How can I get my 3mo DD to take a bottle?

[redandyellowbits]

DD3 is 4 months old and is exclusively breast fed. I have a 5yo and a 3yo to care for, and am shattered.

I want to give DD a bottle of EBM occasionally but she will not take the bottle. She chews on the teat and smiles/gurgles away but will not suck. I have tried both Timmee Toppee and Avent bottles, and tbh I don't want to buy any more bottles as its only for the occasional feed.

Does anyone have any tips for persuading my DD to take a bottle? At the moment she wont take from me or from DH.

Has she been taking bottles up to now? If not, then she may never take a bottle - some babies are perpetual bottle-refusers, especially if they weren't introduced at an early stage.

She has taken just one or two - both from DH when I had left him at home with her.

But now she won't take one even if she is really hungry. I've also tried to give her the bottle when she is not hungry, so she is not stressed or tired when trying it, but no joy. She just plays with it in her mouth.

Does this mean I can't stop breast feeding now until she is old enough to drink milk from a cup? I'd really like her to take it so I can have a small break from feeding every now and again.

Well, it's worth keeping trying.

Put some sugar on the teat, and in the formula/ebf.

Gradually reduce this when she's in the habit.

It works.

I feel your pain - I also have a 5 year old, 3 year old and 6 month old that won't take a bottle. Am afraid I don't really have any words of wisdom as we haven't persuaded the six month old to take a bottle yet, just wanted you to know that you're not alone.

FWIW - I had the same problem with DD2 and repeated attempts to get her to take the bottle totally backfired as it got to the stage that she cried when she saw it. We did eventually get her to take a bottle though - what we did was back off for a few weeks (as much for my sanity as anything else as I was getting as stressed as her by the constant attempts). After a few weeks had lapsed we would hold it near her about an hour before a feed was due (so she was hungry but not starving), and let her do all the grabbing trying to put it in her mouth.

The reason we haven't had any success this time around with DD3 is because once it became apparent that it was not going to be as straightforward as it had been with DD1, I decided that in the general scheme of things I'd find it more stressful to keep expressing and going through the repeated attempts than it would be to accept the lack of a break (and she's my last baby so I don't mind so much :-).

Good luck!

P.S. I did see in mothercare that Medela have a new type of bottle that is supposed to imitate breastfeeding. I haven't tried it so no idea if it works but thought I'd let you know in case you hadn't seen it.

You say it's only for an occasional feed, how often are you talking? If it's not looking like it will be easy, personally I wouldn't bother.

I'm having exactly the same issue, ds2 is 16 weeks. Medela doesn't work, bloody expensive mistake! Tried the sugar thing on a dummy but never thought about bottle, might try that. No real advice but watching thread with interest as I would dearly love a few hours off!

I agree if it's just for the odd occasion then it may not be worth the bother. You do have to do it regularly (probably daily) otherwise they just go back to refusing.

I'm afraid I introduced a bottle to DS at 9 weeks old and, at almost seven months old, we have officially thrown in the towel, as have the nursery he goes to who have a heretofore untarnished reputation for turning around bottle refusers. Wouldn't entertain the idea and we tried millions of fucking expensive bottles. He feeds hourly during the day and two hourly during the night so I feel your pain. The little sod darling knew exactly how to use them but consciously wouldn't - he got to the stage where he'd take it happily when I handed it to him, upend it daintily into his mouth by himself, smile prettily with the teat in his mouth, suck a little bit out then spit it at me. And then I'd cry. Given the age of your DC, I'd suggest going straight to a cup or beaker. My DS isn't taking full feeds from them yet but we're getting closer than we ever did with a bottle, I think because the milk flows more freely into his mouth so he has to swallow or he'd drown. I also don't think it would work for night feeds as they need the sucking as much as anything then, but maybe you can get it working for daytime?

Oh no, I was planning on offering a bottle to my dd (9 weeks) this weekend (after I buy a bottle and a pump tomorrow!). Didn't realise it might be hard to give it to her...

If DD is 4 months - try a sippy cup?

catwoman - might be worth borrowing a couple of bottles to see if your DD will take them before you buy?

Good thinking ZuleikaD.

I want to try a bottle to allow the odd afternoon off (dd likes to feed 2 hourly) but I am going to make real effort not to moan if she doesn't as much better this way round than for poor mums who ave struggled with bf their lo's. I love bf!

Hi OP
My DS was the same - took a couple of bottles of ebm quite happily at 6 weeks then refused all attempts thereafter.
I finally got him to take a bottle at 4 months. Now at 5 months he has 1 bottle a day and for me it was worth persevering with because I know he wont starve if anything happens to me!!
What worked for me was expressing every 3 days and storing the bm in 3 or 4 small individual portions. This allowed me to offer a small bottle every single day without having to find time to express and without the heartbreak of chucking loads of perfectly good milk down the drain!
Pick one type of bottle (MAM worked for me) and stick to it. Offer it every single day without fail but stop the minute DD gets upset.
Assume it wont work for awhile and let DD muck around with it as much as she likes ('helping' to hold the bottle/chewing teat etc). I used to sit DS in his bouncy chair and he thought it was the best game ever!
Making it a more positive experience and lowering my expectations really did the trick.
Good luck!

catwoman if your dd does take a bottle make sure you carry on giving it from time to time. My DS took one no probs so I assumed all was well and then several weeks later he flat out refused. I've had a nightmare trying to get him to accept it again. I love bf too but knowing that he can take a bottle gives me added peace of mind and, IMHO, it's a skill worth having!