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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To beg for your tips with a bottle refusing baby

55 replies

Bottlepanic · 31/07/2018 20:19

Please help! Baby is 4 months old and EBF. We’ve been trying to introduce a bottle for about a month but it’s just met with chewing
/mouthing the teat and then screaming.

We’ve tried dr Brown; medela calmer; Tommee tippee; nuby, and we’ve tried numbers 1 and 2 teats, but he hates them all.

We know he’s perfectly capable of doing it, because he’s taken one bottle from me, and he happily guzzled 4oz from a bottle for my friend at the weekend. But apart from that one anomaly, for me or his dad - nothing.

I have to go back to work in about 6 weeks and I haven’t been able to leave for more than a couple of hours for the last few months; it’s driving me absolutely crazy.

Did anyone have a bottle refuser and manage to turn it around? I’m pulling out my hair here Sad

OP posts:
VanellopeVonSchweetz99 · 31/07/2018 21:33

Sippy cups never worked for us I'm afraid.

madrush · 31/07/2018 21:37

My dd went straight to sippy cups at 6 months having refused all bottles from anyone. I sympathise - trying the bottles and listening to the screams is miserable. Hope you find a solution quickly.

Prometheus · 31/07/2018 21:41

When DS1 refused to take a bottle (I was due back at work) I simply left the house (no milk smell) and it took about 3 hours of screaming before he realised that he had to accept a bottle from from DH or die of thirst. If you have a partner who can hold his/her nerve then it's most likely doable.

Bringcoffee · 31/07/2018 21:43

My LO refused bottle (except for the very odd occasion like you’ve described) until this month (6 months old). Two things that I think helped. More regular offering of the bottle rather than just once a month etc. And also my LO has a dummy, we found if we quickly took dummy out on him waking and slipped bottle in he’d be tricked into drinking from it before he noticed what was happening Grin
We found mam newborn bottles best, I think a lot of BF babies prefer a slightly slower flow when they are young compared to FF who are used to bottles.

cameltoeflappyflapflap · 31/07/2018 22:06

I struggled finding a bottle my son would take but I found breastflow (not even sure if you can get them anymore) but that was what he liked.

InNeedOfALieInNow · 31/07/2018 22:09

Was coming to say the munchkin latch. Second was a preemie who they would only allow us to take home if she would take a bottle (🙄). The latch worked and I tried quite a few

gg96cgp · 31/07/2018 22:17

My LO rejected all bottles- tried numerous types - until I left the house for a few hours when she was 4 months old. Slammed a 5oz bottle with dad and never looked back. In fact she rejected me shortly thereafter!

hannahbanana2007 · 31/07/2018 22:26

Have you tried giving a bottle while the baby is still half asleep ('dreamfeed')? My second refused bottles for months but if I lifted him into my arms about half an hour before he was due a feed anyway (but was still asleep) and then put the bottle in his mouth he would really calmly start sucking and drain the bottle. After I had done that a good few times I tried when awake and he took it without much fuss.

spugzbunny · 31/07/2018 22:27

NUK with a latex teat. It's fantastic! Also warm the bottle and keep trying!

museumum · 31/07/2018 22:30

My honest advice having been where you are is give up.
Train him with a sippy cup (we used water first while it was messiest) and start food a week or two early.

My ds went to Nursery at 6months having not taken a bottle and was totally fine. He drank water from a cup and we gave him porridge made with ebm as well as normal food and he was happy. I bf morning and evening (and once in the night too till 10mo).

MairyHole · 31/07/2018 22:47

We tried just about every type of sippy cup and every type of bottle. Tried doidy cup. Tried cold, warm, hot. Tried expressed milk and formula.

In the end, at 7 months DS started taking a little bit from MAM bottles. He likes his milk HOT so we actually use a thermometer (above 42 degrees and he'll drink it). I went to work and after 8 hours he cracked and drained a 7oz bottle. He has never refused one since.

MairyHole · 31/07/2018 22:48

Oh and I am still breastfeeding now at 11 months. Cold turkey was not my ideal option but I don't believe anything else would have worked. Naturally I had to express.

paperjunk · 31/07/2018 22:50

DD1 never took a bottle. When I went back to work she had a bf first thing in the morning and last thing at night. At nursery she'd have formula from a sippy cup.

