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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

6 month old bottle refuser - best approach?

27 replies

Stumbleine · 14/05/2013 16:40

dd has never accepted a bottle but to be fair we've never given it a 'serious' go before. I am due to go back to work in 6 weeks so clearly need to get things moving!

Weaning is underway but fairly slow going (she isn't keen on having much except a breast in her mouth). She has begun to accept a few sips of water from a free flow sippy cup.

We have only ever tried the Tommy tippee closer to nature but have heard good things about the mam bottles? So my question is - is it better to be consistent and keep plugging away with the sippy cup (trying milk in it)? Or should I try alternatives i.e. mam bottles, doidy cup in the hope that one will just click?

Is it even realistic to expect to get enough milk down her at 8 months of age using a cup rather than bottle?

We are trying formula btw as I am struggling to express.

OP posts:
dontstopmenow · 14/05/2013 17:01

Hello, I am sorry that I cant be more help - my dd also refused a bottle and we tried every day from when she was 4 weeks old. I tried every single bottle for sale, seriously, I have about 20 and nothing worked. We also tried all the tips and tricks like getting someone else to feed her when I was out etc. I even left her for 8 hours with my mum and she still refused a bottle all day long! I went back to work when she was 8 months and as she was weaning anyway I just got the person looking after her to put milk and dairlylea cheese triangles into everything she ate and hoped for the best. The health visitor suggested this. To be honest, I had no choice but to do this. I would then breastfeed her in the evenings after my shifts ended.

Sorry I couldnt have a positive story but hopefully you can avoid wasting money on every bottle going!

Original poster
Stumbleine · 14/05/2013 17:41

Thanks dontstopmenow. I also work shifts so won't even be home until around 9p.m.

OP posts:
leedy · 14/05/2013 19:57

"Is it even realistic to expect to get enough milk down her at 8 months of age using a cup rather than bottle?"

Totally - a friend of mine's DD went straight from breast to sippy cup, and my DS2 is looking like heading the same way. DS2 is a fan of the Doidy but am thinking of trying something more lidded.

MrsHende · 14/05/2013 20:03

I'd go straight to the sippy cup.

I could have written your post a year ago! We just stuck to the sippy cup and she soon took more and more from it. She wasn't taking much though until I actually went back to work and she had no option. I had trouble expressing so when I wasn't there she had formula and when I was there she breasted. I carried on with the breast feeding for about a month after I started work, to ease the transition for us both. We went fully onto formula after that (took a while to find one she would take, ended up on Hipp) until she was 1 then to cow's milk.

Best of luck!

Original poster
Stumbleine · 14/05/2013 20:37

Thanks, good to hear some success stories too! At the moment I cannot imagine how she'd manage any volume from the cup as she.literally just lap a bit of water.

OP posts:
CandyPop · 14/05/2013 21:30

Not much advice but thought that you'd like to know I'm going through exactly the same thing with my 6 month old. She seems to take doody cup slightly better than sippy cup.

Is it worth continuing with sippy cup? She doesn't seem to like the spout in her mouth? (Sorry op for slightly changing subject!)

Original poster
Stumbleine · 15/05/2013 11:01

Oh I'm just so frustrated I could cry Sad . She just won't entertain it. Have been trying formula in the sippy for a couple of days and she hates it. How will I get to work at this rate??

OP posts:
ChunkyPickle · 15/05/2013 11:09

Try straws? - DS never did figure out any kind of feeding cup, we went straight to straws/straw cups from about 5 months..

Gurke · 15/05/2013 11:19

OP I could have written your exact post (and almost started a thread myself on this...) DS also simply will not drink from a bottle - any bottle, offered by any person, in whatever surrounding we've tried. Hmm I am also panicking as I'm due to go back to work soon, which will mean missing bedtime on 3 nights a week (not back before 9pm).

Friends I've talked seem to be convinced that DS will figure out how to use the cup in time. (I cant see how, but they are upbeat). So I've stopped trying bottles, and am now introducing the doidy cup & a soft-spouted NUK cup during meals when he eats his solids. So far so good: he's not really drinking yet, but at least seems happy to play with it and have the odd sip.

A friend suggested I use a straw cup, since this worked for her DD, but I haven't tried that yet.

So I really share your panic, I'm in the same place! Hope you find a solution (and please let me know if you do Grin!)

NotSoNervous · 15/05/2013 11:22

I'm in the same situation but my dd use to take TT bottles then one ay refused then after trying almost every other bottle out thEre she started to accept NUK bottles then one day refused them. She has a sippy cup and can suck but as soon as anything goes into her mouth it startles her and she spits it out so I'm at a dead end too Hmm

Original poster
Stumbleine · 15/05/2013 11:27

So good to have some solidarity! (but sorry you're all in the same position). It would be good to keep.posting with any successes etc Smile .

