Another 'I can't get my breastfed baby to take a bottle' thread (11 weeks)

[Orchardbeck]

My Dd2 aged 11 weeks tomorrow will not drink from a bottle. When she was 2/3 weeks I started giving her a bottle of expressed milk (if I had some) or formula if I didn't as I knew I had a wedding coming up and my parents were looking after her.

After the wedding (she had taken the bottles fine) she got a bit of a cold and refused to take a bottle - she hasn't drank from one since, almost a month ago.

We initially tried her with Tommy Tippee CTN bottles which she hated (my first daughter used these and switched no problem). I had a tiny Medela bottle with my pump so I tried this and she drank from it no problem so we used these ones.

After she started refusing I tried different teats, NUK standard and wide neck, latex and sillicon on breast feeing nurse's advice - no joy. Also tried Avent Classic, sainbury's own brand, tesco own brand sillicon standard neck and some Griptight latex standard neck. She does have a small mouth.

Bought the Medela wide base teats which had to be imported from the US as they don't make them here - she didn't mind them and would at least accept them in her mouth. On two occasions she seems to have sucked in some milk but no more than half an oz.

Has tried making the milk hot, changing rooms, walking, rocking, all these at once, hubby giving her her bottle, in the bouncy chair, both grandmas giving her it.

The problem I have now is I can't leave her with anyone as they are reluctant to try giving her it in case she cries and I guess they don't want her to associate them with crying, so I'm stuck to keeping trying on my own.

Does anyone have any more ideas? She knows how to suck as she has done it before, she will accept the teat in her mouth, she just refuses to drink up. Health visitors aren't that bothered as I guess it is better for them if I am EBF ing! They can't understand why I am so stressed out about it.

Are you persisting every day? We found if we had a break of even a couple of days we were back to square one. We had no choice as I needed to go back to work, but I have to say if I had been able to stay on maternity leave I wouldn't have bothered weaning to the bottle. They eat solids soon enough, then they are much more portable without you. Dreading it with the next one.

Thank you for replying! I think you are right, if we stop even for one day it is worse! Health visitor said to give it a break over the weekend but I knew that wouldn't help. It's so frustrating, she looks like she is latched on properly so is comfortable with the teat size/shape etc, she just won't suck and swallow.

I tried nipple shields again yesterday to see if it was the sillicon that was the problem, she used them fine for ten mins or so then got totally mad (they did get caught on my bra after a while and came unstuck which is probably why). Still no joy today.

I really don't want to wait until weaning, but I guess it's looking more likely!

I had the same issues as you, although I must admit I gave up easier. I ended up EBF until he started on solids and honestly it wasn't that bad, but then I don't really go out much anyway.

Now at 9 months he's just starting to get the hang of a tommee tippee cup.

Sorry that's probably not what you wanted to hear.

DS2 was like this, he eventually took a NUK bottle with a latex teat. It took about 6 weeks though. I got DH to try give him a bottle every evening, I'd go upstairs and get DS1 sorted for bed and read him a story while DH had a go. (maybe you can go for a bath or shower while your DH does it) . It was better he didn't hear or see me while DH tried with the bottle. I'd also feed him for about 5 minutes before handing him over to DH, so he wasn't too hungry and didn't get too distressed. Good luck! :)

Thanks for your help guys, we have hit a massive turning point! I bought some of the Avent Natural bottles as they were on offer in Asda's baby event - they are so similar to the Tommee Tippee ones (that she didn't like) that I had written them off before.

Got home, sterilised, filled with EBM and lo and behold - 2 oz downed straight away, no messing about, no pushing away from me. Could not believe it. She was even doing the little tongue movements she does when BF ing!

I tried again at next feed to make sure it wasn't a fluke - 4oz taken! Then in the evening i tried with formula to see how that would go down, whilst I expressed - yep, 4 oz of formula too! We can go out to a dinner dance now!

Only problem is I have no idea how much milk to make up for her (bm or formula) as don't know how much she's been drinking! I only feed one side at a time due to oversupply and express 5oz each time so I'm guessing it's slightly more than that. Just have to keep trialling.

Neither of mine would ever take a bottle.

Is there a reason you can't just EBF?

I'm glad it worked Orchard :) I'd say 5 oz sounds about right, maybe if you are leaving her with someone for a few hours leave a few 5oz bottles just in case she needs more.

I assume the reason you want lo to take a bottle is that you want a little time away from her sometimes without worrying about rushing back? A few hours time to myself a couple of hours a week is what made me breastfeed for so long in the end. If I hadn't been able to get out for a swim or meet a friend then I don't think I would have managed to keep it up for so long.

That's exactly it, I just want to be able to do something on my own if only just once a week (ride my horse in this case) without worrying about being back in a three hour timeframe.

We went out last night for a few hours and left her with her grandma to stay overnight (who just lives up the road) unfortunately she decided not to take the bottle from her and we had a phone call at 5am this morning to go and feed her as she had had nothing since I fed her at 4pm the day before.

So I'm not sure what to do next - she obviously knows how to drink from a bottle, she just chooses not to. My plan is to keep trying with expressed bm, forget formula and see how we get on - trying not to 'give in' and breastfeed.

Good luck orchard, hope all goes well:)

Thank you for your helpful contribution to the thread nevergoogle.

We've given it a break over the weekend but I'm going to try again today... Fingers crossed. I know she can drink out of these bottles so am sticking with them for now.

Sooo, we've had a bit of a revelation - I ordered a Playtex Drop ins Nurser from Amazon and she took two feeds from it yesterday - it looks as though the teat is not as important as we thought, and it is more to do with the airflow stopping and starting that annoys her - would that make sense?

Anyway they are bloody awful things to look at (remind me of dolls bottles when I was a kid!) but if it works and if we can get her used to taking something we'll be ok.

Out of interest it looks like the playtex teat would fit the Avent Natural, but I guess the airflow would be different then. Am also waiting to try Dr Browns, Breast flow and vital baby natural.

The other suggestion my OH made was that by giving the Bottle to someone else to feed her is making her more anxious about the bottle, so I'm going to keep on giving her them for now until she is comfortable.

I am watching with interest, sorry I have nothing helpful to add. My 4 month old is the same and I now have a growing collection of bottles she won't drink from! We're about to try sippy cups next.

I'm glad it's slowly getting better for you. 6 month old dd refused bottles after taking them for a couple of weeks. She also decided to refuse dummies at the same time. Never got her back onto either. She is now doing well at weaning and can just about drink from a couple of different sippy cups and we are planning our second lot of a few hours away from her since she's been born. To go to Ikea

My 8 month old stopped taking a bottle at 11 weeks, we still havent found one he will take. Out of interest what sippy cups do people use?

moomins I've brought two to try this weekend. One is tommee tippee and one is super market own brand. I'm not going to hold my breath!

[Grin] its a pain isnt it, l want to go out next month for my friends birthday

She took a 5oz feed from the Playtex nurser again today! Am really pleased on one hand, but on the other I just wish she could have picked an easier bottle... Have had to order more liners from amazon, plus I have to measure the liquid out in a different bottle then tip it in, and they look a bit old fashioned (should I really care though?!).

Anyway onwards and upwards! Maybe this one will get the habit started and perhaps she will choose one of the others in time...!

That's great news. I wouldn't be worry what it looks like, just think of your freedom! You can actually..... Leave the house....... Alone! I'm so jealous.

That should be worried not worry.

Clueless, I can't get too excited yet, she'll only let me feed her at the min! I'm hoping once she is more confident with it she'll ease up as I'm no better off at the min, and having to blinking sterilise everything!

Argh! It's soooo frustrating isn't it.