Do some babies just never take to teats?

[NoisyBrain]

Some time in the next few weeks I want to start giving my 4-week old ebf DS some expressed breastmilk from a bottle (so dp can do a late feed and my poor nipples get a break). Tried him with a bottle the other day and he just didn't seem to know what to do with the teat, so I gave up because he was getting upset. He has also refused a dummy on the three occasions we've tried him with it, apart from very briefly sucking it when we dipped it in infacol!
I've heard that some babies can be 'bottle refusers'. How common is this? What can I do to (gently) encourage him to take one? Any other advice would be welcome. He had an anterior tt snipped on Thursday btw. Don't know if this would have affected his experience with the bottle as I thought babies with tt actually found bottles easier. The bottle I tried him with was an Avent fyi. Excuse the slightly jumbled post, had a stressful evening with the lo!

Have you tried breastflow bottles? They have this double teat thing going on, which is supposed to be closer to breast feeding and reduces confusion. I mix fed dc1 very successfully with those. It makes a difference what bottles you choose.

here You can buy them in mothercare. Not cheap, but worth the extra bucks. Just buy one or two to start with and see how you get on.

Thanks, I'm willing to try anything that he might react to more positively. Honestly, you'd have thought I'd put poo in his mouth when I tried the Avent!

Some babies do seem to genuinely not be interested in artificial teats - my DS2 (after a brief foray into bottle acceptance at about 8 weeks) refused any and all bottles but has happily drunk EBM from a cup since he was about 4 months old.

DS took a bottle like a dream from 4 weeks, along came DD1, tried a bottle at 6 weeks, everyday for a week at the same time. No luck we tried avent, Tommee tippee, boots, cups, doidy cups she was having none of it.

DD2 is exactly the same despite a week of persistence when she was 6 weeks old as well. We also tried a bottle of formula last week when I had to have a GA. she spat it over DH and went 5 hours between feeds to have it from me.

My girls just prefer milk from the source.

Some mums swear by wrapping a bottle in a nursing bra to give it a familiar smell. Might be worth a try.

I should add, at 4 weeks you shouldn't be getting pain and discomfort in your nipples. It might be a good idea for you to seek out a breastfeeding peer supporter to get your latch checked and your little one checked for tongue tie or lip tie.

I went to a drop in bf clinic today and got some help with DS's latch. It does feel a bit better now, but he's still giving me a slightly wedge-shaped nipple. Maybe it'll improve when he's fully acclimatised to the tt snip. It makes me sad to say this but right now I really hate breastfeeding. The only reasons I've stuck with it for 4 & a bit weeks is because it's good for DS and it's free! I've always been bad at sitting still for ages which is unfortunately necessary when a feed takes over an hour, the cluster feeding exhausts me (he currently does it late morning AND late afternoon or early evening) and i feel stuck in an endless cycle of feed, wind, nappy change for a large portion of every single day. That's even with help from dp. Because of this I'm not enjoying my little boy as much as I could be :-( If I can just get him to take some feeds of expressed milk from a bottle I might just get the respite I need to find it all less arduous.

Oh Noisy, you sound very down. The first 6 weeks or so with a new baby can be really hard, but I promise it will pass and get easier.

The best advice I can give for now is to prepare for each feeding session - make sure you have plenty of food and drink close to hand, and make sure you've been to the toilet beforehand! Also grab the remote control and maybe a good DVD box set. Maximise the time you have to sit around. Otherwise get a good book or a kindle. I used these cluster feeds to cram my head with baby books. In hindsight, I wish I'd read a good novel.

You can never have too much help at breast feeding drop ins, either practical help to perfect your latch, or emotional support to offload how you're feeling. Keep going back - it's what they are there for.

You're doing a great job. Keep talking to us and let us know how you get on.

Thanks
I start each day quite optimistic but by the evening I'm worn down!

nancerama Sun 29-Sep-13 17:02:05
Some mums swear by wrapping a bottle in a nursing bra to give it a familiar smell. Might be worth a try.

^ This

Also try and work out a way of having the bottle actually in your bra, or under your armpit (just at first till he gets used to it) and hold him in the same position that you hold him for breast-feeding so that as much as possible of the experience is familiar.

So, I bought some Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles as they were on offer. Tried giving DS some expressed milk from one this afternoon using a variflow teat. It started OK, he played with the teat a little and chewed it then started sucking. However, a few seconds later he choked just like he does on the forceful letdown from my right breast. After that he was reluctant to suck again and got upset. He took a tiny bit more milk in his mouth but just let it run out and started choking again. Then the bottle started leaking and I gave up
What did I do wrong? I thought the variflow teats would be easier for DS and not deluge him with milk! He didn't reject the teat outright so should I just persevere until he 'gets' it? Feeling pretty disappointed right now.

I wish I could help. I did the same with my boy, although he was a bit older. I gave up. I couldn't be bothered with the faff.

I'm sure someone more persistent and patient than me will be along to help with bottle techniques soon.