OP posts:
laterplease · 15/05/2013 11:47

All 3 of my children went straight onto training cups at 4 months when I returned to work, bypassing the bottle stage totally. I still fed them in the evenings until they got fed up - all around 8 months. I found they used the cups much better (ie drank more) when I wasn't around to offer them another option. Keep trying with the cup and see if getting someone else to be there and give it to them rather than you helps - they are quite canny even from very early where Mum is concerned. Good luck.

PoppyWearer · 15/05/2013 11:59

OP, I went through this with my DC2. I went back to work when she was 5.5mo, complete bottle refuser.

I spent those last few weeks of my maternity leave in tears as she refused and refused and refused, I was convinced she would starve at nursery!

Of course, it was fine. She continued to refuse, taking big feeds from me morning and night, and the nursery plugged away patiently, trying the bottle every day, and at 9mo, she finally cracked and took it!

Anyway, she managed fine, didn't lose weight, took milk through other sources like porridge, cereal, yoghurt, cheese, etc, and slept fine at nursery.

Please don't stress about it too much, but talk to whoever will be doing the childcare for you and make sure they are prepared to help you!

Good luck.

P.S. FWIW I tried every bottle going t the time and Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature were the ones that finally worked!

MrsHende · 15/05/2013 17:22

Have you tried different formula? I tried about 4 or 5 till I got one she would take.

(I'm sure you have but couldn't not check. Please ignore this if you have!)

Original poster
Stumbleine · 15/05/2013 19:42

MrsHende - do you know, I haven't actually tried different formula! I guess I just assumed they're all much the same.

OP posts:
PoppyWearer · 15/05/2013 21:38

Not all formulas are the same, apparently some are made with curds and some with whey or summat (sorry to come over all Little Miss Muffet but this is how a health visitor explained it to me).

General consensus amongst my friends and I is that our babies preferred Aptamil and Hipp.

Original poster
Stumbleine · 15/05/2013 21:41

The curds and whey are the difference between ordinary and hungry baby.formula irrc. In terms of taste I hadn't thought of there being much difference Smile

OP posts:
Gurke · 15/05/2013 22:02

Have you tried to give her a bottle or cup with ebm? Even if you don't want to end up doing it regularly it could be a useful experiment to see how she reacts - if she drinks it then you know it's about the taste!

Btw, I think expressing can get easier with time if you try regularly, and if you have a good pump.

I've ordered some straw cups for my DS today and will report back on whether any of them might be the answer.

tumblebug · 15/05/2013 22:05

Hi, both of mine were bottle refusers, I went back to work when both were 7 1/2 months. With DS I was really anxious about it, much more relaxed second time.

I didn't try (or at least not very hard!) to introduce formula for either before they went to nursery, but made sure they were doing well on solids, could sip some water and eat large amounts of yoghurt. Sent them to nursery with formula and a sippy cup. Much easier for someone else to feed them when you are not available.

Within a week or two both were taking what they wanted (a good amount - at least 100mls). Also happily taking from DH and other relatives when I am not around.

I still feed DD (nearly 9 months) mornings, evenings, during night and on days I am at home. Fed DS to 13 months.

DD uses either a tommy tippee, or she quite likes the silicon spouted NUBY cup.

Whatever you do, enjoy the rest of your maternity leave, and try not to worry too much - it will be fine!

NotSoNervous · 15/05/2013 22:43

My DD will suck and empty teat, she will entertain a tiny bit of milk but put te milk in the teat and then you have problems Hmm

MrsHende · 15/05/2013 22:52

It was Hipp that my DD took too, and nothing else!

I bought a ready made carton of every kind in the supermarket and just kept trying. Might be worth a shot?

Winetime1981 · 16/05/2013 05:53

I had a bottle refuser. Dr Brown's bottles worked for us. We tried a lot...

Babygirlpw · 16/05/2013 19:30

I could have written your post three weeks or so ago! My dd was a bottle refuser despite having expressed milk from a bottle in the early weeks. She did eventually take a bottle, initially it was a mixture of expressed milk and formula, warmed up. I think warming the milk was key-I hadn't been warming the milk nearly as warm as she likes it. She's been taking the mixture for two weeks now, and today I stopped mixing in the breast milk and she's fine. It still needs to be warm though.

NotSoNervous · 16/05/2013 20:10

Anyone tried the NOBY bottles? Someone told me there teats are nipple

Gurke · 29/05/2013 20:22

An update: we've now tried a whole series of cups and bottles, and the two we've had moderate success with are:

  1. the NUK free flow spout learner cup
  2. the mOmma straw cup with two handles.

DS can take sips from them and seems to like playing with them (which is an improvement over the screaming terror when other cups or bottles are brought near him...). He's still some way off drinking whole feeds from them, but I hope he'll get there before too long.

I know there is no one solution for all bottle-refusing babies, but I thought I should post this while I'm in a vaguely optimistic mood, in that hope that this will work for some of you. How have you been getting on, OP?

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