Bottle of expressed milk - he just doesn't know what to do!

[anchovies]

Ds is now 14 weeks and used to take a bottle no probs. For some reason now though he seems to have forgotten what to do with it, he doesn't seem to know how to suck? If I try a faster flow teat it just drips out until he coughs and chokes a bit then eventually cries. So he's not refusing the bottle, he's just a bit clueless?!

Has anybody got any ideas/tips?

[Xena]

Hi anchovies I bought DS the Nuk bottles, the teat is a funny shape and much softer so more fits in the mouth like nipple with breastfeeding. I noticed yesterday that the new tommie tippee bottles are half price in boots (less than £3 for 2) the teat look like a fake nipple and boob but it might work?

[anchovies]

Thanks xena, will give those teats a go, have already tried mam and nuk with no luck!

[kiskidee]

my dd takes to MAM teats which fits avent bottles.

i also gave a couple to a friend whose son was not getting on with bottle teats either and those worked a treat. (he's half a twin and his twin sister was having no problems with the avent teats but he just couldn't)

i read somewhere once that you ought to try a teat that is close to the shape of your own nipples hence why MAM probably worked for me. My dd faffed with the NUK teats too. Apparently their shape is better for women with flatter nipples.

[kiskidee]

oops, didn't see mam or nuk didn't work for you.

irl, my dd took a lot of work to take any teat, like a week's work. and even after that would only take about 4 oz in 8 hrs.

[kiskidee]

another thought, you could try going straight to a sippy cup. tommey tippee does a 4+ month one with one hole and no valve. more than one poster on here have bypassed bottles entirely and went straight to sippy cup. worth a try as you will be buying sippy cups soon anyway. i would have tried this if I had heard of it back then.

[MummyPig]

With ds2 I fiddled around trying various teats but eventually used the Avent soft spouts (white colour) with the valve taken out. Have to say though, he never had much from a bottle (i.e. his absolute max from a bottle was around 90 ml or about 3 oz) and always seemed to prefer to wait for me to be around, however long that meant waiting. This is in direct contrast to ds1 who would glug down a whole bottle no problem from very young.

[anchovies]

Thanks everyone for the ideas.

Just thought I would report back, bought some of the bottles that xena suggested this morning, half price - £2.99 for 2 - bargain. He has just lay in my mums arms and had 7 oz from it, he absolutely loved it! Smiles all round here this morning, am quickly going back for more! Roll on my night out!

[Xena]

Great news anchovies, they are strange looking teats aren't they!