Have I left it too late to introduce a bottle?

[nancerama]

My DS is nearly 14 weeks old and EBF. I love feeding him and have no intention of stopping breast feeding any time soon, but I'd like to introduce a bottle of expressed milk a day so that I can leave DS and DH together from time to time while I pop out.

Tried expressing at the weekend and got around 4oz in 10 minutes. So far so good, I thought. Unfortunately though DS couldn't work out how to feed from the bottle - his mouth kept filling with milk, but he didn't want to swallow it and he kept holding his breath.

Is there anything we can do to make him more likely to accept a bottle, or have we left it too late?

Hello

This may not be the answer you're looking for, I found that neither of my daughters would accept a bottle at that age. They did exactly as your son is doing.

I suppose you could take it as a compliment, you're the best

Childpatch

Have you thought about cup feeding? Info here.

Aah the only downside of EBF... It's in the name Exclusive.

Hi there, my DS is 14 weeks too and I've had the same problem, I also experienced this with my DD three years ago so i was kind of expecting it! For the past week I have offered him a couple of ozs of breast milk after his morning nap from the bottle, I don't do it as a "feed" as such more as play time putting bottle on lips making faces with him, over the top smiles and giggles if he sucks and swallows!, day by day he is starting to "get it" and took 2ozs this morning! At first he did exactly the same as your son spitting milk out, his face was fabulous when he realised he could suck and swallow. I have found by treating it as fun we haven't had any tears. I did the same with my daughter, she would always only take a couple of ozs if I was out though, enough to stave off hunger until mammy is back think. I did however switch her to bottles at 6 months without a problem. By the way I have found the variflow teats best with my DS, that way milk doesn't drip out he controls it. Good luck!!