Baby won't take bottle or cup! What do I do?

[Anna4]

I have a 4 month old son and I am trying to intrdouce the bottle or cup. Have tried both but he is having none of it. The cup he liked for a bit as it felt good on his gums, but now cries when it goes near his mouth!
My partner has tried feeding him and me but nothing seems to work and I resort to giving in and bf him :-( I desperatly need to get him on the bottle/cup - anything! as he starts nursery!

Any advice?? any tips??

When is he going to nursery? Is there any way you can call in there to bf him during the day? I mind a baby who came to me at just under 6 months and woudn't take a bottle or cup. Her mum fed her before dropping off and immediately she picked her up. Baby was fine, but she was staring on weaning foods at the same time. It took her a few weeks to take a cup with me, but she gummed enough food to keep her happy during the day! Then made up for it when she got her mum back.
I guess I'm trying to say that even if he doesn't want a bottle, he might manage without one at all - depending on his age of course.

A friend of mine had this problem recently and after 2/3 days at Nursery with v little milk her DD suddenly got the hang of the bottle and has not looked back (she even steals others bottles if your not looking ). Friend thinks it was a battle of wills, I think maybe more to do with the fact that LO realised that if she wanted Milk she has to use the bottle! Good Luck.

bumping, after half an hour of bottle-related hysterics...

i'm trying to replace one breastfeed a day with formula and DS is NOT having it.

we've got to six months without formula, i kind of feel i've done my bit and would really like to spend more than three hours away from him (he won't drink expressed milk either).

he has tried a few different foods but isn't interested enough in solids for me to drop milk feeds entirely.

help! (and apols for thread hijack anna4)

you have a clever son who knows that there are boobs under your shirt hence refuses the bottle if you offer it

Have you tried getting someone else eg dh to offer it when you're out of the house?

Oh how I symphasise. My Ds was six months and was about to start nursery full time. There was no way I could get there to feed him so started trying with a bottle from about 5 mths. No way would he take it from me or anybody else.

We tried starving him for about 8 hours with no success and this made me feel far too guilty to do this again.

I was beginning to panic as my start date loomed and was considering taking more time off. Anyway, I took him for a short session in Nursery and, just in case, I didn't feed him first and took a Tomee Tippee bottle with sort of bumps on the teat.

I explained the situation to the staff and left him for two hours. When I went back the manager looked at me daft and said he had drunk all the milk with no fuss at all! I was so relieved i cried but the presure i had been feeling was enormous. I decided not to offer him breast milk again and fortunately never had any problems.

Maybe you could try something similar? I think it definately helped that I wasn't there though......good luck!

Are you trying an open cup like a Doidy or a cup trainer with a spout? My lo was a steadfast bottle refuser until v recently but will now take a Mothercare 'Bottle to Cup trainer' thing - I think he likes the teat/spout which is nice and chunky. Interestingly he will also now suckle on a Tommee Tippee. (he's 4 months) He seems to have just decided to get on with it. i do totally sympathise - i was mega stressed about it. One comforting thought - no healthy baby is going to starve themselves - your lo WILL come around.