At what age did you successfully introduce a bottle of expressed milk to your ebf baby?

[Hootthatnanny]

Have been trying unsuccessfully for a about a week with 6 week old dd .

Her dad has been trying and I hate hearing her cry, have ordered nuk teats to see if they make a difference- we haven't left it too late have we?! How long do you persevere before giving up?

I never managed it but DH did a few times if I wasn't there. I think I began expressing at around 6 weeks so that DH could help out with night feeds but DS was having none of it.

I started trying at 3 weeks and have up at 7 months! I expressed 3 times a week and threw every drop down the sink. In retrospect I wish I hadn't worried so much.

All the advice I got suggested mother needs to leave the house and that the milk should be warmer than one would imagine.

What I mean is it worked better if I was out of the house completely. He just seemed to know that I was around. From about 6 weeks he would only take expressed milk if he really had no other choice.

At about 9 months, but only if DH gave the bottle.

5 weeks. Took several different teats before he found one he liked. MAM ones he took to straight away.

About 5 weeks. I've had success with Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature. Also, try before the baby gets upset and starts crying for a feed. I found once mine got to that point, she wouldn't take a bottle. Try when she's a bit hungry but otherwise happy and relaxed.

Do you keep persevering with the same teat before switching? We do try and not attempt when she's mega hungry but we still get lots of tears. Although she's constantly peckish at the moment as having a growth spurt I think so maybe it's a difficult time to try.

Interesting about having to leave the house to get them to accept it! I'll have to try that next! I've just been hiding in the next room so far.

Very encouraging that your dc took one at 9 months though Navy!

I've become slightly more accepting of the idea that she might not taken to it and adjusting my expectations accordingly, I.e I won't be able to get properly tipsy for at least another 6 months

At about 2 weeks and never had any problems, the only problem was getting enough milk for a feed in between 3 hourly feeds! Because of this I very rarely did it, but never had any problems getting her to take it.

At 7 months, with great difficulty and only because i had to return to work.
She refused for 2 weeks and used to cry all day and bf all night! Even cm, with 30 years experience was starting to get concerned.
At the time I wished Id introduced it earlier- but judging by tge difficulty pps have had with much younger babies, perhaps not!
Good luck to everyone struggling with this.

5-6 weeks, nuk teats are good, get someone other than yourself to offer and stay out of the way yourself. Finally don't try when baby is hungry! Good luck x

Around 4 weeks, the ante-natal classes I went to suggested trying around turn. Meant we could go out for dinner without her (very trusted friend was left at home with milk).

At ten days old with both dds. We used the tommee tipper bottles.

Good luck op. I have many friends who struggled with this and it's very stressful

From birth with ds1 as I had some latching issues which resolved. Ds2 wasn't having any of it, ever. DH persevered and gave up in the end. Ds2 did take to a sippy cup nearer 6 months though.

Tried again today with freshly expressed milk and a NUK bottle- another bout of screaming, I worry we're traumatising her and feel like giving up

2 weeks with both DSs - they needed to be on a bottle when I returned to work at 4 months and honestly they got to grips with it much better than older babies.
DS1 needed a bottle a day otherwise he'd chew and squirm and totally forget how to drink from one, DS2 didn't care where milk came from as long as he was being fed.
Neither had any issues nursing or going between breast and bottle.

I was told someone else needed to introduce the bottle as I would just smell of milk and confuse the baby. I think you need to go for a walk so whoever is trying to feed your baby can try on their own, a bit like when you start nursing a child it's harder with an audience.

DS took an ounce or two a few times from me around 10 weeks. I struggled to express at all, and he only took it if i started out bf, then took him off and gave the bottle. He wasny keen but took it. Then i expressed for 3 days and got nearly 6oz and thought i would see how much he took. The answer? None. Nil. Poured it away. Cried.

He's just over 5 mo now and gets upset at a bottle but has been experimenting happily with a sippee cup and an open cup. Return to work at 9 mo so hope he's happy with his cup during the day by then!

We tried from dd being very young (a few weeks old) and tried on and off until she was about 5 or 6 months. I was always bad at expressing, just couldn't produce milk that way, and dd never took to the bottle. Tried a few different bottles she didn't like any. She was the same with dummies, never would take one. I'm still breastfeeding her now at 18 months and in hindsight I wouldn't have bothered trying to express as normal breastfeeding has been easier for me, though it would have been different if I'd gone back to work or something.

Don't beat yourself up about leaving it too late - I successfully introduced the bottle to DC1 at 4 weeks. He successfully refused it from 8 weeks and ever after. So early start made no difference.

DC2 was exactly the same. Except we did manage to get her back accepting bottles. She needs latex teat, silicone absolutely not acceptable, very warm milk and also the teat warmed before she agrees to drink.

Honestly I think bottle refusing babies is a topic that is totally ignored - all antenatal classes talk about not giving bottles as babies will then get lazy and refuse to BF. I do not know anybody to whom this has actually happened. But I have so, so many friends struggling with bottle refusers and nobody even mentioned this might be a thing.