2 month baby refusing the bottle? Out of ideas?

[Delizhop]

Hi my baby girl is 9 weeks 4 days now. I’ve been breastfeeding since day one. We’ve had a couple of times I’ve fed her the bottle (pumped) and she’s been completely fine but it wasn’t a regular thing. She’s never liked dummies. Have tried.

Around 10 days ago I was at a family members and decided to give her a bottle so I could have a drink and she just refused. Crying until I gave in and breast fed. I have my partners and I anniversary this Saturday and we have somethings booked. As well as wanting time with just us for a couple of hours so she will be with her grandparents but we just can’t get her to bottle feed? We’ve tried everyday since the issue came up ten days ago.

I’ve tried tommee tippee closer to nature, I moved to a faster flowing teet. I then tried dr browns bottles. We’ve tried dummies again. My partner trying when I’m not in the room, when she’s half asleep; when she’s starving, when she’s not that hungry NOTHING will work. I even tried squirting it in her mouth with a syringe while the bottle was in. Tried freshly pumped, cooler, warmer. A warmer teet, a dark room, a quiet room, out of the house, in our bedroom. Me not there, me there. And nothing

The moment it’s in her mouth she screams like you are hurting her. Not forcing, not even touching gums just screams or she holds it and refuses to suck. If the milk does go in her mouth she spits it out. I’m really at my end? I would love my partner to have daily feeds for them to get a closer bond and us being able to celebrate our anniversary but I don’t see that happening? She would rather starve than have the bottle.

Anyone went through something similar? Did they get over it or not? Any tips?

Neither of mine ever took a bottle. They would accept beakers/cups once they were around 10m though.

Have you tried a Beak it's a type of cup that has an angled jug like spout and baby uses the same suckling action as on the breast. The nicu used them for my ds (premi) until l was well enough to breastfeed .
I can't link to them but they are definitely called Beaks

Two bottle refusers her too unfortunately. One would take COLD breast milk from a bottle for a while, I'd pump, put bottle in fridge so teat was cold also. Once it warmed at all he would refuse.
The other never took pumped breast milk or formula no matter what we did. Would happily take water from a sippy cup (munchkin miracle 360) so rely I could only leave her a couple of hours at a time until she was 6 month ish and weaning.

DD2 would not take a bottle. I went back to work p/t when she was 18 weeks old. My timetable meant that she was in nursery for around 4 hours. She had also just started solids - NB this was 19 years ago. I apologised profusely to the nursery nurse who was a grandmother herself and the epitome of calm. When I went to pick up DD, she was sitting on the nurse's lap guzzling a bottle happily.

The trick she used was to face DD away from her and distract her with all the activity in the room. Then she wafted the teat in her direction and DD just took it. She claimed it never failed. When we got home, DH tried it in front of the TV and again she was fine. Might be worth asking your DH to try when you aren't in the room so she can't smell the milk.

Some babies just won’t take bottles. No reason why you can’t get pissed whilst breastfeeding, so long as someone sensible around to make sure you don’t fall asleep feeding the baby!

Pretty soon they will be able to go for much longer stretches between feeds so you can go out for an evening and then they’ll be weaning and drinking water from a cup and everything gets easier.

With my son I waited until he was settled on the breast and did a quick swap. That seemed to work.

Ds2 flat our refused a bottle, so he wasn't away from me until he was eating and able to use a sippy cup. It seems like a long haul at the time, but it passes. Ds1 would take a bottle happily from anyone else, but not me. Neither would have anything to do with a dummy. May be get someone else to try when you are not in the room?

I breastfed my children and remember getting a bit obsessed with the bottle issue with my 1st. Some babies will drink expressed milk from cups, it was the only other option one of mine would accept.
Don't stress over the issue, I remember relatives loved to see this as a problem and a negative aspect of breast feeding.I think you should regard it as a compliment for how well you're managing feeding your baby.
Try a cup but I'd be really careful of over trying bottles, tests, dummies etc as your baby is feeding in the best way they can.

well done with the breastfeeding, OP.
If your baby's grandparents are calm types and happy to potentially have a screaming baby for a couple of hours go out and have a lovely time with your partner. Your daughter may be cross but she will absolutely fine and as others have said she won't starve.

However, if you are going to spend the whole time worrying about her, either take her with you if the venue is OK with that, or stay home, get a takeaway and delay the nice meal till she is on solids. And don't worry about having a couple of glasses of wine and breast feeding either, it's fine!

