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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

How do I get my ds to like the bottle. He only likes breast!

17 replies

Tanpol · 26/09/2004 21:31

My DS, 5 months old, doesn't like the bottle. He only breast feeds. I've tried giving him water in the bottle or beaker, but he never takes more than about 5 or 6 sucks. I want to stop soon - in the next 2 months anyway - any suggestions?

OP posts:

Tommy · 26/09/2004 21:57

Tanpol - had the same problem with DS2. Eventually he did go onto a beaker (not a bottle!)but only through cutting out the breast feeds OR get someone else to give him milk in a beaker when you know he'll be really hungry - like first thing in the morning although you'll probably want to feed him then if your boobs are like Jordan's by then (mine used to be )
Mostly trial and error I seem to remember and it wasn't that long ago (only a few months) and I've already forgotten the details
Sorry - this is probably really unhelpful but I'm sure someone who knows what she's talking about will come on soon and give you some really good advice!

Yorkiegirl · 26/09/2004 21:58

Message withdrawn

Aero · 26/09/2004 22:13

This was my ds1 too - wouldn't touch a bottle and didn't drink anything much except bm until I physically stopped bf-ing him at 15 mths. By this stage, he was only having one bf a day, in the morning and that was pretty much all he drank all day - he only ever took a sip or two from a beaker before that and NEVER a bottle. After I stopped though he happily took milk from a beaker, once he'd got the hang of using it, but it had to be cold. Not very helpful really, but hopefully someone will have some good tips - my ds1 just didn't really comply before I actually took the bm away!!

Socci · 26/09/2004 23:53

Message withdrawn

mears · 27/09/2004 00:06

Wait the 2 months and try him with a cup then. Trying too hard can put them off altogether IMO.

AussieSim · 27/09/2004 05:29

I started DS on a cup at 6mths - water with his solids, and we skipped the bottle thing altogether. The first cup I used was a Nuk with no valve so he didn't have to suck like hell to get something. It was a slow start but picked up nicely in time.

libb · 27/09/2004 11:45

I think I could've posted this thread - am trying very hard not to panic but I am back to work in 2 weeks and DS won't take the bottle either. I am going to ask my neighbour to have a go for me but we are going to have some serious distractions round here for the next 4/5 days as the house is being rewired - I am assuming it would be better to take him round to her house? I have bottles and a beaker to try him on so which would be best? can I practice with juice/water?

Please help! I have visions of DS starving and the childminder telling me where to go!

MiriamR · 27/09/2004 12:03

I had a similar problem when returning to work with ds1 (then aged 5m) several years ago. We used a combination of dp offering formula feeds with a bottle and experimenting with diferent teats. Avent teat was successful. Think it was a case of trial and error! HTH

Blu · 27/09/2004 12:35

Really sorry to say this, but DS never did accept a bottle. I think trying too hard did make it worse, as Mears says. Also, we found that it was better to try when he was NOT too hungry. This is because if they have not yet learned that a bottle will meet their immediate need- hunger- it is just an upsetting annoyance. They need to learn by playing around with it that milk comes out, and that will answer their hunger need - so best to try in between feeds, when neither starving or full-up.
I relied on mixing ebm into every solids meal that Ds had until he would accept an Avent spout.

Pidge · 27/09/2004 13:54

Sympathies - we also went through this - in the end dd did take the bottle, but this was after 2-3 weeks of me literally every day pacing up and down the living room with her aged about 4-5 months, sticking the teat in her mouth. She did nothing for at least a fortnight, then gradually began to take half an ounce, then an ounce etc.

I found a few things helpful:

I practised with her EVERY single day, at 10am ish - after her morning nap so she was rested, but getting peckish.
I kept walking - it seemed to distract her, when I sat still and tried the bottle she would scream!
I played some loud but soothing music!
I used fast flow avent teats where the milk drips slowly out, to give her the idea.
When she failed to drink for weeks on end I didn't immediately breastfeed her - I played with her and distracted her for at least 10 minutes. (So she didn't learn that failing to suck from the bottle immediately lead to a breasfeed - not sure if my screwy baby psychology had any impact!)

