7 week old, won't take a bottle

8 replies

TheVeryHungryScreamerpillar · 06/04/2015 14:29

Hi mummies, I had my beautiful boy 7 weeks ago and have been EBF. However at around 4 weeks we decided it would be useful if we could introduce a bottle so that hubby and I could go out to dinner or the cinema and leave bubs with the grandparents.
The first couple of bottles we tried he wouldn't even keep it in his mouth. We had a little more success with the NUK teats, he will suck them but seems to spit out most of the milk instead of swallowing. He will take a syringe feed but it takes so long to feed him this way its not really practical.
I am expressing milk for him so we know its not the taste he dislikes.
Any ideas? How soon can I introduce a sippy cup?

OP posts:

Quitelikely · 06/04/2015 14:30

Are the teats too fast for him?

fairgroundsnack · 06/04/2015 14:34

Keep trying different teats... I had one baby who was perfectly happy having bottles mixed with BF the whole time, then my second completely refused any bottles. Full stop. Very frustrating!

33goingon64 · 06/04/2015 14:49

Keep trying. You're doing the right thing, to give yourself a break and you're doing it at the right time.

Harverina · 06/04/2015 15:09

We had the same issue with dd2 and it took 8 weeks of trying.
On the day that she finally took the bottle she had refused it as usual - I had sat it on the radiator in her room and a little while later decided to try again - it was very warm, obviously not to the point of burning her! Anyway she devoured it.

So my advice is to try lots of different temperatures too.

The only bottle we had any success with was a mam one.

Good luck!

worserevived · 10/04/2015 07:15

We had the same problem with dd, tried every bottle on the market, and eventually found success with Dr Brown bottles and the medela ones. I latched dd on me, then slide her off and onto the bottle teat, keeping her in the same position up against my body. It took a while.

Purpleflamingos · 10/04/2015 07:31

Again, second trying different temperatures. Both dc were exclusively bf until 6 months. ds refused bottles until my sister accidentally gave him one on the too warm side (but not too hot) and he loved it that temperature. Dd would only ever take it at room temperature.

Original poster

TheVeryHungryScreamerpillar · 10/04/2015 08:03

Thanks ladies, as we had some success getting him to suck on the NUK bottle I have ordered some different teats for it. The one we have is medium flow so I've ordered slow flow to see if we have any more success. I really don't mind if he doesn't ever take the bottle, I'll just teach him to use a sippy cup once he's 4/5 months but it would be lovely to go for dinner with my hubby and not have to time it around feeds. I'm not planning on going back to work so there's no real pressure.

OP posts:

Harverina · 10/04/2015 20:03

I was going back to work so it was a real worry - but even more worrying was that I was going to see Justin Timberlake when dd2 was 5 months old

Dd1 would have drank her milk from a smelly old shoe so I was a bit shocked that dd2 was so resistant of the bottle!

Flip