How on earth can I get 6 wk old BF baby to take a bottle?

[teacher1984]

Obviously we've missed the boat - he won't take a bottle or a dummy.

How do we approach this? I'm absolutely knackered and would love my husband to be able to do the occasional feed. Starting to feel a little trapped.

I don't know as none of my 3 would ever take a bottle ( never tried dummies)
My grandson who is mostly breastfed will though which means he can be left overnight . It can take a while sometimes but he'll take it eventually.
It's hard for you because your baby can smell the milk, perhaps you have to go out and let your dh cope?!

We 'did by the book' and waited until my DS was 6 weeks to introduce the bottle and he won't take it. On a good day he'll put it in his mouth and just leave it there, on a bad day he screams and thrashes about until he's bringing up everything in his tummy. We've tried several bottles and frequently. He also won't take a dummy.

Weeks 6 - 9 were the worst. I felt trapped, was exhausted and was almost crying I was so exhausted. I considered switching to formula full time and starving DS in to submission, which is an awful thought but that's how bad I felt.

DH really really didn't want me to give up breastfeeding but could see I was suffering. So one morning after the 6am feed he popped DS in our sling and took him on a 4 hour walk (including a stop off at a coffee shop) and I slept. I slept for 3.5 glorious hours without having to listen for the baby, and woke naturally. He's done it a few times since and it's saved my sanity.

DS is now 12 weeks old and can go 3 - 4 hours between a feed if entertained properly (or asleep on someone) and I'm hoping DH and I can go for a meal one night soon.

Not what you wanted to hear but just wanted to say I feel you!

I never managed it but didn't try that hard. I couldn't afford to try all sorts of different bottles/teats. And several times of expressing and having to chuck it away put me off!! It was just easier to feed him myself than try to get a decent amount to put in a bottle (took a bloody age to get even 1Oz....) I half wish I had persevered though as at 8months I can leave him with my mum/Mil during the day (he is eating solids well) he very much relies on me at night.

Ds is 10 weeks and up until recently was an avid bottle refuser, our breakthrough was a laninsoh bottle which also helped a friend who had the same issue.

We waited far longer than you - 14 weeks - and I was worried we'd left it far too late as DS vociferously refused for a solid 2 weeks. We tried loads and teats and then had a brilliant break through when we used the Lansinoh teat. He now very happily guzzles his bottle!
So I'd say persevere and buy loads of different teats to try. Others I know with similar refusers had success with the nuk latex teat and the medela vacuum teat.
Good luck

This happened to me. Dr Brown's bottles worked eventually. Have you considered using a cup? A lot of BF babies seem to accept liquid from a cup easier than a bottle. Sounds mad, I know but my aunty is an experienced midwife and she did it with all her 3 kids.

My DD took a bottle at 6 weeks as I went out and had given my DH instructions to phone me when she needed feeding as I was close by - he took it upon himself to give her a bottle of formula! At the time I was slightly miffed but also very pleased I'd had a break from her and hadn't had to make that decision.
DS however.... I tried every bottle, formula, expressed milk, different people feeding, different times etc etc and after two attempts every day for 9 weeks I won!! (Stubborn me?!) Eventually it was a latex teat, given whilst he was sat in his bouncy chair, formula milk too warm for me to be comfortable with and it was 8am after I'd refused his 6am feed.
Good luck OP!

What have you tried? Warmed expressed milk given by your husband with you out of the room? A bit hungry but not ravenous?

With our son we introduced a NUK bottle (which we'd used successfully with his brother) at 4 weeks and he sucked at it but didn't seem to get anywhere. So we tried Tommee Tippee and he was much better with those. It might be trial and error with different bottles. We switched him onto NUK bottles later successfully but found he didn't like the latex NUK teats but better with silicon. However I believe latex is softer (and perhaps more breast like) so might be worth trying that. I'm not sure if other brands do latex but NUK do.

Good luck.

See if you can borrow different types of bottle from friends to find out what works for you. Temperature was the crucial thing for us - he liked it a bit warmer than we expected. Otherwise, just persistence - it took several weeks for us. If you're expressing I recommend offering very small quantities at first!

