How to deal with bottle refuser

[Hillijx]

So after nearly 2 months of trying I'm starting to think my baby won't ever take a bottle. She is 6.5 months and I have tried almost daily but she either seems bemused or just plain angry at it. Can I have some ideas on how to go forward......cups? Beakers? Do they manage to drink enough? Etc....my others had been on a bottle by now so I am unsure how to proceed?

My bottle refuser will happily sip from a cup, give it a try! I use an open mouth cup but I hold it for him and gently tilt it.

I did try that but it made her angry as well, but that was after she had been given the bottle so maybe try again when she is happy, how much can they realistically drink from a cup.....enough to keep them going when you're not there? And surely it wouldn't work in the middle of the night? My Dh booked a night away for the end of November but starting to think it won't happen now.

Is she just not hungry enough? Has your DH/random person off the street tried?

Not tried a random but might resort to that! Have tried all different levels of hunger. Dh is a bit more successful than me but annoyingly he isn't around during the week to persevere. She doesn't even entertain it with me!

If your dh is more successful I'd bet she'll be fine at nursery. If they get them to nap on a mat on the floor they can get them to take a bottle!

Will she drink water? My little bottle refuser was actually a milk (of any sort) from any receptacle but a breast refuser. She happily drank lots of water from 6 months on.

When I say more successful I mean she doesn't cry instantly, we are yet to succeed in getting her to drink a drop from a bottle. She hasn't yet taken to water but she seems baffled by the beaker and can barely get hold of it, she is almost 7 months but seems more like a 4/5 month old and weaning onto food is in very early days, hopefully when she gets the hang of it she might get a taste for water.

Mine will take one in the car seat no idea why and won't help in middle of the night but was suggested by a friend who switched to ff as started with car seat and bouncer and then moved on to cradling. If I hold him or sit him up otherwise he just bites the teat

Can you try NUK bottles with the latex teats? My bottle refusing boob monster finally accepted them.

Good tips, thank you will definitely try both of those, eminado....how long did it take your baby to accept it? I'm living in (a probably deluded) hope that once she has some bottles she may give me more than 3 hours of sleep at a time!

Hi OP gosh my baby put up a fight!!! she only accepted at 10.5 months, i had been trying since about 5 months! I think i left it late :-/. It's all so hazy i was on my knees with tiredness I just remember i thought its me or her and gave her dad the bottles for 3 nights in a row and went and sat in the car. I was utterly utterly exhausted - i was ready to walk into the sunset and never come back.

Kind of how I'm feeling,I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old so I have no time to rest and now she has me up every 2-3 hours in the night I'm really flagging. My husband is hardly around in the evenings but may try that this weekend when he is about. I got the nuk bottle, for a second I thought she had latched onto it but she was tricking me! It ended in the usual tears ( hers and nearly mine!!) I was so worried about introducing it too early as dd2 chose the bottle over me once I introduced it, but ended up obviously leaving it too late.

Hi hill i am sorry you are so tired, i cannot even imagine what it's like with other children to watch .

If you were near me i would watch them for you - that level of tiredness is just unreal.

I dont think your baby will go off the boob - mine didnt - just kerp trying, you must sort something so you can get a break and they are SO clever, just keep going.