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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Behaviour/development

Any ideas on how to get 7 month old to take a bottle?

15 replies

BenRoo · 28/06/2011 19:05

DS will not take a bottle from either myself or my DH,although he drinks from a cup held by us.
What we're looking to do is give him a bottle of formula for his last feed to see if it helps him sleep longer (he still wakes twice and I work 3 days a week = knackered)
Here's what we've tried ...
Warming the teat
Warmer milk
Colder milk
Different teats/bottles
Under the arm trick
Feeding lying down/sitting up
Distraction techniques
And a whole lot of perseverance!!!
Any other ideas???
From one tired Mumma (yawns)

OP posts:

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BeeBopBunny · 28/06/2011 19:29

Does he use a dummy? You could get him sucking on the cummy then quickly switch it for the bottle. Have you tried breast milk in the bottle? He might just not like formula. Or give him a cup of formula?

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BeeBopBunny · 28/06/2011 19:29

Cummy???! Dummy, obviously.

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MamaLaMoo · 28/06/2011 20:01

Oh I sympathise, I gave DD1 a bottle of expressed milk at 3 weeks and she drank it down. Great I thought, I'll keep BF and then she can have a bottle if I get tired/ill/need a break etc. Tried again at 3 months, OMG the screaming rage from such a little person! We tried every trick in the book, DH in totally different room (change of setting), in different chair etc etc - it never worked.

Brace yourself - you may have left it too late. DD1 NEVER took a bottle. You could try a soft teat sippy cup or if hunger before bedtime is an issue given he is 7 months what about runny porridge, ready brek that sort of thing? (off a spoon obviously not in a sippy cup :) )

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lukewarmmama · 28/06/2011 20:08

7 months? Don't bother. Just carry on with the sippy cup. Maybe try different cups if you're trying to get him to drink more - eg mine always liked the freeflow tomee tippee type, the really simple ones.

Sympathies, DD2 absolutely refused point blank to take a bottle also. Never ever had one. Still, it helped me to feel smug when other mums were trying to wean their DCs off a bottle at a year old, and DD2 was already happily taking a cup.

You could try looking at the structure of his day and milk and solids if you're trying to reduce the night waking?

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cakeandcustard · 28/06/2011 20:10

Both of my DS wouldn't take a bottle at about 4/5 months. If you're trying to introduce it for his evening feed when he's tired and wanting comfort try switching to a morning feed, when he might be more open to the suggestion?

I gave mine the bottle + formula to basically play with when they weren't too tired or hungry sort of mid morning, they gradually started to suck on it a little and it replaced BF for that one meal after a few weeks. After that it was quite easy to start replacing BF at other feeds.

Other than that I think MamaLaMoo is probably right - some unfortunately don't.

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DimplesOHara · 28/06/2011 20:13

Try a sports cap flasky thing possibly?, the type kids usually have in school? DD is ff but refused to drink anything but milk from a bottle, see grabbed my water bottle off me the other day and happily drank from that, have got her her own one and I've used it for milk sometimes when forgotten to take a bottle out with me.

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Tigresswoods · 28/06/2011 20:26

I'd probably second what someone else said above, if your DS will take it from a cup then go with that. I know a lot of my friends had a similar issue to you in that the baby just never got on with the bottle once they had been BF for so long. I had the same but eventually managed to pursuade DS by lying him on the floor propped up on my legs and he would drink then. However I know some mates tried EVERYTHING and their LO just wouldn't have it.

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BenRoo · 28/06/2011 20:57

He doesn't take a cummy... dummy no!
I should add that he has just started to take a trainer cup with a large squeezy spout at nursery, both with ebm & formula, the amount he takes has increased over the last couple of weeks.
I have bought this very same bottle (made by Mam) but he still refuses to take it from me or my DH.
It appears to be anything with a spout that he refuses from us!
He does love his food so I may very well start giving him some cereal in the evening before his last feed...
I used to hate the whole 'filling them up' thing but can now see the advantages!!
It's all such a guessing game

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lukewarmmama · 28/06/2011 21:32

BenRoo - my mum used to go on about how she used to 'fill us up' before bed and I hated it too.

Right up until I discovered we could squeeze an extra half hour out of DD2 if she had a biscuit with her milk before bed (she's 2yo before you are at her having a biscuit!). Big difference when that half hour takes you from 5.30 to 6am!

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McGill · 28/06/2011 21:55

I've just managed to get my 10 mth old to take a bottle regularly... She used to a little when she was a few wks old, but gradually she refused more and more-think she just worked out boob was always available.... Eventually after returning to work, my milk supply getting drier by the day, and her lack of taking more than 1-2 ounces out of a cup, I spoke to my HV who said some simply don't do both ( I have 2 other ones that happily had boob and bottle). I stooped breastfeeding (sob) and within 24 hrs she was sucking happily on a nuk bottle....

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WottingerAndWottingerAreDead · 29/06/2011 00:40

DD started taking a bottle around 7 months! Pre that, had the screaming ab-dabs at the mere suggestion. What worked for me was giving it at the same time as food, so it was just another of the spoon/rice cake/baby mush/strawberries new and exciting things that were happening at the time. Once she got the hang of it she started accepting it out of the highchair, even from me at times when she'd normally expect a breastfeed. Good luck and don't give up, I thought it was NEVER going to happen here...

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WottingerAndWottingerAreDead · 29/06/2011 00:40

Oh and NUK bottles. No others worked. Meant to most closely mimic breasfeeding action?

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Octaviapink · 29/06/2011 12:49

I wouldn't bother - you could spend a month getting him to take it and then you'd need to ditch it four months after that anyway! I'd stick to the cup - it's better in the long term. IME the amount they eat during the day makes no difference to how well they sleep at night. I feel your pain though - DC2 at 7m still waking three or four times for feeds at night!

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Stangirl · 29/06/2011 16:36

For medical reasons I had to stop bfing at 6months and had 2 weeks of hell as I tried to get my DD onto a bottle. Tried everything you mentioned to no avail. Then she started drinking a bit from one of the bottles - within a week from that she would happily drink from any of the bottles. She is now 16months and won't stop using a bottle. Oh well....

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BenRoo · 30/06/2011 11:39

I think I'm going to give up with the bottle thing and just stick to using a mixture of the Doidy cup and MAM cup.
Like most of you have said,it does seem a bit backwards, and as for the night feeds...well...I'll have to persist!
Thanks for your support