refusing to take a bottle

septembermum2009 · Dec 18, 2009 5:08PM

hi
i have been exclusively breastfeeding for 9 weeks now and have tried to introduce a bottle with expressed milk, but mybaby is refusing the bottle, can anyone suggest how to introduce a bottle to breastfed baby as he doesnt want to know, he also refuses to take a dummy? and im concerned that he wont take the bottle ever! any advice would be appreciated
thanks

littleO09 · Nov 7, 2009 9:40AM

Hi, probably not that much help but my DD has never taken a bottle, or a dummy, and i know a lot of other breastfeeding mothers in the same situation, so although its not easy - your not alone! Have you tried using a cup? The Doidy one is quite good to get them started as it has a tilted spout. Also, have you tried letting someone else feed your baby? it may be that they can smell your milk and would rather have booby from you but would take it from someone else (i think its best to leave the room whilst they do this so they cant see you there) xxx

jovictoria · Nov 7, 2009 4:55PM

I also have friends whose babies have never taken a bottle. My lo also went through a stage of refusing a bottle at about the ago of your baby, but i was determined to keep trying and it eventually paid off. We kept offering him a bottle every day, and one day he just took it and now has a bottle every day so it's part of his routine. It did take probably a month or so of him refusing it before we finally cracked it, We had to change bottles too - the only one he seemed happy with was the Dr Browns bottles. My advice would be to keep offering a bottle, try different times of day, from different people as mummyskyla says, and different types of bottle. I think it was the anti-colic filter in the dr browns that finally made my lo happy to take one. Don't give up - the longer you leave it the harder it will be to get your baby to take a bottle I think! good luck xx

mummykatie · Nov 9, 2009 11:05AM

We had this problem as well, but Lucas now takes a bottle as long as we don't hold him in a breastfeeding position! You have probably tried it but he takes a bottle sitting in his bouncer or held in a different position to how I bf.

septembermum2009 · Nov 9, 2009 6:33PM

thanks for all your replies - it does make me feel slightly better that it isnt just my lo that wont take the bottle, i think we just need to perservere and will take the advice on trying every night. any other advice is appreciated. i read somewhere that the nuk bottles are sppsed to be good also.

thanks very much

JoJopeanutbump · Nov 10, 2009 7:56AM

My lo is not a fan of the bottle she will only take a max of 3oz ....... ive started trying her with beakers now as shes coming up to 6 months.

i was in boots the other day and i saw those nuk bottles and i am gonna get one to try the teat is like a dummy ... !!

xxxxxxxx

Baby_B · Nov 13, 2009 9:04AM

We are currently having this problem - our lo is 9 weeks. She took a bottle from about 2-4 weeks fine and then we stopped. Tried giving her one recently and although she will initially take it after about an oz she gets mad and refuses to have it back. We are currently offering her one bottle a day - trying different times, ebm and formula - in the hope that eventually she will be happy to accept it. I want to be able to have longer than 3 hours away from her at some point!!!
We are also offering her dummy (which she also took fine and recently won't) to try to get her used to the different sucking action.

PinkToothbrush · Nov 13, 2009 4:21PM

I think you're right - you have to persevere. You might feel you're getting nowhere but one day it'll click. I tried (though admittedly not that hard as she protested so much!) and was only successful after 6 months.

pbob · Nov 14, 2009 8:44AM

My lo never took a bottle but I introduced an open cup at 5months and at 8months now drinks really well from a beaker,fingers crossed your lo will take to it but don't panic as it's been ok for me without xx

littlem · Nov 18, 2009 4:38AM

I'm so glad this post was here as my 13 week old won't take a bottle and kicked off last night - we have a problem that were going to a wedding where children are not invited so she is going to familys but if she won't take a bottle what am I going to do????

jstar · Nov 24, 2009 5:58AM

i have the same problem my LO is two weeks but im self employed and need to go back to work in two weeks for two evenings a week. I cant go untill she takes a bottle at night tho........Im just going to try every night untill then,fingers crossed!!!

