Mumsnet Talk

Has anyone got any positive stories of getting a baby to take a bottle of expressed milk after they've refused?

DD took a bottle a few times when I've had hair cut or whatever but the past few days has point blank refused to even close her mouth round the bottle teat and won't drink a drop.

BF counsellor has given me some ideas of things to try but reading old threads it appears once they start doing this you don't have much chance of persuading them.

I don't have any grand plans but I was hoping to go out for my birthday and to a concert DH and I have tickets for..... As things stand there's no way I could leave her for more than an hour and a half as she feeds every two hours in the day.....

DH and I are happy to persist and keep trying but is this ever likely to work?

You don't say how old she is?

My DD initially fought the bottle at 6 weeks, then took to it fine. Then one day just stopped (about 12 weeks?) point blank refused.

We gave her two weeks off then tried again and she was fine, as if it never happened. Now still happily takes feeds from bottles.

HTH

Well that sounds positive crochet. DD is 11 weeks old. Am happy to keep working at it but just worried she will never take to it.

Yes - this happened to us. DS took a bottle happily at 9 weeks then started refusing at 18 weeks. I found changing the teat flow size up (I had been still on newborn flow) and dunking the teat in the milk before offering the bottle helped, and also heating the milk up quite a bit warmer than I had been. He has happily taken the bottle again since then - although I've only tried it 3 times. Good luck!

Dd2 refused for a good while. DH just kept persisting. You can try lots of different bottles but we just picked one & stuck with it. Think we sliced a bigger hole in the teat which eventually worked. Don't give up hope!

Thanks all. Some more ideas of things to try and some hope! DH works abroad a lot and I have no family nearby so it's DD and i 24/7. The thought of never being able to leave her with anyone for a little break until she is weaned is so overwhelming.

My DD had a bottle a few times a week from around 3wks. Then she started refusing them at 4mo. We kept trying for a month and gave up. It was just too stressful as she screamed blue murder if we got a bottle near her.

She retook a bottle at 7.5mo copying other babies at nursery. But she was self feeding with the bottle by then.

You have hope! Don't worry.

My DD took a bottle fine from 8 to 12 weeks then stopped but then 6 months she took it occasionally but not much and also likes a cup but at 8 months she likes it

pastabee when you do try again with the bottle there are some nice tips about doing it in a chilled out no tears kind of way on Kellymom. Have you looked on there yet?

Let us know how younger on.

My DD only took the bottle a few times, then started to get hysterical when it even got near her. I remember saying "we can't possibly wait six months before I can go out without her", ahem she's now 10 mo and I've never been away from her for more than 2 hours, yet it's flown by. It was so distressing for both of us and I didn't need to go back to work so I decided not to push her. Tried again around 4/5 months and she just played with the bottle, didn't try again until she was 9 months and now she takes it, but with formula, I got sick of expressed milk getting poured down the drain! One thing I will always wonder though is whether she would have taken the bottle with formula as it's not the same as my milk. The funny thing is when she wants breast milk she really wants it and the bottle will not do (not only when she just wants comfort)

Thanks crochet. I love Kellymom but hadn't noticed the articles before. Really useful. There are definitely too many emotions around this issue at the moment - she refuses no matter what we do including refusing a cup and a spoon. She has learnt to spit so anything that goes in with the spoon is spat out..... I'm just getting upset about it now and even though I love breastfeeding I'm starting to feel trapped as it is clear that I have no choice but to breastfeed and that introduces a pressure that wasn't there before iyswim?

Anyway, going to take a break from it all and get back to enjoying feeding her and then on Saturday I am going to leave her with DH for a few hours and see what happens. I am also thinking of trying a drop of formula to see if she will take that as per ems experience.

pastabee I think it's a really good idea to leave it a while whilst you start to feel better. Maybe she needs time to forget that she doesn't like it? I think I experimented with fresh expressed milk in a bottle right from the breast at one stage, and I also agree that trying formula could be another option. At least she never had formula from anywhere else.

I really really remember the feeling of frustration and being trapped that you describe. Lots of sympathy here.

An update..... Left her for three hours and DH tried with expressed milk and a carton of formula. She refused every time he tried. I came home determined to just get over it and not let it get me down but thought I'd just have one go myself and to my surprise she drank 5oz out of the bottle!

Turns out it had cooled to room temperature and that made her happy..... Weird.... I think this was bottle attempt 15 or something silly so I've answered my own original question!

Just got to keep practicing now we know she can do it and work on getting her to take it from DH!

That must be a relief for you.

Pastabee! I'm having the same problem as you AGAIN!

DD2 drank quite happily from a bottle aged 5 years
I'd given it her to feed her doll, since she certainly did not know what to do with it at 5 months when she was loosing weight and falling of the bottom of the graph.

showtunes we can be mumsnet twins! Our DDs have certainly kept us on our toes..... We should have known the pregnancy was the easy bit!

Brilliant news! And colder milk is so much easier, we still have to faff around warming ours up.

Great news!

My DD was the same - a complete bottle refuser. When she was 6 mo I was due to go back to work and was so worried that she wouldn't take it while I was out all day so I ended up starting her on solids at 5 and half months so she would have something while I was at work. Now at 10 months she eats everything and has 1 bottle of formula each day while I'm at work. Only if it is at room temperature though.