Baby refusing bottle

[chardonm]

My little one is 5 months old and ebf. We used to supplement with formula when he was 2 months old but we stupidly stopped. Now I'm going back to work in three weeks and he point blank refuses to take a bottle. Went 7 hours today without eating. I am freaking out, he is in the low percentiles for weight already!

I've tried, DH has tried; hungry, not so hungry; he just cries and wiggles and doesn't eat from the bottle.

What should I do?

[everycloudetc]

I had the same problem with DD so I sympathise! She is still bfing now at 2.5  When I went back to work she was a bottle refuser and simply didn't drink milk during the time i was away she would eat small amounts of food and water. I gave the childminder the food every day to ensure it was food she actually liked and so would eat it. She is also on the lowest centike for weight and always has been even now despite eating more than me some days (it's a breastfed baby thing I think). Some of the strategies others suggested might work was perhaps drinking milk from a cup instead of a bottle? maybe slightly warming the milk or cooling it down to really cold to test if she prefers a different temperature. Getting DH or MIL to give the bottle to her to see if it makes a difference? None of this worked for me with DD as she is quite stubborn but she didn't starve when I was away, children will eat when they are hungry 

[chardonm]

Thank you ! Did it mean she woke up loads during the night? How long was she at nursery for during the day?

[everycloudetc]

Not any more than normal - she used to wake up an average 3 times a night anyway (only started sleeping through about 5 months ago) She was in childcare from 8am -5pm

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Have you tried a cup OP? It might be easier than introducing a bottle.

If you have a look on the MN archive, there’ll be tonnes of old threads on bottle refusing where you might green some tips too

[AC14MUZ]

I am having this same problem my DS2 is 9 months old avd EBF, refused the bottle, but unterested in food and waking every three hours at night for a feed. I’ve tried warm milk, cool milk, other people giving a bottle but he’s having none of it. I’m desperate for him to start solids and bottles. So no advice but just in the same boat

[Chwaraeteg]

Have you tried teats with different flow rates. I tried Every trick in the book with my daughter, for two months - she just didn't seem to know how to get the milk from the bottle. As soon as we put a size 2 tommee tippee teat on the bottle she drank the whole thing. It was magic.

You can get variflow teats that actually change how fast the milk comes out according to how hard the baby sucks.

[chardonm]

He knows how to get the milk out. He just really doesn't want to. Next is trying those weird bottles that look like boobs.

[AC14MUZ]

ordering tests immediately, I pray this works. What age are the supposed to be from? I really don't think I can cope with a boob bottle :(

[Chwaraeteg]

3 months, as a guide, I think.

[chardonm]

Unfortunately I've already experimented with various different flows. The boob shaped teats did not work either. I am really at a loss.