18 old baby won't take a bottle!

[Newmum2011]

Hi

My 18 week old baby has suddenly decided not to take her bottle. I have been breastfeeding from the start and from when she was 5 weeks old I expressed milk so her dad could give her a bottle each night. We have never had a problem with her taking both bottle and breast until a week ago she suddenly decided to refuse the bottle. We keep trying and she gets hysterical and I end up latching her on. Her dad is getting stressed cos he can't feed her and I'm getting stressed cos I was starting to go to an exercise class and meet friends etc but now I can't do anything cos I have to be on hand to feed.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Sorry - it should read 18 week old!

Try not to push it and stress LO out would be my advice. My DD did this at a similar age about the time I started to leave her sometimes (not sure it was a coincidence!). She got over it in a week or so. Make sure the bottle is offered - but not pushed - when you're not going out. And try to sneak out of the house without her noticing!

DS2 did this - took the bottle beautifully until 3 months then went on strike.

I'm afraid in the end we gave up and he was fully bfed until 8 months.

At that point we went cold turkey as I had to go back to work.

Sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear.....

DD got funny at this age, but was fine with a sippy cup

If it's once a week I would go out for a few hours to your exercise class/see friends, feed just beforehand and order DH to pound the street with her in the buggy until you're return. I'm sure at least one of them could be done with a 2 hour turn around so you should be fine anyway, then the other could be stretching it a bit.

Thanks for the advice! I changed the bottle and teat and instead of her dad giving her the bottle at bedtime I gave it to her during the day and she was fine! Seems to be ok...for now!