I introduced the bottle too late - any suggestions?

[giraffe72]

At 6 weeks he took the bottle (ebm) fine, but then we didn't try it again for another couple of weeks and it was a problem. Since then it's got worse and worse, though necessary as I work for myself and am out for 2-5 hours at a time once or twice a week. Now 3 months old - maybe we should try going straight to a cup? Any thoughts?

Both my kids did this - I tried loads of different bottle types/teats and ended up using the playtex system with a latex teat - it seems a lot more realistic than most bottles and dd accepted it (giving me back my freedom ).
It uses sterile bags to put the ebm/formula in so it can be a fiddle if you have a breast pump which attaches direct to a normal bottle (like the avent).
I got it from an independant chemists but you can also buy it from web stockists (haven't seen it in Boots/superdrug)

hi

both of my daughters fed from a bottle once a day until they were three months then suddently stopped and refused point blank from there. The first time this happened I did not persevere and my first daughter did not take a bottle until she was 9 months old.

When my second daughter did the same thing recently she again would not let anyone feed her and would at most take one ounce over an hour of protesting.

What worked in the end was to make the bottle feed completely different from the breast feed. I bought a NUK bottle with a latex teat which friends have found often seem to be liked babies that wont take a bottle. I then popped the bottle in her mouth when she was coming round from a sleep in her pram. I sat to one side of the pram so she could not see me. Sounds odd, but the little monkey drank the whole thing! Over a few days I prgressed to her seeing me, then my holding her facing outwards whilst feeding and after only 5 days she took it being held without a problem. I still dont hold her in the same position as for a breast feed though in case that is a bit like teasing her. Anyway I hope this helps, give it a try.

I would say try NUK.

I had the same problem with DS, he took a bottle of ebm a couple of times at 3-4 weeks, then i didnt try again until 8 weeks, and no way would he take it.

I didn;t need to leave him but sometimes it would have been nice to for a couple of hours.

I started an occasional cup of ebm from 4 months, there is a soft spout cup from Boots which DS got on Ok with - might be worth trying?

its a poita
yopu haev to just stick wiht it

Giraffe, I would go straight to cup as at 3 months I bet he'll go 5 hours without a feed if he's going to be that stubborn! you could try an Avent Magic Cup with the valve taken out which makes a nice free flow with a soft spout. You could also try him with water in the cup for novelty value so that he at least takes some fluid. Honestly though if the maximum time is 5 hours and it's not every day I bet he'd just be ready for a good slurp on your return.

Have you tried leaving him with his carer and a bottle of ebm and seeing how he goes??

After DD had happily slurped from a Doidy cup from 4 months, I thought that DS would be the same. Wrongity, wrong, wrong wrong!

Tried for a week or so with our nanny, but to no avail.

Yesterday I bought a Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottle (hate, hate, hate the name and insinuation - do my norks look or feel like silicone???, blah, blah, blah) BUT he took an ounce straight away and seems to be happy with it. I hadn't tried any other sort of bottle, but that one, in combination with me and ver boobs being out of sight and out of minr, seemed to work.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions - I'll give those a try.

After buying many MANY bottles, we had some success with the playtex system (latex teat) - but if gave dd a lot of wind. We then had MAJOR success with the Baby Bfree bottle - they are the same as Dr Brown bottles but you can buy a latex teat for them.

hi, i'm having the same problem with my 2 month old will try out some of these suggestions too!!

Am struggling to get my 19 week old to take a bottle, I have to go back to work in 6 weeks and starting to panic. She took a bottle (reluctantly) at 6/8 weeks during a growth spurt but now just rolls the teat around in her mouth spitting milk out. Expressing is a nightmare also don't seem to get anything more than 2oz, and yet she can feed happily from both breasts for 20 mins +. Any suggestions ???

I'm having this exact problem! I've been given various advice e.g.

1. persist and offer the bottle every feed (though tbh this just sounds like a nightmare - I'm currently offering it once per day and crossing my fingers)

2. Forget it and go straight for a cup which seems to work for some but not all - on another thread here people recommend a doidy cup (available on amazon)

3. Offer a bottle every hour and don't offer the breast (this sounds harsh to me though).

Let us know how it goes - if I crack it I'll let you know!!

OH and re:expressing - do it in the morning after the first feed of the day e.g. my DD feeds at 6 so by 7 I'm expressing what's build up over night (she doesn't take a nighttime feed so I'm lucky) and it flows out a treat. If I try expressing later in the day I struggle to get 2 oz out.

Also having problems. Best time of day to try introducing bottle? Have been trying bedtime. Am worried too tired & wants comfort of breast as initially took bottles at 6 weeks but now just 1 week later he wont.

jayney, don't panic.I went back to work when my son was 6 months old and he wouldn't drink a bottle of EBM at nursery until weeks later! They offered him water which he would have the odd tiny sip of but mainly he just made up for it when I got home from work. Meant some evening feed-a-thons but all worked out fine in then end.
giraffe, have you tried cup feeding yet? When my son wouldn't take a bottle of EBM my mum/ OH would put the milk in the bottle cap and he'd sip it no problem. We never tried those playtex/ NUK things, just kept plugging on with the Avent bottles. Would give them a try next time though.