breastfed baby + refuses to take bottle

[40nanny]

hi,my 6 month refuses to take a bottle, he is breastfed, i did have him on the occassional bottle, but now refuses it at all, + still up few times for feed in night, any advice how i can get him to take bottle or a cup(what kind is best?) im thinking iv neverr going to be able to go anywhere if wont go onto a bottle help!!

No but I'd love to know the answer. THis comes up alot on here. My DD refused a bottle always. Just tried to introduce one for 8 week old DS and despite taking 20z the other night now won't do it again. It is very stressful for DH trying to feed a bottle he doesn't want and DS clearly is stressed about it too - wriggling and crying. Thing is I need him to have one by months as returning to work.

I think you just have to use trial and error for the different cups and teats. Costs a fortune though in discarded and useless bottles!

DD is 9 months and refuses all bottles. We are having some luck with a basic Tommee Tippee Sippy cup though.

Yeah we started with a beaker at 6mo, by 8 months was drinking milk reliably from that. I gave up trying to get him to take a bottle.

thanks for the answers but god knows what i will do as was hoping to go out to work part time, also will just have to put up with feeding him myslf thru the night as when took the bottle slept longer!! i wish i had known that you had to keep using the bottle now and again to get him used to it!!

I found that I was topping up with formula until about 4 months and got paranoid once he started refusing the bottle that he wouldn't sleep so well, but by 7 months he was sleeping through on just boobymilk anyway - I'd been worrying for nothing. Try not to stress - it'll work out.

I've gone back to work and DS is 9.5 months - I feed him before I go in the morning and when I get back from work, and at 2pm he has a defrosted pouch of expressed. I then express at work to freeze for the next work day. This works fine at the moment, but I won't mind not having to lug my expressing machine in to work!!!

have you tried cold water out a sippy cup? maybe he will do better if he thinks its a totally separate thing and not related to milk IWSWIM

get a non spill cup so he can play with it

my youngest never took a bottle either and he has survived to the age of 4 1/2 years

needing a night feed is totally normal for a 6mo

A friend of mine is having some success with a Doidy cup. Her baby will not take any bottle - won't even have the teat in her mouth.

My baby previously would take a bottle on occasion but has now decided 'no more'. Have just bought a 'Breastflow' bottle from Mothercare but not tried it yet.

I'd also try the doidy cup. My DS wouldn't take a bottle but learned to use a doidy cup with sufficient ease for me to be able to leave him overnight when he was 7 months old.

My now 6 month old DD has never been offered a bottle but, like a previous poster's baby, drinks water from a basic Tommee Tippee sippy cup. Am planning to see if she'll take milk from it too - expressed first (as I reckon it helps if the contents of the cup are what they're used to) and then perhaps formula.

TBH I don't think I'd bother trying to get a 6 month old to take a bottle if they haven't previously (or have rejected it). There are plenty of cup options out there.

Good luck!

i had the old bottle refusing too (just looked up my old thread entitled 'bedtime bottle refusenik' at christmas!) i had some success later on when i let ds hold the bottle and play with it - as long as he was in charge he would drink from it. but that didn't last long and he was soon refusing it again!! i went for the doidy cup option and it was fine ... good luck