Baby won't take bottle!!

[Tea Lady]

Hi everyone,

Does anybody have any advice about how to encourage a reluctant baby to take a bottle of EBM? My daughter is 3 months and used to feed from the bottle quite happily (I had to express for all her feeds at around 4 weeks) but she hasn't had a bottle since around 6 weeks and gets most offended when I try to get her to feed that way. I make sure she can taste the milk on the teat, but she doesn't seem to realise that she needs to suck on it to get more - she just screws up her face and lets the teat sit in her mouth and then starts bawling as she tries to latch onto my Tshirt for the "real" stuff! I really would like to be able to leave her occasionally so I can have some sort of life, but at the moment I wouldn't be sure she would take a feed from the bottle (in fact I would be sure she wouldn't). Any ideas?

Lucy

[wattle]

Hi. My boy is 3 months too, and won't take a bottle either. (He never has)

They say:
- get your partner to feed (we have even less success this way)
- wait until he's really hungry before offering bottle (he gets too wound up and it ends in tears)
- try different teats (don't think there's any I haven't tried)

So what do you do? I'm stumped. I even bought a toddler bottle the other day to try, but he just thought it was funny and laughed and spat the milk out. :rolleyes:

We tried formula too..... even worse! So any suggestions would be gratefully received.

[Spirit-Angel]

Hi,
My daughter is two years old, and would never feed from a bottle. I wanted to give her a bottle during the day, so I could go out and just give her a bottle, or leave her with somebody. No, she didn’t have any part of it. I breastfeed her for 14 months. When she was old enough, I gave her a training cup with formula, then cow’s milk, but it took awhile. She always wanted breast milk. I liked breast feeding, but sometimes it was a bit much.
It all worked out in the end, I just took her everywere, she is prety good.
:o
Bright blessings Angie

[our little treasures]

My dd is 15mnths and she still refuses a bottle (she steals her cousins and doesn't like the teat) at 5mnths my dd sucked through a straw in a cup but that was only water as I always breastfed her. I have heard however that if you give them to another carer other than yourself and partner go out the baby will take the bottle. Babies have great noses and can smell mummy while around.
All babies at first refuse the bottle after all they know where the love and warmth is and it's in mums arms. Don't stress, it will work for you both in time. :)

[lilizzysmommy]

gee, I kinda feel rejected by my child as she wouldn't breastfeed since she was 3.5 months old.if i tried she would bite me(it was kinda cute as she didnt have any theeth) but if it wasn't a bottle she wouldn't take it.She's 1 now

[mamafelix]

A straw might be worth a go- Felix managed to use one at 3 months (drinking water at a cafe...), but we didn't 'need' to use it so it was a once off.

[FClaire]

Hi,

My daughter is 4mths and I am having the same problem, but have been told to try a cross cut teat which is meant to have a similar flow to the breast, and they are sold at maternity hospitals. I also thought I might try a NUK dummy and if she takes to it then try the bottle. I have to go back to work for a couple of weeks in June / July as I stupidly promissed while pregnant and I am hoping I can express for then or I am going to be in trouble!! Will let you know if either work.

GOOD LUCK :o

[kailensmum]

my little boobie boy will only take nuk teats and dummies. Spits everythung else out. But thinks the bottle is funny. He growls and carries on like a dog destroying your favorite shoes! :rolleyes:

[trin_007]

Lucy

I had a very difficult start to breastfeeding and one alternative to a bottle is a 'Medella Soft Feeding Cup'. Its a great device that controls the flow of the milk (especially when its precious EBM!) by squeezing little 'bellows' that pour into a small soft cupped/spoon area. Its hard to explain because its nothing like a toddlers feeding cup, its more like spoon feeding or pouring the milk in, so its good if baby won't suck a bottle. I had to use this because my little man started refusing to breastfeed because he found EBM through a bottle easier, so its good for preventing nipple confusion. Good luck.

[PearlyShells]

My 6 month old has refused bottles since 3 weeks old when I stopped giving them to her from all the advice "build up your milk supply" etc... Honestly, I wish I didn't, however, today she was sitting upright. She was grumbling about teething or hunger and she grabbed my finger and plunged it into her mouth and began to suck. I quickly warmed a scoop of formula up and returned with the bottle. I placed the teat in her mouth and she began to suck, I began with the bottle lowered and let her suck a couple of small air sucks then I lifted the bottle higher and as she had already made the vacuum the milk began to flow and she drank the lot! Woohoo!
Previously I had elevated the bottle from the word go and I feel that she didn't like getting the milk into her mouth before she had made the vacuum as this made her gag.
nb I had been sprinking formula on her solids so she was already used to the taste..
Not saying this will work for you, but it's worth a try! :fingerscrossed:

[really old]

Took her until she was 8 months old to start taking a bottle again- she started to refuse it after 6 weeks.
Hmm.
I tried different teats, EBM, different brands of formula, hubby feeding, nanna feeding. Nup. Although at first it was just a convenience thing, so no drama, but then I went back to work when she was 6 months. Had to BF before work, lunchtime and straight after work and express in the dunny at morning and afternoon tea. It was a bit of a pain.

Funny though, she never seemed to have a problem drinking the bath water even when it was soapy and had wee in it. Which makes you wonder really.

Good luck, m'dear.

[Skya]

My little girl is the same! I got her to take a bottle at night when she was a few weeks old, but once she started sleeping through she didn't want the occasional bottle I tried to give during the day. At first I tried every day without luck. then decided to give it a break for a week or two and now she takes the bottle most days! I didn't find using different teats helps... i think it's more a matter of the little one wanting to give it a go or not...
If giving formula, mixing in some EBM may help at first.
Good luck! :)

[The Crunchy Mum]

Hi Tea Lady... wow it sounds EXACTLY like my experience (http://livingserenely.blogspot.com/2011/04/battle-of-bottle.html). My DS was able and willing to drink from the bottle around 8 weeks. However I wasn't very consistent about giving him EBM from a bottle on a regular basis. At 3 months when I wanted to start going into the office once a week, he just couldn't or wouldn't take the bottle. It was sooooo frustrating.

My hubby was very good with sticking with it. It seemed to be a battle of wills. Bub probably just loved the comfort associated with the breast so much, he just could not accept some plasticky thing as a source of milk.

Some things we tried included:

Kept hubby as the consistent person to give him milk while I stayed far far away. I read that bub may smell mum and realise that the original source of milk was nearby and refuse the bottle.
We experimented with different temperatures of milk. After several trials, we eventually found the optimum temperature which bub was willing to accept
Try different positions no matter how weird. My hubby actually stood up while carrying bub when offering him the bottle. He would sometimes sway gently as well. He doesn't need to do that now, but it helped at the start to establish bub's acceptance of the bottle.