Well, the general advice is that you're OK to drink when breastfeeding- look it up. Mine never took a bottle after about 10 weeks. If wanting a drink is your only issue it's not much of a problem. WRT babysitting etc, they're more likely to take a bottle if they know you're not around.

My baby wouldn't take a bottle XXX I just don't go out XX

TV in a dark room and the munchkin latch bottles 🤣 this was my sisters tip from her little bottle refuser- the munchkin bottles and mesmerising Ben and Holly were enough of a distraction apparently! I took my sisters advice and have given one bottle a day since pretty much the start at a consistent time and we had no issues (Mam bottles and dummies worked for my DC)

Have you tried cup feeding, its used as an alternative for premature babies who can't suck.

I had success with the Minbie bottle. Introduced it about 12 weeks. No nipple confusion. Breastfed & bottle fed expressed milk for months. Introduced formula when she started weaning & now she's combi fed.

My son refused to take a bottle. Plus he refused all solid food until he was 8/9 months old. We finally got him to drink from a sippy cup at about 13/14 months old, but there was only one particular cup he would drink from. Which then broke one day. Ah, good times!

Mine wouldn't take pumped breast milk but would take formula from my husband. We did give her the odd bottle if we were out at something and I wanted a drink

I would love my partner to have daily feeds for them to get a closer bond

Not feeding won’t affect the bond your partner has with your child. There are plenty of things he can do to get a closer bond, feeding is only one. So don’t worry about that.

Tbf i found mixed feeding and bottles an utter pita with my first. Expressing, sterilising, fretting about getting her to take them. So with my second I didn’t even try and it was much easier.

It’s only five or six months. So if your baby is 2 months you’ve only got 3 or 4 to go. Not long. Once they move to solids it’s much easier to get a break as they can have cereal, or yogurt, or milk from a sippy cup if you’re not there.

It’s far easier to just bf imo.

Tried everything. Every type of bottle and test (there are some that look like boobs even). Feeding in the bath. From a cup. From a spoon. Putting one of my used breast pads over the end of the bottle. Getting my husband to feed them when wearing my t shirt.

Strangely both of mine took the odd bottle til 3 months old then stopped completely.

Honestly it was so frustrating and depressing and actually the second time I gave up trying a lot earlier and just accepted I was going to be tied to the baby for a few months and was a bit happier.

It honestly seems like such a big deal at the time and then when you've stopped it just gets forgotten. A bit like birth.

I also night weaned both of mine at 7 months so I could at least go out after they were in bed and drink etc and have a lie in if my husband gave the baby breakfast as soon as they woke up.

You could always join a Facebook breastfeeding group and ask if anyone is getting rid of any breastfeeding friendly bottles so you can try some different kinds without shelling out more money. But honestly I'm not sure it's worth the trauma.

I had dc1 who never ever took a bottle (I breastfed until 17 months and I don’t think she’s drunk milk since) she just wouldn’t even consider it despite my best efforts. Dc2 was bottle fed from day one (mainly due to my experiences with dc1). Dc3 was mostly breastfed but would happily take a bottle if I wasn’t there and loved his dummy (right up until age 3 ). They’re all different! Personally I’d get a rain check on your anniversary plans as it sounds like it’ll be more stress than it’s worth.

I have a bottle refuser, took one bottle of EBM at 3 weeks and then never again. Now being weaned he will drink water from a NUK bottle and drinks well from an open cup but if I put EBM in either it just gets dribbled out or rejected! Totally gave up as every time I offered a bottle he would screamed as if it was poison! Now he’s weaning I can leave him for slightly longer periods of time which I plan to gradually increase as I continue to increase his solid intake, it’s tough as up until 6 months I hadn’t had more than about an hour to myself but I just stopped letting it stress me out and excepted he was never going to accept a bottle!

I had a bottle refuser, we tried every bottle and every trick in the book.
Sorry I have no helpful advice but you are not alone.
9 weeks is still teeny tiny baby I would just keep trying if I where you with the hope one day they make take it.

Try holding her in a different position than you would breastfeed her in. So sit her on your lap. Looking out. Lean back against the sofa /chair a bit so she's slightly reclined. I know it's hard to see to get the bottle in, but worked for my DS on the few occasions we tried. It's like they accept its different.

Otherwise I have a small drink and feed. I prefer not to because drink second time round it wipes me out.

Forgot to mention, when we introduced the bottle we did the same feed everyday with it. The odd bottle here & there wouldn't have worked I don't think.