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I would be really mad if they gave my LO solids without my strict permission. Your LO might be refusing bottles longer because she knows the boob will eventually come! Have you tried a week or two without rescuing her for a feed?

I just went back to work and my 3 mo LO isn't taking a bottle yet. So I somewhat feel your pain!

I think it's fine that she's eating some puréed food - we started my older son on purées at 4 months (skipped cereal completely). That being said, I wouldn't be happy that they did it without you saying it was ok and providing the food, and I also don't think, at 4.5 months, they should be going all day with just purees and no milk, so I think you're still going to need to figure the bottle thing out.

Personally I would stop going to rescue her at lunch time to feed and hope she learns to take a bottle out of hunger. That said, you run the risk of a reverse-cycling baby who wants to nurse at home with you for all her milk needs and keep you up a lot at night. If you're fine with that, shrug.

I would personally want my child to take solids while at daycare if they refused to take any kind of milk for the hydration and electrolytes that thin stage 1 fruit and veg purees could offer.

so i had a similar situation. my LO started daycare when she was 3.5 months and refused to take a bottle, she would take an ounce at the most. i worked close enough to daycare to nurse her when she wouldn't take the bottle or only drank an ounce, so i went twice a day. at 6 months, we introduced solids and she loved it, we would mix purees with oatmeal cereal and 2 oz of breast milk, and i would still go and nurse her if she didn't take her bottle. around 7 months she started to take the bottle half of the time and drink more and more, and i went to nurse her less and less. at 8 months, she started to eat two meals and drink two 4 oz bottles and i no longer needed to go and nurse her.

i had an oversupply, so i was able to pump in the morning and at night to have enough for bottles, and the time i would have spent pumping at work, i just nursed, so it wasn't taking away any time from work. for me, it was worth the peace of mind to nurse her and know she wasn't hungry.

- I would keep persevering with bottles at least once if not twice a day.
- baby needs milk in the 8(?) hours of daycare. Food doesn't replace it, not to that level, not at that age.
- what about mixing breastmilk with cereal or stage 2 purees (so then it would be really thin like stage 1)

I just went through this with my 6 month old. She didn't eat more than an ounce at daycare the first week. I didn't go to rescue her but they knew they could call me. She started reverse cycling. I decided that if she wanted to eat at night she would get a bottle, so I pumped while my husband fed her. She protested the first two nights, then started taking it! This is her second week at daycare, she's taking three bottles a day, and last night she slept through the night again. She does better when facing out, being bounced a little, and being firm with the bottle. Comotomo bottles seem like o help too. Don't lose hope!

@DesertDreams88: that would be my suggestion too- mix breast milk with a little cereal/ puree so LO is getting at least some milk and some calories. I would probably still go nurse once a day if your work is OK with it though since 8 hours is a long time for a little baby to go without a proper meal. Sorry you have to go through this- my second LO still hates bottles at 9 mo and it is terribly frustrating.

@codeitall: We had a similar issue with my DD when I went back to work at 5 months old. I worked an hour away so there was no way I could feed her until I got home.

What we eventually figured out was
1. I had lipase in my milk that made it smell really metallic (not soapy like everything I had read) so I ended up having to boil any milk before freezing but luckily she would drink it from the fridge the next day so I only usually froze milk on Friday's
2. She liked her milk HOT! not warm, we heated it up well past the recommended temp but not scalding and she liked it best.
3. She liked the cheapest, most old school bottle with a latex nipple, she wanted nothing to do with silicone nipples!

I would see if it is a lipase issue and then work from there it is so hard when they are being stinkers and won't eat while you are at work

@codeitall: the silent gagging may indicate that the nipple flow is too fast or she has a tongue and/or lip tie that makes it difficult for her to getter mouth around the nipple. We used preemie nipples for the entire time LO used a bottle.

My son is almost 3 and back when he was 4 months my ped told me I could start solids.
So for at least 2.5 years they've said 4mos is fine.
BUT it wasn't a substitute for a bottle. It was supplemental and more for practice. So I wouldn't be skipping milk for it.

@codeitall: oh i SO feel your pain. That was me and my LO. I'm pretty sure I posted about this a year and a half ago...

You've gotten a lot of great advice already... but here was what worked for us.

We tried almost every bottle under the sun, the ONLY one he would take (when he would drink at all) was the Lansinoh mOmma bottle... he would eventually reluctantly take a few ounces a day, our saint of a daycare teacher struggled with him daily for months, but she was persistent.... we also started very liquid oatmeal right away... so he would eat at least 4 oz of breastmilk off of a spoon milked with oatmeal. he loved it! this isn't the best thing to hear, but finally at around 8/9 months he started drinking from a bottle more regularly, ha! little stinker.