Now, having said all this - I persevered because I was going back to work when she was 5 1/2 months and was in an almighty panic about her starving in my absence. But in hindsight I kind of wish I'd just relaxed and put her straight onto a cup - I suspect that would have been fine. And expressing all that milk and sorting out bottles to practise with her for weeks on end was such a hassle.

I'm now expecting number 2 and plan to go back to work a bit later this time (around 9-10 months) so will try to skip the whole bottle phase this time.

Good luck - and whatever you decide your ds will be ok.

Pidge · 27/09/2004 13:56

Have just had one more thought, having re-read your message. Is your ds objecting to the bottle or the formula in it? I had a friend who's dd disliked formula, but would take EBM from a bottle. To solve the problem for returning to work (she didn't want to express) she started putting 1/10 formula to 9/10 EBM and then gradually upping the amount of formula until it was at 100%

eldestgirl · 27/09/2004 14:21

DS2 was just the same (DS1 refused the breast, preferred Avent, sod's law). In the end he reluctantly accepted NUK clear teats with EBM, and I upped the level of formula in the bottle gradually. Try a few different bottles/teats? The squishier the better. I also used to put on a t shirt of my DH which did not smell of me/BM which seemed to help.

In my more desperate moments, when he was starving and I was empty (we live in SE Asia and the climate is not good for milk supply around 6pm) I used to fill up a 5ml medicine syringe with formula and squirt it down his throat when he yelled (think baby bird) until he realised there was something in his tummy.

The doidy cup was also quite successful (though very messy, half of it went down his baby gro). You can get them on the urchin.co.uk website.

HTH

Chuffed · 28/09/2004 18:08

Am just going through this as well Tanpol (well last week mainly). The first bf I cut out was the day so I would give a bf after her breakfast (about 8.30ish) and then hold out till after dinner (6.30ish). It was awful. She tends to only suck a couple of times with water from a bottle or beaker just like your ds and she mainly just played with the bottle teat. I got the avent sipper cup (3mth+ ones) as they fit in all the avent stuff I already had and just kept at it. She cried almost solidly for 3 hours on the first day which was torture but I didn't bf at all, she took a sip here and a sip there during the day. I had ebm the second day in the hope that she just didn't like the formula but it didn't help much. By the third day she only cried for about an hour. A week later she still doesn't drink a whole bottle at a time but she doesn't cry all day and has 1-2oz at a time from the bottle with a sippy cup top.
I read an old post on the same problem last week and somebody recommended Hipp formula. We were using SMA and she does seem to like the Hipp more.
Sorry this is long but I'm so glad I kept at it and didn't give in with a bf. When I go back to work next week she will have morning and evening bf until she actually drinks enough formula during the day to make it OK for me to drop another. Another archived posts have talked about kids who won't take the bottle/cup and don't drink anything during the day but get it at night/morning and get water and they were doing OK so I went in with that attitude to the training. Good luck though it certainly isn't the happy finish to the end of my maternity leave that I was after. Next time I'll start a bit earlier I think.

Original poster

Tanpol · 01/10/2004 02:53

Thanks everyone for the advise. This is my first ever post (I'm new to MN, so I didn't realise you needed to click on current threads. I thought they came on the home page.
Pidge, I had tried a tiny amount of ebm in the bottle but DS didn't seem to like it very much. Since my post he's started drinking water from a cup (hooray!), although he's not too keen on formula. I think it will have to be perseverance and pacing! It's not that serious for me though, as I'm not going back to work for a few months yet. libb, perhaps you could get your DH to help with the feeding - then your DS can't smell the lovely bm!

OP posts:

Original poster

Tanpol · 01/10/2004 02:58

I think the tshirt idea is quite good, thanks Eldest girl

OP posts:

sarahuk31 · 05/10/2004 14:19

I'm new to MN could really do with some advise. My 14 month old has never really taken to the bottle he will take the occasional oz. I have had to presevere with BF and alot of food containing dairy. I have kept up the night feed but now i really want to stop however my son sobs uncontrollably if i try to give him bottle and not breast. This is really upsetting for both of us and i am at my wits end.....help!

libb · 05/10/2004 15:36

We have been trying DS at the childminder this week - he doesn't mind the bottle, hates formula! I hope he likes EBM. Any tips on how to express whilst working would be wonderful . . .

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