when should i consider "cold turkey" to get baby to take the bottle ? is 12 weeks too young ??

[belinda55]

for various reasons i have been trying to get our baby to take the bottle since she was 4 weeks old . she is now 10 weeks old. we have tried all sorts of bottles, tried different rooms, positions and my partner tends to be the one giving her the bottle.

initially we tried at 10pm so I could get some sleep but she only took about 60mls then wakes at 1am , if I tried to breast feed her after the bottle she then takes more so she is still hungry. initially this was very very stressful, she would scream, go red and stiff as a board (clearly not a bottle fan !!)

we then changed to 10am feed so that she could have a breast feed at 10pm and sleep for longer. at 10am she has taken 100mls and much more happily. we then tried one day to give her a bottle at 2pm....... she went mental !! .... back to exactly how it wwas when we first tried.

I really want to get her proficient with the bottle asap and wonder if its time to get tough and try the baby whisperers "cold turkey"method as ive heard that this can be very successful

BUT is 12 weeks too young ?????? and if I then revert back to only one bottle a day will all the hard work be undone ??


anyone who has tried this your experiences would be greatly received

[MummyNoName]

Definitely not cold turkey.
You need to decide on a formula and a bottle and stick with it.

Decide on a time frame where she will be refused a bf. for example, 10am-2pm or when your dh is around to help out with the screams.

Stick to not giving her a feed within this time frame, only offer a bottle. Before and after timeframe give her bf. gradually increase the timeframe. Literally by maybe an hour a week or once she's happy to take a bottle.

That's what I did as our dc1 hated ff.

[AryaStarksDancingMaster]

I agree 12 weeks is a bit young for cold turkey

Two things to try:

1 - see if you can get her to sip from a doidy cup - it doesn't have to be something with a teat.

2 - try and find a way of holding her for a bottle feed in a way which is as similar as possible to how she is held for a breast feed. e.g. if she is used to being on her side across your body, hold her like that and hold the bottle teat as close as possible to your breast e.g. under your arm.

[belinda55]

that's really helpful... kind of progressive cold turkey but not as harsh !!!

she can take the bottle but is just VERY stubborn !!

[midori1999]

I don't really understand. You say she takes 60ml and 100ml from a bottle, so she is taking a bottle? If its that you want her to take more, I doubt she's taking the breast after or waking earlier because she's hungry, it is probably that a bottle doesn't meet her emotional needs, but the breast does. 60-100ml is a full feed for a BF baby.

Allowing a baby to potentially scream for 4 hours IS cold turkey IMO and very cruel. I would do that at any age, let alone 12 weeks.

What is the reason you want her to take a bottle? It's probable you can leave her with her Dad/go out for periods of time without her taking one.

[MummyNoName]

I didn't mean let her scream for four hours, I didn't explain my self very well. That is cruel, pls don't do it, it will stress her immensely.

I returned to work pt doing short shifts so I physically couldn't be there to bf our dc. Dc had to go 4-5 hours without any bf.

I fed before I left for work and dh could only offer a bottle if baby was hungry while I was working. Sometimes dc would refuse and not have anything until I got home where I offered bf again. But gradually baby started to take the bottle. This was usually after about 3/4 hrs after last bf as dc fed every two hours for ages.
But dc took the ff off dh before baby would take it off me.

Not daft these babies

[belinda55]

i would like her to take a bottle so that sometimes when we are out she can have a bottle rather than Bf and I can go out and leave her with dh without worrying.

I read that babies of 12weeks should be taking 150mls at each feed ??is this unreasonable ???

if she only takes 60mls on the bottle she will then have a full feed from me 30mins later so im really getting confused to whats going on ???


she will take the bottle ......... when it suits her we have got into a routine of 10 am but then when tried 2pm no success at all ... ahh until I started breast feeding and switched boob for bottle and she carried on but before this little trick she was having none of it so she is definitely hungry when we are trying.

[ClimbingPenguin]

a lot of breast babies will only ever take 60-100mls (normally about 90mls). Amounts don't increase like it does for formula fed babies. You can't compare.

[GadaboutTheGreat]

My DD never took to a bottle. I tried weeks of it. Some babies just don't want it. If your baby doesn't need a bottle very often then I'd be tempted to not bother. It sounds like too much stress for all concerned

[belinda55]

my first daughter downed bottles ...... at least 150mls at 10pm ... I guess I shouldn't compare ?

[midori1999]

Feeds for breastfed babies gradually increase in amount over the first few weeks or so (as their tummies are so tiny at first) then stay the same without increasing further. This is because breastmilk changes constantly to meet a baby's needs so the amounts don't need to increase as opposed to formula, which stays the same through, so the amount needs to be increased constantly. Breastfed babies take on average 25-30oz per day with any one feed being between 0 and about 5oz.

Sometimes breastfed babies will take more from a bottle, but that's more to do with the fact it's easy than that they need it.

If your baby will take a bottle at certain times, I think it's likely she'd take a bottle when you're not there if she needed to, even of she just took the bare minimum amount to sustain her until you were back. It's not unusual for a baby to prefer the breast though, they're not being difficult, but who wouldn't prefer a warm, snugly skin to skin cuddle and something that has made you feel comforted and safe since you were born to drinking from a bottle. Breastfeeding isn't just about nutrition for a baby.

[belinda55]

that's really interesting, I guess the milk increases in calories without increasing in volume ? she is a speedy feeder on the breast 10-15 mins and shes done ! so maybe her volumes are quite small ?

I am giving her EBM in the bottle so I presume she only needs the small volumes ?

but as for easier on the bottle I don't know she seems to take forever to take 60 mls (like 45 mins) so maybe we are using the wrong bottle ??

[MummyNoName]

It's a different suction used for drinking out of a bottle and if she's not used to it then its something she needs to learn.

I was told drinking a bottle is similar to sucking your finger. But from the breast it's like sucking the back of your hand. Don't know how true this is though.

[BrainGoneAwol]

Some babies just won't take a bottle. They're individuals and do things in different ways so what's true for one may not be for another, but 12 weeks is too young to ascribe the rationale of 'when it suits her'.

My ds won't take a bottle. He's nearly 7 months and now will happily go 4 hours without a bf, especially if there's some solid food he can munch. I tried all sorts of brands/teats/temperatures.

If your dd won't take a bottle is it really worth the distress to all of you (that's not rhetorical, maybe it is for something that important)? You may only have to wait a few months before it's a non-issue.

[belinda55]

just tried nuby bottle .... 130mls no problems ! probably a fluke !!