9 week old rejecting bottle

[somanymiles]

At 9 weeks by breastfed baby will no longer take a bottle of expressed milk if I am out. Took a bottle happily at 3 and 4 weeks and since then has rejected two bottles and reluctantly taken 1oz from a bottle twice. No real urgency but in July I am attending my best friend's hen party and was planning on staying the night with her and leaving baby at home with Dad. Advice???

We've been having the same problem with DD (7 wks). Just tried a NUK bottle and finally made some progress. There's a thread I started on them. Others have recommended another brand too.

July is quite a long time away as far as baby development goes. WIll she be about 5 months old then? She may be able to drink from a cup and may be happier to do so. I would keep trying the bottle from time to time just randomly - best if you go out of the house while someone else offers it. Really, so much will change within the next few months - don't panic about it now! :)

Dr Brown teats are apparently very good too, but yes NUK is a close replica of the nipple and many people swear by them. My DS has gone through refusal from time to time - sometimes they just want the comfort and closeness of BFing if they're going through a growth spurt or illness. DS started refusing from his dad but we had to persevere with that even though we had tears.

Keep trying and try different things too. Try getting someone else to give a bottle as sometimes they can smell milk on mum and want boob not bottle from her. Try holding your LO in a different position too.

We tried to introduce a bottle when our dd was 7 weeks old. The first two times, she sucked until the the bottle was empty. After that, and on numerous occasions, she refused to take it. There was lots of tears each time and in the end, I always gave in and offered her the breast.

After about a two week break, I was due to have a CT scan and wouldn't be able to BF for 24 hours. So, we really had to crack it. For 4 evenings, we decided not to give in and only offered the breast after she took from the bottle.

In the end, what worked for us:

1. warm milk
2. Warm teat
3. Different feeding position to BF ie. DD sitting in rocker
4. Fed by dad rather than me
5. DD was hungry but not too hungry

It was really difficult, and the tears were heartbreaking particularly because I almost felt that she hated me. But it is worthwhile perservering. Although July is a long way off, it's useful to know that someone else can feed your lo if need be.

Good luck - you will get there if you stick with it.

I have just got dd to take a bottle at 5.5 months. Like yourself, she took a bottle at around 4-5 weeks, but had bad reflux (long story but re lactated at 10 weeks) but then refused the bottle. I tried cups but she has a floppy larynx so struggled with them.
Anyway sorry I'm digressing. I found was that the tt bottles helped (even though she hated them at first) freshly expressed milk (so at right temp) and bottle straight out of sterilise (obv not too hot).