DD2 - munchkin latch worked after a few tries - she didn't like expressed bm but took formula, although at home she'd only accept the bottle from me.

Good luck!

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 31/07/2018 22:52

I think a friend of mine recommended feeding baby on their back on the changing mat rather than cradling them. No idea why.

Stealthtoast · 31/07/2018 22:54

Another vote for Nuk with the latex teat! Also once our dd started eating and got used to different tastes and textures it got better. About to start trying with bottle refusing ds!

Iused2BanOptimist · 31/07/2018 23:15

Mine totally refused bottles. In the end we started solids sooner than I would have chosen. Went to work, leaving DH, expressed milk and baby. Came back, she had consumed 3 1/2 bananas. He said she seemed hungry so he gave her more. Amazing nappy Confused Luckily I was only working 2 1/2 days a week. We staggered through the full days on bananas and made up for it the rest of the time. I breastfed for a year, then she stopped. She's always been very determined, a life trait!

Original poster
Bottlepanic · 31/07/2018 23:30

There are so many things here to try, thank you all. I have a feeling he’s going to be a stubborn little so-and-so just given the way he is with other things (getting him to sleep anywhere other than on me is a whole other nightmare!). I never realised how easy my older one is until now!!!

OP posts:
Mammyloveswine · 01/08/2018 00:08

My lb will onlu take the latex nuk bottles! I tried every other bottle but he loves these!

PunishmentSnart · 01/08/2018 00:23

Not read full replies sorry but we used MAM. Thinking about it I doubt it’s the shape of bottle or teat of different bottles it’s prob coz baby prefers breast. Keep persevering - he (and you) will get there! He won’t let himself starve! What worked best for us was DH bottle feeding, when I was out of the room at first. Good luck Star

Cineraria · 01/08/2018 00:37

My younger one wouldn't take a bottle (he got annoyed that what he thought was a milk flavoured teether kept squirting him in the mouth) but as soon as he'd worked out how his hands functioned (around three months, I think) he would mug me for the Nature Bond pump and swig the milk from it directly. If he couldn't get his hands on that before I'd emptied it into an Avent breastmilk storage pot, then they were fair game too. We gave up on the bottles and just gave him expressed milk in the toddler's basic Ikea beakers and as soon as he'd realised that closing his mouth after sipping and before swallowing was a sensible move, he was well away. Until then he dribbled loads.

Blue25654 · 01/08/2018 08:50

We only had success with nuk bottle with their Latex brown coloured teat. Good luck.

NotSoThinLizzy · 01/08/2018 08:57

So with my wee guy it's wasn't the bottle that was the problem it was the milk he hates formula and express3d milk but will happily take water and cows milk 😂 in any bottle

Hillarious · 01/08/2018 09:38

I went back to work when DD was 7 months old. We never did manage a bottle, but went straight on to sippy cups, and I moved the breastfeeding to each end of the day, ie she wasn't having milk during the day, but water and solids instead.

The Avent bottles that we did buy, and not use for feeding, are now being used 20 years on for transporting liquids for picnics - the rubber seals used in place of the teats make them perfect leak proof containers and I don't know why Avent haven't moved on to marketing their products in this way! People are a bit Confused when DH takes an Avent bottle of milk out of the work fridge for his coffee Smile.

Malbecfan · 01/08/2018 09:46

It's a while ago now but our DDs' nursery worker was adept at this. She would face the baby into the room where there was something exciting going on, so they had their back to her. Then she would offer the warmed teat of the bottle. The distraction really helped and they would absent-mindedly take it. Once they were sucking properly, she would turn them round into a more conventional hold (but she was really experienced at the "back to her" one). She said that a TV screen worked just as well. Another tip was for it to be Dad, grandparent or another person (not mum) feeding with a bottle. The baby knows mum's scent and feels fobbed off as s/he associates mum smell with food.

Jamonrye · 01/08/2018 09:49

Previosly EBF DD refused the bottle for weeks until I tried taking her out of the house away from her mum and feeding her in the sling under some shady trees. With a bit of bouncing and cooing she took it first time and has had a bottle every day since. Moved from expressed BM to formula with this method too. Using a Nuk. Now I look forward to feeding her twice a day. Best of luck!