Breastfed baby won’t take a bottle? 2 months

[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?

In a few months there will be much less need for a bottle anyway as they might have sippy cup, doidy cup, yogurts etc. I know it's overwhelming now but honestly, this period of time will be over in a flash

Another good bottle recommendation is NUK bottles with the latex teat- the teat is an orangey colour. They are really soft and more like a nipple, but little girl took these after refusing everything that wasn't a breast for weeks

You can get one in Sainsbury's if you have a local one, about a tenner x

What (eventually!) worked with our little bottle refuser was a latex teat rather than a silicone one - think it was more like a nipple in colour and texture... Nuk do them pretty cheap so worth a try, although as anything with babies, YMMV!

Oh and also, this might have already been said but get your DH to try giving a bottle a little while after a feed, so baby isn't really hungry. It'll be less stressful for everyone

Crosspost with @Sally7645 - glad I'm not the only one who found the Nuk latex ones useful!

I have EBF both my children and not once did either of them ever take a bottle and certainly not for lack of trying.

In my experience (related to my job), the bottles that are best for getting EBF babies to drink from them are the good old, cheap, shops own brands.

The teats are long and soft - just like nipples. The softer the teat the more comfortable and malleable it is in their mouth, just like nipples. And the further back the teat goes the more it stimulates the suck reflex.

Also, if you haven’t been doing so, use the Paced Feeding technique (lots of videos on YouTube) as this also replicates breast feeding, and is also much safer.

My first was the same, no matter what or how we tried she just wouldn't take a bottle. I really felt miffed about listening to breastfeeding support who had said not to try a bottle until 4 weeks so as not to interfere with milk supply. I wish I'd done both from day one.

As soon as DC1 was 6 months we introduced the sippy cup with formula and slowly weened. As soon as DC1 was used to the sippy cup I got some independence back. Still woke for feeds at night - but then DC1 started sleeping right through when I stopped breatsfeeding... With that in mind, I'd try night weening first this time.

With DC2 we introduced a bottle early with great success, but then lockdown came and I thought what's the point.

I do have a drink now and then - baby seems fine

@TheBestSpoon

Crosspost with *@Sally7645* - glad I'm not the only one who found the Nuk latex ones useful!

Game changer!

My first was breastfed and when he was about 8 weeks I tried a bottle and exactly as you describe, he acted as though I was trying to kill him.

I'm afraid he never had a bottle. It just wasn't worth the upset for him or for me. We went straight to sippy cup at 4 months for water.

With the second baby, I didn't even bother trying.

It's such a relatively short time, and not bothering with bottles also means not making them up, cleaning them, sterilising them, and (worst of all) being caught with a hungry baby and no bottle!

On the bright side, I didn't have any of the problems my friends did weaning them off dummies..

We had the same issue. It just took a lot of persistence and will power from my partner - I couldn't bare her crying and would always give up! My partner would take her upstairs and try with her each day. We set a 20 minute time limit - after that we would stop because everyone was miserable. My partner wore ear plugs (our daughter has a VERY shrill cry) and he very patiently just tried again and again and again to offer her the teat. After four days she would accept just having the teat in her mouth but wouldn't suck. Then it was just a gradual process from there. After a week she would take about half the bottle, after 2 weeks she finished it every feed. I also hear mam bottles are very good for breastfeed babies but Tommy Tippee did it for us. Good luck op!

All mine were bottle refusers. My mum had a bit of success giving them a drink in a cup for them to sip, but they never took a bottle.

My second was a bottle refuser, and a cup/beaker refuser for milk. She did eventually drink water from a sippy cup.

I fed her until she self weaned at 15 months.

I had to go out for a day - she had started solids, but wasn't a great eater either. She refused all milk offered in multiple ways all day. She was absolutely desperate by the time I got home. I didn't leave her again for more than a couple of hours!

Mine wouldn't take a bottle until 6 months. It's just one of those things.

I’ll give the nuk bottles a try as my final attempt! I’m glad I’m not the only one with this! (But also feeling sorry for you guys!)

