Have bought just about every bottle on the market for BF DD - is it worth chucking away another £3 on a doidy cup?

[abigboydidit]

DD is 13 weeks and, despite trying to introduce a bottle early and learn from what happened with my DS, still wont take a bottle. Initially she happily took Avent, then suddenly refused to even take the teat in her mouth. The same happened with the Nuk latex teat. In between we tried various options with little or no success. Now we're trying the Madela calma, which she is happy to chew on but just wont suck .

Am guessing that now her lack of sucking will continue and wondered if as a final attempt, a doidy (or similar) cup was worth a shot? Has anyone had real success using one with such a young baby? Anyone I've spoken to about cup feeding says their DC has taken a small amount but never a full feed. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[PoppyWearer]

My two didn't go for the Doidy cup either, although others swear by them.

Personally I had success with a straw cup.

You have my sympathy, my DC1 was a total bottle-refuser until 9mo. With DC2 we introduced a bottle a day from the start and it's been so much easier. He transitioned seamlessly from nipple/bottle to straw cup.

[kalidasa]

We were in a similar situation and I bought a doidy cup but haven't used it because our last bottle attempt was the 'breastflow' bottles which finally worked (though it still took a lot of persistence). Have you tried them? DS is five months now and I'm back at work and we're still using them (now with the faster flow teat).

[abigboydidit]

Thanks for the replies. Am so tempted by the thought of another bottle kalidasa! The problem at the moment is she just wont suck! She happily rolls them around in her mouth and if it's a normal teat (like Nuk or Avent) she has a flakey when her mouth suddenly becomes flooded with milk when she bites down on it. However with the vacuum style Madela Calma (and I think the breastflow is the same?) she just lolls it around in her mouth. Looking back, DS was a much more sucky baby (he would suck a finger/dummy etc if given the chance) so I think if we had persevered with him we'd have cracked it. I tried DD with a dummy, thinking I could just do a quick switch to the bottle..but she just either spat it out or gagged on it

[leedy]

DS2 is a bit older (23 weeks) and managed to lap an ounce out of a Doidy cup last week after a month of just chewing bottles - he seemed to "get it" immediately. Will continue to try the odd bottle but at least I know he can drink milk out of something other than me.

[abigboydidit]

Hmmm.. You see DD probably takes about an ounce just by accident so am not sure if would be progress.

[RedKites]

You could give it a try, if it doesn't work you could always use it for water when you're weaning her, so it wouldn't be wasted. Are you looking to be able to leave her for a few hours every now and then, or to replace (a) feed(s) each day?

[plummyjam]

Have you tried Tommy tippee?

[McBaby]

Doidy cup worked for us after a very long time refusing bottles. Plus you will use it when giving water etc from six moths with fodd so not a waste of money. I just offered every day from about 16 weeks it took a couple of weeks of head shaking then she drank 3oz straight off. The mess has got less and less she now rarely spills any at 8 months when drinking.

[BuntyCollocks]

With the medela, my dd chewed on it ... Until I sucked a little bit of milk through for her so she got the message if she sucked, there was milk. Don't know if you've tried that?

[kalidasa]

Hmm yes that does sound different. Our DS is super-sucky, so there wasn't a problem there, he just hated the bottles I think for not being me, he always sounded incredibly cross when he rejected them; and also he was frightened by the 'flooding' you describe which I think is why the breastflow ones worked better. We tried some other supposedly 'vacuum' ones too but the breastflow teats have a sort of double layer so they have to press down and in as well as suck, so more like a breast I think. But I'm sure there are others that do the same. We found letting him "hold" the bottle also helped.

I reckon if she does mind chewing on the medela one you should probably stick with that and hope the penny drops eventually. And the cup will be useful later on anyway so you might as well get that too. Hope you get somewhere soon, it's frustrating isn't it?

[LeBoob]

We used the spouted nuby cups and they work like a charm

[abigboydidit]

Thanks everyone. Bunty afraid I've been dunking the teat in milk and sucking some through but she still won't suck .

[StitchAteMySleep]

We have had some success with bottle refusnik dd2 (now 14 months) with this, the spout is soft like a bottle teat, but more flattened like the area around the nipple once it is taken inside their mouth. I have seen another mother feeding her younger baby with it too successfully.

[freddiemisagreatshag]

Dr browns worked with Dd2. Nothing else.

[Oodsigma]

Dd3 didn't go for bottles but was fab with a doidy. We eventually worked out she couldn't suck rather than wasn't. She never mastered a sucky cup either.

[abigboydidit]

Thanks everyone. A very generous mnetter has donated her cup to me so I will give it a shot. Will persevere with the bottles for now and retry some of the ones that failed before, just in case they tickle her fancy.