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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

DS won't take a bottle!

11 replies

Tiny1 · 18/03/2004 13:58

My ds is 12 weeks old and refuses to take a bottle, no matter what type of teat I try. I have tried EBM and he won't even take that. He is a big baby (10lbs5oz at birth!) and has started waking much more frequently at night. I wanted to introduce a bottle of formula at the bedtime feed in the hope that he will go longer. I also have an 18 month old so do need my sleep!
Also, in the last few days my milk has been quite low in the evenings and he seems to get very frustrated. He has not been an easy baby to feed as he doesn't like feeding from my left side and the flow is very fast which he has problems dealing with so it has always been a challenge. Feeding my dd was the same although I managed to do it for 6 months with her.

Any advice please?!!

OP posts:
Rhubarb · 18/03/2004 16:12

Absolutely identify with you Tiny1 - do we have the same baby???? Mine is 3 months and also very heavy. He is still waking at night and we've been trying to get him on the bottle for his last feed. I've put formula in there and breastmilk, but he fusses and frets over it and only takes about 5oz, meaning 2 wakes in the night instead of one. If I fed him on the breast he would only wake up once, but his last feed is split from 10pm - 11pm which is the only way we could get him to sleep until 4/4.30am. But this means that I don't get to bed until 11.30pm, then I'm up at 4am and again at 6.45am. To give me a break we thought dh could give his last feed whilst I went to bed early. But he simply does not like that bottle!

Sorry I can't help, I can only emphasise strongly at the moment!

lavender1 · 18/03/2004 16:49

Tiny1, cor that's exactly how I was with ds, he just didn't want it..he didn't sleep through the night at 12 weeks more like 6 months, as was a guzzler...sorry but don't have any useful advice to give...when ds was 18months I had dd who didn't want much milk...but she still awoke in the night...tbh all can say is that it doesn't go on forever and he really wont take it then maybe he's just one of those babies that likes being all snuggled up with you...regarding the "I need my sleep"...do they sleep during the day so you can out your head down...(can remember feeling very tired and house a complete mess when mine were that age...but we don't have to be superwomen)...hope you're alright and can get some advice for this problem..sorry can't be more help

hockeymum · 19/03/2004 09:54

Hi

When my dd (now 18 months) was about 12 weeks, I wanted to start supplementing her feeds in the evening because my milk supply was low. She would not take the bottle at all so I bought one of those Avent soft spout cups, took out the valve (I've yet to meet a baby who can suck through that) and poured it into her mouth. She absolutely hated it, but got the hang of the fact that it solved her hunger and that she was not getting breast milk until later (which gave my milk supplies time to improve for the bedtime feed). I found that she then had a lovely long feed at bed time and would sleep through the night.
When she went through wakeful times at night I refused to breast feed her and gave her the cup. She soon learned that she wasnt going to get any comfort from a breast feed at night and take a bit more in the day (helped by my increased supply) and slept better at night. Also, once she was 6 months, my HV said they do not need milk at all at night so we offered only water during the night and she soon went back to sleeping through.

I felt like a real meanie when I first introduced the cup as I had to pour it into her mouth when she was screaming, but within 2 days she cottoned on to the fact that the boob was not an option and got on with the cup. The result happy full baby and less frazzled mum.

Hope that helps.

cords · 19/03/2004 11:49

Persistance seems to always pay off ... I stopped BF when DD was 4 months ... I felt as if I did not have enough milk , and the thought was really stressing me out , esp as DD always demand fed during the night (more from breast dependency I think) . It was a struggle for the first few weeks, but eventually, she seemed to forget abt the boob and now she loves her bottle ...

I did also find that feeding in a darkened room really helped too , and I did go through a stage of rocking whilst feeding in order to calm her down when she went into a frenzy ...

They are amazingly stubborn but also very adaptable and WILL change .

Original poster
Tiny1 · 19/03/2004 12:59

Thanks everyone, I will keep trying. Last night he did take 2oz from the bottle but only once he had had the breast first! He then wouldn't take anymore and went back to my breast... I will just keep offering a bottle every night and see what happens. Thank you!

OP posts:
cli · 19/03/2004 13:34

Try using a nuby bottle from tommy tippee

Dmum · 19/03/2004 13:38

I used a Haberman feeder (see www.babywhisperer.com). My DS just wasn't interested in taking a bottle and we tried every kind of teat that was going. This was the only bottle he would take. (It was quite expensive, about £15, but worth it!) After he was used to taking milk from a bottle, he would take it from any kind.

hercules · 19/03/2004 18:14

Why would anyones milk supply be low in the evening. Supply works by supply and demand and it is the feeding that produces the milk not leaving your breasts and giving the bottle.
Get someone else to give the bottle and dont be in the house when this happens if that's what you want to do. I think mears suggest slipping the bottle in their mouth during a breast feed.

Newatthis · 22/03/2004 09:13

I had exactly the same problem with my DS. Agree that I had problems with my evening milk supply. Probably no scientific explanation and whatever I did made no difference. Incidently it was the same feeds which gave him colic! I managed to get him to take a bit of a bottle once and he didn't sleep any better. He is now 5 1/2 mths and has just started taking a bottle as I didn't have enough milk to sustain the greedy thing anymore and he is now sleeping much better for that and the solids. Try not to stress about it too much bas it will suddenly all change when a bit of time passes. May seem like lots of night feeds until then but honestly, it passes in the flash of an eye and now it's me missing the bfeeding!

mears · 22/03/2004 09:23

Word of warning - if baby sleeps through the night on formula feeds then there is less stimulation of the breast therefore less milk production - you might end up bottle feeding before you know it.

Milk is not lower in the evenings - babies tend to be more colicky then and also you are tired and less patient which makes you think there is less. With another child you can get frustrated in the evning trying to get bedtime done. Rather than a bottle, how about a dummy in the evening. Persevere with the increased feeds during the night because they will space out again as your milk production increases in response to the demand.

wishingchair · 22/03/2004 14:02

Just wanted to add that my baby wouldn't take anything from a bottle but when it got to the stage when I wanted to stop bf (after 6 months) I just started giving her a bottle at night before bf. She's take a couple of oz then push it away and want breast. This lasted about a week and then I replaced the bf completely, then moved onto another one when I was ready.

I used NUK bottles - they have really little teats that are quite flat so a bit more like a nipple. Even once she'd got used to that, she still wouldn't drink anything from those massive round Avent bottles.

Hate to say it as I loved breast feeding, but once I started bottle feeding, she started napping regularly during the day and sleeping more at night!

Good luck!

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