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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Getting breastfed baby to take a bottle

25 replies

Firsttimer1007 · 24/01/2014 19:26

My DS2 is just over 6 months and WILL NOT take a bottle (actually cries when he sees it in the kitchen!). I need to phase out bf as I'm going back to work in a few months, and when I did this with DS1 I had no probs so this is coming as a shock! He always had a bottle of ebm every night up until about a month or so ago when I cut this out and fed him myself instead in preparation for stopping bf ( I was expressing more than he was taking so cut out expressing to start to reduce supply).

So far if he won't take the bottle for me I just bf him instead, but if I go out he either eats nothing or cries unconsolably until I come back...

He is taking solids well but am concerned that as he is supposed to be getting 18-20 oz of milk a day that if I go cold turkey he will miss out on this, and also don't want to cause myself probs by not cutting back gradually.

He took 1oz from a Tommie tippee sippee cup when my mum tried it in desperation last night but that's not really enough...
Either formula or ebm the result is the same...

Any suggestions???

Have seen on here a few recommendations for a straw cup but when I looked them up they are recommended for older children, and I would quite like him to be able to take a bottle...
For people that have had the same issue was the final solution to just "wait til he is hungry enough then he will take the bottle"?
I have a bit of time to go slowly(ish) with this but am also conscious that he will be less amenable to change the older he gets...

OP posts:
cerealqueen · 24/01/2014 19:32

Go straight to a cup with a spout? Get somebody else to give him the bottle and go out (essential you are nowhere near)

Disguise bottle eg in an animal themed sock?

cerealqueen · 24/01/2014 19:33

Sorry, see you tried the cup. Try and persevere with it. Is it the temperature maybe?

Original poster
Firsttimer1007 · 24/01/2014 20:14

He likes the tommee tippee cup for his water at meals, but just can't see him taking a full milk feed from a cup...I have tried milk cold and warm, he used to be not fussy but in the last few weeks it seems he has woken up to the difference between breast and bottle and is very good at telling you which he prefers! And good at getting what he wants too...

OP posts:
dinkystinky · 24/01/2014 20:19

Ds3 took a week to accept taking a bottle. I had to express all feeds for him. It was inlky when he consistently took thge bottle without complaint I could phase back in bfing (as thge idea is to mix feed). He still has days (like today) where he is teething and outright refuses the bottle. He takes water from a cup and has 3 meals a day and 4 bfs evening night and morning so I guess Hes getting what he needs from them...

Original poster
Firsttimer1007 · 24/01/2014 20:24

Dinky did you have express all feeds because feeding both ways was confusing him or making him think he has the choice?

OP posts:
Starballbunny · 24/01/2014 20:32

Yoghurt
DD2 would drink juice out of a spouted cup from 7months, her opinion of formula and cows milk was a loud and unpleasant WHAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!

Gradually replaced over years with yuck and finally (aged 12) with

"Dear kind and loving sister will you make me a hot chocolate?"

Still doesn't drink milk, DH hates it too.

dinkystinky · 24/01/2014 21:16

Feeding both ways made him think he had a choice - remove the choice and he just took what was on offer.

Mochasaurus · 24/01/2014 23:08

I have had this "battle" with all 3 of mine & have only just cracked it with DD3 (8M) Perseverance has always worked in the end. Is it worth leaving it for a week or so then trying afresh. Also have you tried the rubber Nuk teats-they are much softer & "converted" DD2 & 3 to bottles (DD1 liked mam teats). Also warming the milk as much as possible without it being too hot definitely helped. Good Luck & keep us posted

tomatoplantproject · 25/01/2014 07:02

I spent a fortune on different bottles for dd and she ended up going straight to a sippy cup. I switched from bf to formula on holiday with my parents (mum is amazing at getting her to do things) and just made myself absent when she needed milk. I kept the night time feed until she was 1 though.

If you go straight to sippy cup you won't have the battle of getting her to switch off the bottle in due course.

Original poster
Firsttimer1007 · 25/01/2014 18:53

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, going to try again tonight with nuk rubber teat ...I'm sleeping in the spare room tonight with ear plugs so will see how dh and DS get on with bottles tonight!....

OP posts:
Milliemoo13 · 26/01/2014 12:32

Any luck last night firsttimer? I've heard good things about nuk bottles.

Original poster
Firsttimer1007 · 26/01/2014 13:17

NO!!! Although DH persevered until 6 so at least I got some sleep!! Cried as soon as he seen the bottle last night (woke at 2,5and 6) but settled with a bit of floor pacing. Scared now thought he might eventually give in and take it when he was starving...

