Could really do with DD2 taking a bottle now...

[TrinaLuciusMalfoy]

Anyone any suggestions how I can encourage DD2 to take a bottle? She's 11mths and still BF (taking solids too obviously) but I cannot get her to take a bottle, formula or expressed. She's waking three times a night and I need DH to be able to deal with her as I'm so exhausted right now I could cry. DD1 took a bottle from 6wks with no dramas but DD2 just doesn't know what to do with it. I've tried normal bottles, Avent wider teat ones, sippy cups, even feeding her with a syringe but all to no avail - if it's not out of mummy she's not having it!
(She's also cut a top tooth which is slowly but surely wearing a hole in my nipple and she's started biting. Desperately want to wean her off altogether but don't want to do that if she's got no other source of milk)

Try holding the bottle teat right next to your nipple at first. This worked for my DH when he was trying to do the odd feed. We used the tommee tippee teats but think my dd was younger than 11months.

Worth a try though. Good luck.

At 12 months old all drinks are supposed to be from cupsnit bottles so nit wirth pursuing the bottles really.

Does she drink anything with her meals eg water? How does she drink them? My 8mo DD refuses all sippy cups but happily drinks from a normal plastic beaker, have you tried that?

Typos! Nit = not!!

Dont know if it helps, but I was in the same place as you with DS, and it was SO stressful. HV advised stopping BF him, and that when he was desperate enough he would take a bottle ( but I waited 7 hours and he didn't.)

I tried everything, but then came up with Chicco Psychological teats and he took to them straight away.

If she is 11 months, I wouldnt worry too much .. she will get liquid from yogurts etc...

Good luck... I know its really worrying... I have 2 dc and can honestly say that the weeks spent trying to get DS to take a bottle were the most stressful period of motherhood I have experienced so far!

I would be tempted to bypass a bottle completely and persevere with different cups. Have you tried only offering water at night? I know that has worked for quite a few people on here and has reduced the night wakings or eliminated them completely in quite a short space of time. In a few weeks she will also be able to have cows milks so that might make a bit of a difference as well?

She has drinks with her meals in a cup - but most of it ends up all over her/the chair/the floor/the dogs/her sister and I don't know how much she's actually taking in. If there's milk in the cup it goes straight on the floor, there's no interest at all.

I've left her a couple of times (gone out for 14/15 hours) and DH says she's refused all attempts to get milk into her: she waits for me to come home and just has a MAMMOTH feed.

Nursery managed to get her to take a full four ounces of formula a couple of weeks ago, but never since. I'm at my wit's end with her.

i used doidy cups - they have a higher lip on them and seemed to be much easier for my DS to drink from. they are cheap as well, so might be worth buying one just to see if that works.

Some babies just won't no matter what you do.

DD was one of those. I tried EVERYTHING as I went back to work part time when she was 9 months old.

She didn't drink much from a sippy cup either, only a few sips of water every now and then. And she absolutely refused cows milk / formula.

She's still a stubborn little madam now and she's 5

I just made sure I added liquid to her meals, and she survived on 2 or 3 massive breastfeeds a day until I stopped feeding her altogether.

If she's 11 months old she shouldn't need feeding at night - obviously she may want milk for other reasons like comfort etc, but she shouldn't need it for nutrition and should be able to last till early morning without a feed. Could your DH trying comforting her without feeding her?

This is what we thought. May just start telling DH to deal for a few nights, see if we can break her of the habit. She was ill last week (major vomiting for days, GP almost completely uncaring...) so I'm not begrudging it her too much at the moment as she's still not 100% (and probably still replacing fluids) - but the three times a night isn't new so I'm not prepared to let it go on past tonight!

If she still waking 3 times milk then actually she still may need a night feed.
But you could try cutting it down, say dropping a feed every few days by sending in your DH in at certain times.

Remember 12 hours is a long time to go without fluids, most adults don't so why should such a young baby.