Getting breast fed baby to take expressed milk

[CORNFLAKE2]

Any tips on this? I never acheived this with my first baby he would not take my milk from an avent bottle. We've tried one type of bottle and a feeder cup as a dummy run with second baby so I can go back to yoga for an hour and half a week. She was very unhappy and did not feed much at all. I read a thread about 'MAM' bottles which seemed successful with some babies. Any tips for helping her take an expressed feed from dad; gratefully received. She is five weeks old.

[dilemma456]

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[dinkystinky]

Some just dont want to do it - they know what they like and that's straight from the source. The things that worked with DS were me being out of the house for HOURS, not forcing the bottle (just offering for a minute or 2 when they're hungry), cuddling them close and feeder having something that smells of mum on them (jumper or top). Good luck.

[phraedd]

have you tried the tommee tippee "closer to nature" range? I haven't yet had a baby turn their nose up at one!

[AuntyVi]

Some things that helped for us were: trying different types of bottles (we ended up with the Tommee Tippee ones too); trying bottles only when he was in a good mood and had been BFing well (a few times DH insisted on trying it at times when he had been screaming during BFs already - think he had a sore throat or something - so no surprises that he turned up his nose at bottles then!); trying it when he was sleepy and relaxed - especially, what worked in the end was giving his dream feed with a bottle. We never managed to get dream feeds working very well on the breast at first, as he was usually too sleepy to take much, but when we tried giving him a bottle then it worked better so that killed two birds with one stone - helped him take more milk so he could sleep longer, and helped him get used to bottles so we could then introduce it during the day as well. Some people also recommend trying the milk at different temperatures but that didn't make much difference for us, he wasn't fussy about temperature. Oh and you can also try putting some milk on the end of the teat (or dipping it in) so that it already tastes of milk to encourage her to suck rather than just wondering what this strange rubbery thing is! Keep trying different things and you should get there eventually, good luck!

[Dropdeadfred]

I could only get dd3 to take a bottle if I breastfed her in the dark and released her from me and quickly substituted the bottle whilst she was still very hungry.
never really worked that well until she was over a year old...

can i ask why you need her to have a bottle so early? you must still be sorting out the breastfeeding...

[VictorianSqualor]

I had to feed half a feed and then sneak in the tommee tippee bottles.
DS finally started to take them for MiL. Saying that this only worked for one day, I haven't actually tried him on it since, better had as she is having him next week!

[CORNFLAKE2]

Thanks all sounds pretty temperamental!Dropdeadfred; I just want the reassurance that she can take some milk if she needs it so I can leave the house for an hour and halfs yoga. Trouble is she's fallen into a pattern of last feed before bed for the night about 7.30pm. I'll feed her a bit earlier as class starts at 7.30pm and hopefully she'll settle for dad as usual until feed a few hours later. It's a bit tricky this early as the pattern can switch even though it seems pretty consistent over the last three weeks. If all else fails he'll have to phone my mobile (lots of other mums at yoga I'm sure they'll understand).

[Dropdeadfred]

I know the feeling well..but if she's anything like my dd she will NOT settle for a dad giving her a bottle..I found eventaully she would take it from me...but only me...made it pointless

[mellyonion]

i never managed it ever with my dc3...it was me or nothing...tried everything! my cupboard had more bottles/cups/feeding accessories than boots the chemist!
i have a feeling i left him a little too late to try thhough...he was about 13 weeks before he even had a sniff of a bottle and just point blank refused every time.....

hope you get it sorted...

[jeanjeannie]

I've just managed to get dd2 to take one - took me 2 weeks gentle trying though! I used the tommee tippee bottle and worked on giving her the bottle and then the breast. I also found it easier when she wasn't starving hungry or tired - so about mid afternoon.

I've noticed I have to lay her quite far down - as though breastfeeding before she'll take it.