13 week old won't take a bottle

[ObiWanKenobi]

Hi. This might seem like a silly question when others have so more pressing issues, but I'm hoping someone can help me. I am breastfeeding my dd and that is going really well. But she won't take my expressed milk from a bottle. We've tried everything we can think of. Different teats, different teats sizes, warm bottles, cold bottles, with milk on the teat, without milk on the teat, when she is really hungry, when she isn't very hungry, etc.. We've even tried feeding in the dark.

Does anyone have any advice on how to encourage her to take a bottle? I'm concerned about when I have to go back to work (OK, not for a while but I'm trying to prepare).

Thanks in advance!

Hi Obi,

Sorry this may not be very useful! I tried everything to get my DS1 to take a bottle so I could go out without him, but he never would. It caused so much stress, I was so relieved when I decided to stop trying. I'm not planning to go back to work until ds2 is 2 so have decided not to bother trying this time, even if it does mean no real social life for a year! DS1 never did drink from a bottle until at 15 months old, just after I stopped breastfeeding, he picked up a bottle from a basket of sippy cups on a low shelf and gave it to me.

I went back to work when he had just turned 1 and by then he was fine to just have water in a sippy cup through the day and to breastfeed at night. How old will your baby be when you go back to work? She might be fine with just food and water during the day by then, or she might take ebm or formula from a sippy cup?

We also tried a doidy cup although he never took quantities from it.

I've heard it can help if you are nowhere near the baby while someone else gives her the bottle? Again, didn't work for us but you never know!