Bottle refusing

[Pandasandmonkeys]

Help help help!! My 5 mo DS is EBF and has also been given expressed milk in bottles from 2 weeks old. He is a fab feeder and a very big healthy boy and has never had a problem switching between the two. Last week he started getting fussy with a bottle and now he won't take it at all.

Today I tried the 'going out and leaving a bottle' tactic, leaving him with my mum and a bottle, I was away over 4 hours and he refused the bottle completely. He didn't seem too fussed when I got back and was sleeping - went over 5 hours without a feed in total - a first!!

I absolutely must get him back to taking bottles as I'm back to work in may and am planning to continue breastfeeding until he's at least 1. Any ideas how to get him back on the bottle?!

I'll be watching this with interest as I'm in exactly the same boat with my daughter.

Anyone?

If the problem doesn't solve itself I would be thinking about ditching the bottles and using a sippy cup instead. As he's not far off 6 months and will be getting the hand to mouth coordination thing sussed now or soon.

He's pretty good with the hand/mouth co-ordination. I'd thought about the sippy cup but I was wondering if that would be as comforting as the bottle for when dh shares the night feeds?

My DS is only 3 months and has never really taken a bottle I've been advised to try him with the tommee tippee explore cup. One of my friends tried this too and it worked for her! I've bought said cup but not used it yet so can't give feedback but could be worth a try?

DD is 9 months and has never taken a bottle. But she is beginning to manage a sippy cup ok (the sort with one hole in the spout rather than two). She doesn't drink much - at nursery she just has some gulps of water, and then feeds hugely off me during the evening and night But it's progress at least! We use the cheapo Tesco first stage cup.