We decided to give our DS his first bottle when he was exactly 2 months old, thinking we'd done the right thing.
We have everything Tommee Tippee so my husband gave him a bottle of warmed expressed milk one evening.
He didn't understand it and would get a bit of milk in his mouth and then spit it back out. He was getting very worked up. After about 2oz he started sucking and took it fine but that seemed to be a first time fluke.
Because a few days later when my mum had him for an hour, he refused point blank to take it. He screamed and screamed (thankfully I was having a massage but upstairs in my house). I had to come down and he was acting like this bottle was full of poisen! In the end I had to breastfeed him.
He's now almost 11 weeks old and we seem to have cracked it.
We decided not to spend a fortune buying different bottles, instead we persevered with the TT ones.
A good tip is mid breastfeed, when he's sleepy, pop your boob put and the bottle in. This worked a treat for us and he started getting used to the sensation of it.
We've now introduced it as part of his bedtime routine, daddy gives him a bottle then I take him up and I he wants more I breastfeed him to sleep.
He now doesn't hesitate with the bottle and we tried my mum with it today again and he took it from her too.
Good luck, I do sympathise as it's horrible feeling trapped. I couldn't see how I'd ever get an hour to myself

We gave ds expressed milk in a bottle at 10 weeks for the first time, he wouldn't take the bottle from me but would from dh.

Try your dp/dh giving the bottle to baby?
Are you using the teats that are like nipples?

Sometimes o don't think you can, my son refused point blank and wasBF till 11.5 months then went onto cows milk in a cup

Couldn't ever get him to take a bottle

When we were topping up newborn dd:
Twist the bottle round in circles
Gently nudge her under the chin to start the sucking motion
Serve it hot hot hot not tepid

Unfortunately I was so delighted to be able to stop sterilising etc I left it for a while and she's a bottle refuser now. The last 4m I've been giving her a morning bottle and if she's starving she'll take 30ml. Nightmare.

My two were both absolute refusers.......when awake. But DS one would down a bottle of expressed milk when snoozing. I used feed him at 7.30 and then leave babysitter with strict instructions to gently pick him up and give him a bottle at 10pm before he woke up hungry. If he woke up there would be no chance of him taking it and I'd have to rush home but if caught before, he'd glug it and we'd be good til midnight!

Thanks for so many helpful suggestions.

Yes - DH has been the one to try with no luck.

We have tried Lansinoh and Nuk (latex) so far. I will try warming it up much warmer.

I think we're just going to have to persevere twice daily. I like the idea of getting him used to it by putting it in his mouth mid breastfeed.

I am SO tired. He is unsettled from 3am every morning and I have no idea why. He won't take a dummy either so doesn't settle easily for naps. Everything all round is so much harder than my firstborn who slept through the night at 10 weeks and napped beautifully :(

I would perserver with the nuk latex one. The test is more natural.

I would also suggest what someone above did which is pop baby in sling with your Dh and send them off a few hours with milk. That way the sling can calm them and they are close to Dh who's smell they recognise, and he can keep offering. He can try feeding them whilst still in the sling also if possible, loosen the straps slightly, and move baby so at slight angle.

I wouldn't do first feed of the day as that's when hungriest so you don't want them trying and refusing then getting over stressed. ( plus 6am is early and cold for a walk atm), but maybe the next feed.

Also I suggest getting him a latex dummy now. Offer that occasionally also so he gets used to the latex style teat as comfort. Again just once or twice a day for a few mins should be enough if you don't want them having regularly

Afternoon.
My little girl is 19 months old now, and my Husband and thought we had missed the 4-6 week window too. We tried and tried with Tommee Tippee and she just screamed, then we tried Nuk Latex Size 1 teats and she took to it and we are still using them now. Maybe also have just Dad try it, with you outside the room, this sometimes worked for us. Good Luck

We tried and tried from 4 weeks with expressed milk and like you was absolutely exhausted. Last week at 20 weeks she finally took a bottle of formula from me (yay!) and in the past 2 days has accepted one from my husband too.

We tried 4 or so different bottles and found the Munchkin Latch worked for us.

I wonder whether it's formula and not my milk that eventually persuaded her to take it.
Go0d luck!

Ds was a bottle refuser, but would take formula in beaker from 4 months ? Worth a go ?

My breastfeeding consultant told me to put my little finger in the roof of LO's mouth and, once she's really sucking (don't leave it too long or she'll click on that there's no milk!), quickly replace it with a bottle teat, again into the roof of her mouth to begin with. Worked a treat for us but my LO was a bit younger. She takes a bottle better from DH than she will from me too.

Good luck!