OP posts:
McBaby · 26/01/2014 14:32

Try a doidy cup it's the only think my DD managed with.

naty1 · 26/01/2014 14:50

I was told don't need night feed at 6m so may not have been starving (although I did feed till 11m in night)
When was last feed before handover?
I had to go straight to straw sippy cup due to this issue. At 11m and she took to it straight away. If doing formula could you try premade as I think that has different spout?
Mine never took it even starving but lots must give in

Milliemoo13 · 26/01/2014 18:03

Oh no! Will get back to you if I have any luck with my LO, but so far it's proving a struggle for us too :( I also need to return to work so need her to be getting her milk from a vessel other than me!

jennimoo · 26/01/2014 18:18

Hope you crack it but you should ignore the ages on the straw cups, they are fine once they can sit fairly straight IME.

Original poster
Firsttimer1007 · 26/01/2014 19:13

Can I just check that by straw sippy cups do you mean one like the lansinoh momma cup?just looked then up on amazon but wanted to check that you really mean just a normal cup with a straw?just seems a bit 'advanced' for a 6 month old but might order it for a try...
Naty1 the last feed was about 10 or so, and I know he doesn't really "need" fed in the night but he prob uses bf as a comfort and it's been so handy to feed him back to sleep, but thought we would tackle one problem at a time!might be a good way of breaking the habit tho if he was only offered a bottle in the night!

OP posts:
jennimoo · 26/01/2014 20:31

My BFed DS started with a straw cup last week. He's getting the hang of it quite we'll buy only had 3 goes so far. He's 5m old today! I've used a straw cup from superdrug do far as no valve so eaY to suck but have ordered a couple of those momma ones as look fab.
My DD was a longtime bottle / sippy cup refuser and at 7m I discovered straw cups just in time for returning to work! She still drinks milk from the munchkin straw cups now.

naty1 · 26/01/2014 21:45

I think i have a red tommee ripper one. She did then go , backwards and accept a normal sippy cup a few months later.
I agree with the 2 things at once, unfortunately the use as a comfort is probably why they don't like cups :(

kimbobby2000 · 26/01/2014 21:56

Firsttimer, I am in the same position as you, I have tried everything since before Christmas and was getting so stressed it was making me ill! DS went 18 hours without milk the other day and in the end I gave up and gave him the breast...so if you can last out the crying for hours on end you are a stronger woman than me!

Do you know what though? Your baby will be fine whatever happens. He may not put weight on as quickly but its not going to end up a life or death situation (go with me on this, it is what is saving my sanity right now!) If you are only able to BF morning and evening and give more solids during the day, then so be it. Even if you stopped completely, things would work out ok. Some bottle-fed babies will refuse their usual bottle when they taste solids so its not unusual for babies over 6 months to take much less milk than we are told they are supposed to get.

You say you are going back in a couple of months, by which time he will be taking much more solids, and therefore probably be BF less. DS currently BF's 3 times a day, so in a month when I go back I'm sure he would cope with just morning and evening.

Good luck.

naty1 · 26/01/2014 22:06

I think I may also have tried squash (although I don't give her that now and she was older) in the cup or orange juice watered down as she liked the sweetness.
Have you given ON at all. I'm just thinking may adjust to that and you can switch it to milk.
If you can't get them to then I would refer to hv to see how much yoghurt cheese etc would be needed to replace it or if that was a really bad idea.

kimbobby2000 · 26/01/2014 22:10

Just wanted to add for others drawn to this thread, if your baby still has the rooting / sucking reflex and you are having trouble introducing a bottle, try this one...
habermanbaby.com/suckle-feeder

It allows baby to feed the same way as BF using the tongue to draw the milk in, its totally different to any other bottle I've seen and am really impressed with the design...I tried it, but left it too late with DS, I really wished I'd tried it when he was younger!

Might be worth a go!

Original poster
Firsttimer1007 · 27/01/2014 09:26

I agree it's stressful and I can't take the crying either! He bf's quite often in the day/night and often feeds to sleep. I had hoped introducing bittle would let me get a bit more routine but I am resigned for now that I'll have to go with the flow on this one (for a while...)
Naty I do give him a cup at meals with water/juice and he takes it well but wouldn't take more than an ounce this way unfortunately...
Think I'll go with someone's advice here and leave it for a few days then start afresh, and if that doesn't work I'm going to order a few straw sippy cups as a back up! (I could open up shop here with my selection of bottles and now cups that have never been used!)

OP posts:
Tala86 · 27/01/2014 11:30

I also struggled for weeks to get my DD to accept a bottle, the NUK bottles with latex teats (the yellow ones not the clear ones) were the only ones she'd have. Try giving her a bottle before hes hungry, if he's going 3hrs between feeds offer the bottle about 2.5hrs after the last feed. That way he won't be hungry but his tummy will be empty if he wants to drink some. He can also just play with the teat in his mouth without any hunger stress to get used to it. That was the key for me... just getting DD to realise that milk also comes out a bottle as well as a breast!

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