Honestly I’m so annoyed. Constantly being told not to give a bottle until breastfeeding is established so 6 weeks to avoid confusion and then reading how to give a bottle and it says you should try since day one?! Why was I made to feel guilty to give her a bottle if actually I’m fully taking the option away?! So annoying

Unfortunately neither of my babies would take a bottle or a dummy. My nephew will go all day at his baby sitters without milk rather than have a bottle (he's older so will have water in a sippy cup). You can still drink and BF as long as you don't get drunk. I'll have a glass of wine, then a soft drink then another glass of wine. Refusing a bottle is common among bf babies unfortunately.

Neither of mine ever took a bottle or a dummy as babies at all. DP had to give DD milk from a sippy cup when I went back to work at 6 months, which was quite messy but along with a bit of solid food, it kept her reasonably happy until I got home. I took 8 months maternity leave with DS so it wasn't an issue for him, as he could drink quite nicely from a cup by then.

Before introducing solid food at 5/6 months I basically just didn't leave them for more than an hour or so. Yes, it was quite annoying!

DS did however try to take up dummies at 1 year old after seeing the other toddlers at the childminder's using them - peer pressure haha. No way was I letting him at that stage, though!

Mine never would either...
He thought dummies were playthings and used to like the 'plop' noise when he pulled it out of his mouth. He never sucked one.
I never found a solution so I hope you have better luck.

By the way, the alcohol in your milk is the same as in your blood so you can safely have a drink or two without your baby getting any alcohol from your milk. It would be 0.0something %.
The specific danger of drinking and breastfeeding is getting so drunk that you accidentally fall asleep and smother your baby. Basically nobody should be drunk in charge of a baby, for obvious reasons, but you can drink a small amount without any issue.

I had this with with my first baby just before I had to return to work at 5 months. It was so upsetting! In the end I just had to keep trying every day at the same time, if she didn't take it I wouldn't let her get too upset and then just have a 15 min break before breastfeeding her. Perseverance was key and also consistency, I would stick with the same bottle rather keep trying new things. With my second I made sure she had a bottle every day from about 3 weeks so we didn't have the bottle refusal issue. It's a bit of a nightmare and the ultimate mum guilt trigger!

Another vote for minbie teats. Tried about 4 different types before them and still had to persevere for weeks to get him to accept it. Was starting with childminder at 5 months so had to get him using bottle but was exactly as you describe at two months! I did one feed per day (afternoon) from a bottle and if he didn’t take it he didn’t have it and tried again in a couple of hours. (Very hard work!) If he even took a mouthful that was a success! One day he just guzzled the lot! I then still fed one feed per day from the bottle to make sure he was getting the hang of it. Took several weeks to get him to accept it though. Keep trying if you need to, give up if you don’t! good luck!

We waited until our DS was six weeks before trying a bottle as we were warned about nipple confusion because we'd struggled to get him to latch. He refused. We tried everyday, spent a fortune on different brands; he took the NUK as pp mentioned a few times, but then stopped taking that. What eventually worked for us at five months and another baby in my NCT group was the Lansinoh bottle with a size three teat. It still took a few attempts and lots of distractions but worked in the end. We are fully bottle feeding now at ten months as TTC.
I'd recommend trying regularly, but not offering breast straight after refusing so they aren't linked and I'd offer straight after a nap so baby is chilled out. Do you have some mum friends that can also lend you different bottles to try so you aren't spending lots of money on bottles you may not use?
Good luck!

This makes me so cross, the advice not to give a bottle at all until 6/8/12 weeks or whatever, like you'll ruin breastfeeding if your baby has a bottle pass it's lips. It's nonsense. I BF both of mine, and also gave once daily bottles of EBM from very early on and they never had nipple confusion. They happily breastfed and also took bottles from Dad etc when needed.

I wish the BF advice wasn't so all or nothing. If you're able to express (I know some women can't) or even if you want to give formula (but this can mess with supply) then I would always advice a new mum to give a bottle once a day - it gives you options that way!

Good luck OP I really hope your baby takes one for you! If not I'd not lose too much sleep over it, annoying as it is, this time will pass in a jiffy.

Just wanted to add that my now 7 month old DS refused every type of bottle and teet, and a dummy. I was so stressed about it when he was about 3 months but with lockdown it became less of an issue as had all the time in the world to BF.

Tried him with a bottle out of interest a couple of weeks ago and he just accepted it and same with dummy! Although now I’m not so bothered about it which is typical! It seems some babies just prefer the breast and nothing else will do until they’re ready unfortunately!

Thank you for all your advice! I’ll give it a couple more goes! Thanks