weeks straight a very stressful time because I was returning to work. So with this upcoming transition I'm anxious about this whole thing! Here's how I slowly transitioned my daughter.
I would start with only adding a 1/4 - 1/2 of an ounce at first and slowly increase it after a couple of days. Then go to 1 - 1 1/2 ounces so on a so forth. I'd much rather do it slowly than cold turkey for the babies. Also you have to think of what temperature you've been giving the milk at. Because if your child is like mine, he likes his milk very warm.... so the coldness of the cow milk might shock the system!
I'm interested to learn if any other mothers have tips or ideas for the transition?

Inching towards that one year mark!

I will be celebrating when my son crosses over the one year mark and is still breastfeeding! To me that was my goal I set out the day he was born. Inn actuality its probably a little longer than that, to transition him to cows milk, but all in all I'll be a happy camper!

Many people don't understand the stress, commitment, patience and determination it takes to breast feed for a year while maintain a full time job. That's why a support system is so important. Reach out to mom's who have accomplished it already. Ask what worked for them and not.

One of the best tips I ever got was to create a "Special Bag" for my 2 year old to have when I was breastfeeding on my maternity leave. What a wonderful idea! Its a bag that is always in sight but out of reach full of toys that your child can only play with while feeding your other child. It takes the negative out of situation all together. The key to the whole thing is to make sure when your done breastfeeding the special bag goes away. I kept mine on top of our fridge...