Jstar x

JoannaRebecca · Nov 25, 2009 7:08PM

Hello, my son is 7 months old and i am having trouble of getting him off my breast on to a bottle! He won't accept a bottle of breastmilk or formula, i feel like i'm at my wits end, my partner has tried giving him a bottle when im not in the same room etc etc but nothing we try seems to work! I would carry on breastfeeding but he now has 4 teeth and as you can imagine, it hurts! Any help would be great!!! Thanks, Jo xxx

Coco-25 · Nov 26, 2009 5:47AM

Another one in the same boat... Sam took a bottle of EBM when he was 2 weeks and 6 weeks, and wish we'd carried on because now he won't - aargh! He is 11 weeks old. He will drink from a doidy cup though so its worth trying, but I warn you it's a slow and messy process!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bickiepegs-D-Red-Doidy-Cup/dp/B000RBE6Q6

JoannaRebecca · Nov 27, 2009 4:22PM

Willing to give anything a go lol! I have ordered 1 from amazon now, he does have a tomme tipee nuby cup, but he prefers to throw it around and just chew on it rather than drink from it!

Baby_B · Nov 28, 2009 5:03AM

I'm gonna order a doidy cup too. Will give anything a go.

I got impatient/desperate yesteday and tried to give her water from an Avent bottle lid and she seemed to have no idea what to do! She grinned and then spat out any water that had gone in. Maybe it would be more successful with milk though!

mrs__e · Nov 29, 2009 11:29AM

we had this problem too. but we just kept trying and trying and eventually Thomas would accept a bottle. some times he would want a feed from me after the bottle just to settle. we'd have good and not so good days!
but we got there in the end and he is now just on bottles (he's 27 weeks old) of EBM and FF (introduced FF at 14 weeks). he hasn't wanted a bf from me for about a month now!
so whilst it is tough, just keep trying and he will get there eventually xxx

Flush30 · Nov 30, 2009 3:52PM

I had the same problem with my baby when she was about three months. I wanted to give her an expressed feed in a bottle and she wouldn't take it. I needed to give it to her every day at the same time for about three weeks before she cracked but I eventually found that giving it to her after a breast feed worked.

I think if they're not frantically hungry, they don't seem to get so agitated (well, from my experience of err.. one baby) and seemed more accepting.

I used a Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature but purely because it was what came with the pump. Good luck!

girl1980 · Dec 16, 2009 8:21AM

Has anyone had any luck since posting on here? I have been trying for nearly 4 weeks and have still not had any joy. He doesn't seem to hate it, but just won't suck the damn thing!

JoJopeanutbump · Dec 16, 2009 1:11PM

Hey !! yes we have success !!!
I bought a NUK bottle with latex teats , brilliant she takes about 4 - 5 oz now before she would just play with it , she also drinks from a beaker now too.
but i still feed her morning late afternoon and before bed. then she has 2 bottles aswell.

I just kept trying the same time everyday when shes most happy and i knew she normally fed at 11am so tried everyday with a bottle she started taking a little then id feed her ..
u just gotta keep trying but i love her new nuk bottles their brill she likes than and actually drinks from them . and now she drinks from the tommy tippee bottles too.
good luck x

septembermum2009 · Dec 17, 2009 4:30PM

im glad to hear that the nuk bottles have worked, i have bought these but still not been successful - i sppose we havent tried hard enough yet though. i am still wanting ds to take a bottle, have tried, and he still plays around with the teat and has now started to spit the milk out!! it does give me hope though that you have got lo to take from bottle.. i just need to pesevere! x

Baby_B · Dec 18, 2009 5:22AM

No luck here. In fact it's got worse as Beth now have a HUGE tantrum the minute the bottle goes near her so I think she now has negative associations with it. We don't try for long now - literally 30 seconds and then I end up in tears and give in with boob.

Hate seeing her get so upset about it though. It's as though we are torturing her.

refusing to take a bottle

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