Old chestnut: help me introduce bf baby to the bottle

[MorrisZapp]

I know it's a much asked question but I haven't the energy to do searches...

My DS aged 8 weeks is ebf, when he was born he had everything: boob, bottle, sippy cup, syringe and finally took to the breast.

Now at 8 weeks he is bitterly and angrily refusing to take a bottle. This is really upsetting me as I am desperate to have a few hours away from him now and then, and have expressed bm in the freezer which we are currently wasting at a rate of knots as we keep having to chuck it down the sink after he refuses it.

I can't bear this! I'm happy to be successfully bf after such a shaky start, but part of me wishes we'd scrapped it and just given the bottle from day one if he was going to later refuse it.

I'd love any advice at all about getting him to accept a bottle, what worked for you?

I would advise to just keep going, if you are still exressing try to freeze it in smaller amounts so you are not wasting as much. i have got the exact opposite problem and am trying to get my DS off the expressed bm in a bottle onto the breast, it has taken 8 weeks of trying everyday to convince him to latch on to me, but it is worth it as now he will take either without a fuss. Hope it works out for you x

Thanks drewsgirl, hope you continue successfully - I know how hard it is to get them on the breast.

keep on trying - and freeze BM in 1oz portions (or in ice cube trays).

best to get someone else to try when he can't see you. i also had more success (with DD only one of my 3 DC who resisted bottle) having her in her chair rather than in arms.

I think bf babies seem to do better with a latex teat rather than a silicon one imo. My eldest ds moved from bm to fm using the playtex bottle and a latex more like mother teat (i think it was called) and youngest ds a nuk latex teat.

Wait until he is hungry but not frantic and see if you can get your dh to give him a bottle?

I was wondering about teats - are the Nuk latex ones available online?

DP is convinced that DS hates bottle as it is nothing like a real breast.

these have never failed yet it is a pain to buy all the guff and generally you don't have to use them for very long, but my ds1 refused everything until we used the playtex one - it (apparently) extends in the mouth in a v sim way to a breastfeed.

nuk

Brilliant, thanks v much!

NUK bottles worked for us!

Breastflow bottles worked for us - often cheap in TK Maxx if you've one near you (also saw some NUK bottles in there recently).

what about the doctor browns? I am having trouble with a 13 wk DD. I think I really have left it too late. Iv tried DP giving it and my mum. She thinks it's funny. Then not so funny. I really can't forsee ever being able to leave her

Another vote for Nuk. Only bottle we ever got DS to take

I've ordered the NUK from amazon, but in the meantime we've had (the beginnings of) success by following tip from hv:

Start a feed on the boob, then unlatch and swiftly get the bottle in. We managed it tonight with a bog standard avent.

We'll keep doing it every night, hopefully will lead to DS happily taking bottle on it's own.