EBF 4 month old won't take a bottle, help!

[NuttyCasey]

Hi,

I have a 4 month old Dd and she is ebf. However that’s the issue! My health visitor and midwife never advised me or gave me any information about if I ever wanted to introduce a bottle? So I have now only recently found out that if you want to combi feed you have to introduce a bottle around 6 weeks so she would accept both.

I never did this as I didn’t realise. So now, she will NOT accept a bottle of any sort (not surprisingly!!) I’ve tried 4 different types of bottles, including a latex teat, I began with expressed milk then tried formula and still nothing?

Anyone have any advice as to how I could encourage her to drink from a bottle? I go back to work soon, and am obviously a little concerned about the whole ‘milk’ situation

Thank you!

[tealandteal]

No expert but evenings are supposed to be a good time to introduce a bottle and worked for us. I would stick with ebm if you can so you know it is not a difference in taste test is the problem. Try changing the temp til you find one that suits. Is there someone else who can give the bottle?

[userabcname]

I too have a bottle refuser! I do have friends who have overcome this issue (I've not been successful yet) so you could try: sticking with one bottle (whichever is your preferred make) and offering it at the same time every day - routine could prevail; using a cup - will require you teaching baby how to take milk from it so get started asap if you choose this route; refusing boob until they take bottle - hardcore approach but can work and it's best if someone other than you does it so baby knows they definitely can't have boob. I've also heard of some bottle refusers finally taking bottles after a couple of hungry days at nursery! Good luck.

[Creatureofthenight]

My 5 month old always refused a bottle when my DH tried to feed her on his knee, but she has started to take a bit if he sits her in her bouncer chair thingy. She managed 1.5 oz the other day - that's real progress for us!

[lanbro]

I'm afraid I never succeeded with my youngest! She eventually used a straw at about 12mo! Try not to get too stressed and once she's weaning you can get calcium into her in other ways

[DancingBadgerette]

I feel your pain! I didn't give DS a bottle early on because I was worried about him getting nipple confusion or refusing the breast, and he then refused the bottle when I did eventually try it.
You could try a sippy cup instead of a bottle. I've got the mam starter cup - it's suitable from 4 months - and (after a little while) he did start taking milk from it.
It might be worth a try anyway. Good luck!

[ButterfliesAreWeird]

Try a free flow sippy cup. At 4 months my son was happily using them independently. He had issues with bottles too.

[FusionChefGeoff]

Mine both like EBM much, much hotter than I thought appropriate! Also, for my bottle refuser I ended up sticking the teat upside down in the bottle neck as I warmed the milk so that the teat got warm too.

[Bobbybobbins]

Both of mine were better with sippy cups and we then went on to bottles. I found sticking to the same time every day to try and refusing a breast feed got us there in the end. We found that mornings were the best time as they were less tired.