Hi ladies, hoping you'll be able to help me as I'm shamefully clueless!

I'm going to be going back to work part time in Sept when Lily will be 9 months old. I'm breastfeeding and anticipate that she'll need one, maybe two feeds in addition to her usual morning and night bf by the time I go back. So I need to start thinking about getting her onto the bottle during the daytime so it's not a shock come Sept.

She has had bottles before now but only ebm, and she's not even very keen on them. I'm not able to get much out when I express so I need to wean her onto formula for the daytime, and I think the sooner I start the better so she has plenty of time to adjust. We have the TT Closer to Nature bottles and I've bought some Hipp formula (which I already use on cereal etc.)

Do I have to properly sterilise bottles before giving them to her? I know that sounds really thick but I don't sterilise anything else now she's over 6 months. Even when I make up formula to go on cereal I just swoosh the bottle around with a bit of boiling water before making it up.

About how much can I expect her to drink in one go?

Aside from that, does anyone have any general tips?

You should really sterilise bottles until they are 12 months old as any traces of milk can cause bacteria esp in the teats. Some mums don't bother up to 12 months but I did with Charlotte (only bottles/cups though that had milk in).

If she has been bf for so long, would she take milk out a sippy cup instead of a bottle so you don't have to change her onto a cup later? Might make things easier in the long run. Charlotte stopped having bottles from 8 months as she refused them due to teething.

hth xx

Thanks, ccbmommy - by sippy cup do you mean one of those plastic things with a sort of little spout & two holes in? Or one of those cups with a magic lid that you suck at round the rim? Have tried offering her water with the first option but she pulls a right face and turns her head away, little madam! Do you think perseverence might be the answer? It makes a lot of sense, going straight to that so not having to teach her to move onto a cup later on

Yeah sorry I meant the spout cups with 2 holes. Charlotte uses a TT one still, she wont move onto anything else. It did take her a while to get used to it. At first we had to offer milk/water in a Doidy cup but we had to hold the cup otherwise she would pour the contents over her head. They are really good though and does teach them to sip. You can get them from Amazon or any baby shop really. John Lewis online do them and they may still do free delivery.

Hello, it is up to you whether you sterilise - recommendation is 12 months. I sterilised until 10 months but then Gabe was exclusively formula fed, if I'd bf'd till 6 months I don't think I would have bothered. I honestly think it's a bit pointless anyway and wished I hadn't carried on so long.
She's quite young to drink much milk out of any cup as at that age they seem to dribble it out and not much goes down, but it is worth a try. I use straw cups or just a plain old glass with a straw in for Gabe, he is a bit older at 13 months but I know a baby who drank from a straw successfully from 6 months....much more seems to go down as they are controlling it.
You might expect her to take 5oz or so if she's not used to a bottle but you could make up 7oz to be on the safe side.

I would say to carry on with what you have been doing re sterilisation if Lily has had no problems! I wouldn't know the amount though at that age. What does the packet say as a recommendation?

TT do a cup with handles now that fits the bottle teats so that you can teach them to hold the cup but not confuse them with a different sucking action! might be worth a look at as an inbetween before introducing the cup?

Thank you all! I now own just about every type of bottle/cup/beaker in existence and am going to experiment I've bought some bigger TT bottles as you suggest, TL, as a couple of times now she's drained the 5oz I've given her and I think she would have had more if I'd offered more. Tara - the packet recommends 7oz, which makes sense.