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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

TOMORROW IS 'D'DAY >TRYING TO GET BABY TO TAKE A BOTTLE

12 replies

menace · 27/08/2004 21:37

just wondering if anyone out ther has any words of advice,am going to try tomorrow,ALL DAY! to get my dd to take a bottle! anybody else tried this?she is nearly 16 weeks old,and i am going back to work in october and need to get her to take a bottle,would prefer to drop a feed per week,but is this a realistic expectation ?will i need to go on to the bottle completely?will she take it at all? not looking forward to it! any tips anybody????????

OP posts:
pupuce · 27/08/2004 21:41

I would suggest your DP/DH gives her a bottle first thing tomorrow AM with you NOT around....
The other way is what I would do.... not bother do anything now (it's unnecessarily stressful if she doesn't seem interested).... October is a long way away and she will take a bottle or a cup from her carer.... she won't starve herself.

pupuce · 27/08/2004 21:43

You can BF mornings and evenings once back at work, many of us do that (some also express at work but not everyone).

tashy · 27/08/2004 21:47

Hi Menace
I breastfed my ds until he was 14months old and tried along the way to get him to take a bottle to allow me to get out occasionally. He really didn't like the bottle, so what I would say is 'don't give up' - it might not be successful on day 1 but they do take the bottle eventually. The thing that worked with my ds was to change the teat until we found one he seemed to like (the one that worked for him was the NUK ones - ?!!!) Dropping a feed a week sounds a good approach...let me know how you get on!

beansmum · 27/08/2004 21:48

I'm in the same situation, going back to uni at the start of october and ds (12wks) hasn't had a bottle yet. i haven't tried to give him one so don't know if i'll have any problems but really not looking forward to it. I'm going to take a bottle to my mum and baby group next week and get someone else to give it to him, i don't want to do it myself!

i'm still going to bf mornings evenings and weekends and express during the day.

PicadillyCircus · 27/08/2004 22:09

With DS, I found that othodontic variable flow teats with mothercare narrow neck bottles have worked - he found that ordinary teats just gave him too much milk, being used to the control he has/had over my breast.

But as you're not going back to work until October, I really wouldn't stress about it too much yet. You may also find that your dd starts to prefer the bottle, like my ds

Original poster
menace · 27/08/2004 22:19

have tried nuk teat and milk seems to come out v.easily,so much so i dont know if she has taken it or all of it is on bib!!wish i had given her one bottle a da y from 2 weeks! hasanybody out there done an all day attempt?is this unreasonable and unfair for me to do?

OP posts:
pupuce · 27/08/2004 22:22

I am a doula and work with babies from1 week old.... quite a few do not take bottles at all even at 2 weeks old ! So don't beat yourself !
As I say I think I would just leave it...... she will take a bottle in October when she will just HAVE to! I have seen more than once.
I fear you will be very stressed tomorrow and she will feel it.... good luck what ever you do!

tashy · 27/08/2004 22:24

Menace - it totally depends on what you can cope with, and how it is going. Some books do say to do it all day...personally I kept trying just on one milk feed a day (the mid-morning one), and then eventually ds would take a small amount from the bottle, and it went on from there. I stayed well out of the room though, whilst dh did the bottle, which defintely helped.

Original poster
menace · 27/08/2004 22:25

what do you find works best for babies thatrefuse the bottle pupuce?

OP posts:
Original poster
menace · 27/08/2004 22:27

tashy,my dp is hardly ever here!unfortunately!so kind of down to me!

OP posts:
pupuce · 27/08/2004 22:29

Tiny ones can be cup fed...
As I said in YOUR situation I would just try once tomorrow very early (her 1st feed) when she is very hungry, ask DH to do it and NOT see her (so she must not know you are around).... if she takes it (he might have to persevere for 10 minutes of her crying...are you ready for that?)... if she takes it you need to do this again for days and continue 1 bottle a day... if she fails.... try again the next morning..... if that fails... I (and that's me) would not bother until she goes into childcare.... she will NOT starve herself. She will be old enough to drink milk from a spout and you can BF her morning and evening too....
It's just an idea.... I do think one can over-worry about these things and babies do pick up on it!

SarahMD · 29/08/2004 13:26

Have you tried a Habermann feeder?

My dd (now nearly 3) would not take a bottle, despite all efforts and went to the childminder at 7 months taking her mid afternoon feed from a Heinz baby basics cup. I still fed her am and pm (until 13 months) and hte days I was at home I bf her mid afternoon.....However it meant that I could not leave her in the evening to be put down by anyone else until she was over a year.

When my second arrived in March this year I did not want to be in the same situation and so tried the Habermann feeder (recomended by the baby whisperer). It has been brilliant and he will take a bottle at any time from anyone - but when we have tried an Avent bottle he spits it out so it is hte bottle not the baby. The yare designed to have a very similar action to breastfeeding. You can only get them direct from the supplier. I can't remember the name of them off hte top of my head, but if you type Habermann into any search engine you will find it. I think they are called Arthrodax???

Good luck!!

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