from nipples to bottles; is it too late??

[Mingles]

My dd is almost 12 weeks old and has been soley breastfed. How do I introduce feeding with expressed milk in a bottle? Last night I tried giving her some cooled boiled water and she had no idea what to do with this thing in her mouth and cried her eyes out. Is it just a question of her slowly getting used to sucking from a teat, or have I left it too late? I don't need to go back to work so there is no time pressure (otherwise I would have introduced it sooner). Thanks!

If you are going to try the bottle then give her EBM (expressed breast milk) instead of water. Lots of babies will reject water initially, even bottle fed ones. Get someone else rather than you to give it. Try warming the teat as well. I personally started a breast feed then once they were sucking took them off and popped the bottle it Not how the books say to do it. Babies who are hungry will suck a bottle or take milk out of a beaker or off a spoon. You would be able to go out without her starving. If you are not going back to work I wouldn't worry too much about introducing a bottle at all.

I tried introducing expressed milk with my dd (now 5 months) but she would have none of it. I then had to go into hospital for 3 days when she was 15 weeks and I really did not want to take her in with me as I was too ill to look after her and I was so dehydrated my milk dried up anyway.

My husband and cousin were left with her and she took a bottle from them without any problem!! I just carried on breastfeeding when I got home and my milk came back in.

She still will not take a bottle from me but I have to admit I have not really perservered. I went to Hoar Cross for the day two weeks ago and she survived on bottles with my husband all day then and was fine.

All that is probably not much help but the conclusion is that I would possibly get someone else to try whilst you go for a quick walk so she can't smell you!

I could never get my dd1 to take a bottle and had difficultly getting ds and dd2 to take one. I have seen these boob shaped bottles though and they look like a really good idea to me, I don't know anyone who has used them though, so I'm not sure how good they are.

Look here for details.

It's not too late. A friend of mine had to do it to go back to work and she just persevered. Agree with Mears, start with EBM. If she's having breastmilk she won't need water anyway. Wait until she's hungry (but not starving) before you try again - and ideally, get someone else to offer, as others have said.

Hi Angiel - I've just bought one of these bottles - (same problem as you mingles) - it hasn't arrived yet but I will post when it does. Just worried that dp will feel a real tit (ha ha) using it in public!

I just want to be able to go swimming etc sometimes without being tied to dd. She has taken a bottle in the past but on Saturday (in that heat) only took 2 oz when I went out for the night, when I got home she emptied a breast without drawing breathe!

I had terrible problems getting my dd to take expressed milk from a bottle, nearly gave up, but was returning to work so the pressure was on - here's what I did.

We first gave dd a bottle of expressed milk at about 10 weeks - she took it beautifully, so we thought that's that and didn't bother again for a month or so. From 4 months on she just wouldn't have anything to do with it - screaming, wriggling in arms etc. So ....

From about the age of 4 1/2 months, I introduced a daily bottle session. I chose the 10:30am feed (having last fed at 7am, and having just woken from a nap - so calm but hungry). I would put on the same soothing music and walk her up and down the room with the bottle in her mouth. When she got upset I'd cuddle her and get her calm and then stick the bottle in and try again. Keeping walking seemed the best way of keeping her calm. She didn't suck at all for a couple of weeks, then gradually would take 1/2 oz but no more for another week. Then suddenly one day she drank 3 oz, another few days of messing about and then about 3-4 weeks after the new daily regime she started taking the milk successfully all the time.

When she failed to take the milk initially, I would stop trying after about 10-20 minutes. Give her a break by playing with some toys for quarter of an hour and then breastfed her. I resisted feeding her immediately after failing with the bottle, as I didn't want her to think "if I don't take the bottle, I'll get the breast". Not sure how clever babies are, but you never know

I kept up practise sessions with the bottle every other day until she went to nursery 3 days a week at 6 months.

Also I used the No 3 (fast flow) avent teats, where the milk drips out a bit into their mouth, as opposed to the slow flow ones where you have to suck to get anything at all. The milk dripping into dds mouth seemed to give her the idea of sucking!

Good luck. You can do it - if you're stubborn enough!

Perseverance is definately the key. I tried every type of bottle & teat under the sun, but eventually got lucky with the Avent soft spout. After some advice from people on Mumsnet I first used it without the non-spill valve in it - very messy but it gives the baby the idea that there's milk there! After a while he started to suck on it, so I put the valve back in then, & he got the hang of it.
This took a couple of weeks, but we got there in the end!
There are lots of old threads on this subject if you want to search for them, for any further advice & to give yourself heart that it's a common problem, & not just you!

I introduced a bottle of warm EBM with each of my sons when they were about 10 weeks old. Agree with others that perserverence and some experimentation with teat and bottle is the key and don't expect that your baby will empty the bottle for a while. Mine only took a few sucks for the first few weeks, then as they got bigger and more hungry, it sort of clicked with them.

We used the soft beaker-style spout (rather than a teat) with DD from about 12 weeks, I reckon.

And do keep going - the sense of temporary liberation is fabulous, I can tell you

Ninja - do the boob shaped bottles ever turn up? I'd be really interested to find out how you got on with them, they just look so cool to me. Almost worth having another baby just so i could test them out!

I've got them but had 2 failed attempts (due to dp being inept rather than lack of interest!) I will be trying again this weekend so will give you feedback then. He did say she seemed interested before he managed to tip all my precious EBM all over the floor.