to try and go out when still bfing dd.

[Roseofsharon]

She won't take a bottle!!!! DD (nearly 10 weeks) has in the past taken a bottle of expressed milk but for the last few weeks has started screaming blue murder every time dh tries.

I have switched bottles from Tommee Tippee to MAM but to no avail.

Now I have come home after being out (for the first time since having dd) for an hour, as MIL cannot settle dd.
I have come back and fed her myself and she has instantly gone to sleep.

Should I accept no social life until dd is 6 months old, or can anyone recommend a bottle teat that is closer to a real nipple.

I think with the bottles you just have to keep persevering with different teats, sorry.
Although I admire your energy at going out at this stage!

Thank you StealthPolarBear. It is a friends birthday which is why I tried. I had forgotten how much I liked wine!

I guess I will persevere. It's not the end of the world if she won't take one.

ahhhh! You have my sympathy.I wanted to go out when dd1 was a few weeks old (and did) and found the discomfort of swollen breasts put a real damperner on things.

I never realised just how restricting breastfeeding would be. Found expressing impossible. Personally, I think no sociallife is the way to go but maybe some people who ahve cracked this 'problem' in a satisfactory way will come \nd tell you otherwise

hwoever, dds accepted any kind of teat

Thanks pointydog. I must admit I am finding it a bit restricting and weird dealing with the pressure of being the only person in the world who can look after dd.

I keep thinking what if something happens to me?!

On a more rational note I will just accept no social life for a few months.

yep, I found that notion very hard. I didn;t like it at all. I stopped breastfeeding dd1 at 10 weeks, mainly as a result of all that.

hwoever, I had a differnet mindset with dd2.

You could always try a cup, that's what they used with my newborn at the hospital when they needed to supplement the breastmilk. Worth trying if she won't take any bottle.

Try a 'Breast flow' bottle - you can get them in Mothercare. They have like a dual teat. My DS wouldn't take a 'closer to nature' Tommee Tippee bottle so we tried this and he wolfed it down. It's really trial and error but is worth persevering

We've had success with NUK bottles/tests for our babies when they didn't like other bottles.

Has she been left with MIL before? Might it be that rather than refusing the bottle?

I should get my head around it hopefully. I am going to keep trying with the bottle though.
I have got a glass of wine now so things are looking up.

Although should I be concerned that dh has stayed at the restautant even though it is my friends birthday

have a trial run, leaving the baby with dp for a couple of hours with a bottle. Keep in touch by phone.

My DD won't take a bottle either, she is now 10 months and still bfing. Thing is, at 10 weeks they're still wildly unpredictable about when they'll wake up and want a feed. But by about 16 weeks I was able to go out after putting her to bed (7.30) and stay out until 10.30 or 11, knowing she was unlikely to wake, and if she did so she could be comforted back to sleep without me feeding her. It's not an all-nighter, but at least enough time for dinner and a few drinks.

So... hang in there. Even if she never takes a bottle (and you should keep trying - it might work one day!), it won't be long before you can have at least part of the night out.

true, she'll start sleeping for longer periods at night (probably) and it will get a bit eaisder then)

I'll try those types of bottles. Thank you. One fo my friends mentioned the NUK bottles.
MIL has looked after her before and a few weeks ago dd even took a bottle from her.
For some reason she has decided not to accept them anymore.

they are funny, aren't they?!

Well I am in the no social life camp as DD would take a bottle from anyone willing to give it but would just not sleep without me (still won't at night and she is 19m )

However they are all different and if I had my time again I would have gone out more and switched off my mobile so DP could not drag me away half way through a steak and Chips.

Keep trying is my advice. I will next time!

DS1 aand DS2 tell me that Playtex nursers are very nipplelike... have you tried tasting your ebm in case it has that enzyme thing that makes it taste like soap when chilled then warmed? (I have it, just can't remember what it is called, jelly-for-brains).

suggest next time you have the wine a few hours before you go out - then hopefully dd will sleep a bit better for MIL!

We tried DS with a bottle of ebm at about 8 weeks and he took it just fine, but we didn't do it regularly and when we next tried (probably 2 or 3 weeks later) he was having none of it. And then didn't ever again, little bugger

Think that it's something they've got to keep up with or else they get out of the "habit" iykwim.

Am pg again and this one will be having ebm in a bottle from the earliest I am confident that bf is properly established, for just this situation- even if I don't actually end up going out at all through knackeredness (is that a word?) until he's 6 months old at least dh will be able to do one of the night feeds!

Thanks for the replies. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Hopefully I won't have a total bottle refuser.
Pistachio I will be counting down to 6 months if I do!

Swampster is that true about reheated EBM? I can't notice any particular difference. Is it subtle?

I have now purchased a NUK bottle so fingers crossed for tonight.