Breast to Bottle

[Em0806]

My little one has recently started to refuse a bottle. We are currently breastfeeding but he has had the bottle on previous occasions and has been absolutely fine even taking various different bottles and teats.

This week at 3 months old he is now refusing a bottle. Has anybody got any advice on what I can do for him to start accepting it again? I’m looking to reduce my breastfeeding to night only within the next month and want the transition to be as smooth as possible for him.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Em

Are you feeding him? Try getting someone else to do it. Often babies won't take formula if they can smell breastmilk. It might be worth popping out so there's no chance of you being around and having your dp try it.

Why boob at night only? He’ll reduce his feeds anyway quite soon.

My second didn’t have a bottle ever. She drank from a straw cup from about 6 months when I wasn’t around.

He’s always taken a bottle previously whether from me, my partner or family members, and he’s also taken either expressed or formula in that bottle.

Since he’s refused it I’ve only tried with him after others. At one point I wasn’t even in the house.

It’s a personal choice with regards to the night feeding. He’s feeding every 2 hours at the moment which is very demanding and as my partner is on annual leave I was looking at giving little man a bit of formula or expressed so Dad can feed him.

My DD did the same at 4 months, its a sleep regression thing and it was bloody exhausting. I started combination feeding then as I was in too much pain and too exhausted to keep up. Totally understand why you're doing it. It might be worth trying a different bottle. Mam ones are great.

It’s so hard isn’t it, he’s fed every 2 hours during the day since birth but it’s happening at night too at the moment so whilst Dad is off I was thinking he could help with the feeds so was going to combination feed so I could have a break but he just isn’t taking a bottle at the moment 😩 thank you with regards to the MAM bottle. I got one free from Boots so I will try that tomorrow.

I tried to introduce a bottle of EBM from 6 weeks with no success until randomly at 5 months DD took it no bother. Warm EBM and warm teat at the time. The MAM bottles are the only ones that she's accepted. Before that we started her with a free flow sippy cup at 3 months (good but messy) but she took more EBM from a doidy cup when I was out (weirdly less messy) until she accepted the bottle. The bonus of all that worry about how she would survive when I went to work is she will now drink out of any open/closed cup and the MAM bottles. She does still however bf 2 hourly if i'm available.....best of luck!

Also, with the two hourly feeding, it's really really tough, you're doing amazing however you feed your baby!

Thank you, it is tough. It’s so rewarding breastfeeding and I don’t want to give it up completely I just want a bit of a break during the day, especially as we are planning days out this week whilst the OH is off and I don’t want little man to be permanently attached to me.

It's nightmare tough, like having a newborn but with less napping during the day. Honestly that period was super tough for me and triggered PND so look after yourself and don't give in to any mum guilt about formula/bottles. Honestly if I let go of that earlier I don't think I would have spent the last 5 months in therapy (although it had been very helpful).