bottle rejection - help!!!

[angfirsttimer]

My DS is 4.5 mths old and has had a bottle of EBM on and off since birth. He had a phase of being bottle fed for dream feed every night until we stopped this feed about 8 weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago I thought I had better introduce bottle regularly again so started with EBM he was initially sceptical but was taking one feed a day of EBM, I then introduced half EBM half formula and again initially objected but quickly took the formula.
After his last jabs a week ago he was very unsettled and so did not have time to do the bottle thing for a couple of days, but last weekend he had a bottle at bedtime because it was hot and he was very thirsty and my supply was low, he took this no problem.

Since then however he has point blank refused the bottle. He either screams when it is put in his mouth, or plays with it in his mouth for a while until he gets really hungry then he cries. What is going on??!! I could understand if he had never had a bottle but he was happily taking a week ago.

Can anyone help?!

Hi - I don't have any magic solutions for you I'm afraid - other than to say you have to persevere with it and do it regularly so that your ds doesn't forget about the bottle. Both of mine rejected the bottle point blank for months and never really took to the bottle until they were fully weaned from the breast (10 mo). I know some people manage fine mixing breast and bottle though so it's not impossible. Just keep going with it and it will happen eventually.

Yes this happened with our DS too at around the same age if I remember correctly. It lasted for about a month & (because I was home & could do so) I just persevered once a day with the EBM bottle (which he refused)& just exclusively breastfed for that time. At some point he just started taking the bottle again & then for about a week he refused the breast & just wanted bottle. Go figure .

I would say if you were giving one bottle of EBM a day, just persevere with that but not to the point that your baby becomes unhappy & it becomes a battle. If he doesn't take it, just breastfeed him. He will most likely take the bottle again someday soon. I wouldn't try more than once a day, because you then run the risk it goes the other way, ie he starts rejecting the breast (as happened with mine!) Most likely though all will be fine very soon as long as you persevere a bit.

My DS is 16 weeks and I'm trying to wean him onto bottles. He took them no problems until a couple of weeks ago and now he's really not keen. He also does the sticking his tongue out thing so last night I started to BF him, took him off and slipped the bottle into his mouth and he took 4oz. I think that the key for us is to make sure that he's hungry enough for a bottle so today I've not topped him up with a BF at all during the day and he has taken 2 6oz bottles with no problem but did launch at me with extreme excitement and relief when I got my boob out at bedtime