bf 16 week old only took 2x 1oz in over 7 hours1 help!

[horseymum]

dd is totally refusing bottles. i had to go out on saturday and we thought dd would then be so starving that she would have to take bottles - all previous attempts have failed. it turns out she is even move adament than i thought, only taking two 1oz bottles from dh. she then had about 3 feeds in the 1.5 hours after i got back! what else can i do to get her to take a bottle as it wasn't great for any of us that she took so little during the day. tried variety of bottles, cups etc - this was to be the last straw and failed

Horseymum, how urgent is it that she takes a bottle?

Dh persuaded ds by wrapping a bra I had worn round a bottle - presumably it smelled of me/milk! It worked - dh claims ds's face clearly read 'oh, WHY didn't you tell me there was milk in here?'.

HTH

When DS started nursery it took him a few weeks to start taking bottles or beakers -- for the first couple of weeks he only drank an ounce at a time at most during the day at nursery and reverse-cycled so that he nursed a lot the rest of the time. He eventually got the hang of it, though.

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i guess it is not essential that she takes a bottle, anything would do,eg cup etc. i don't plan to be away from her that long again till i go back to work very part time at 9 months. it would just be nice to have the option of leaving her and knowing she will be happy (ish).I have heard of reverse cycling - taking loads afterwards and i guess i don't mind if she does. i just think it is a bit harsh if she takes so little when i am not there. if she can cope with the odd occassion stocking up afterwards that would be fine, i just don't feel happy knowing she will take so little it is a bit harsh on whoever i leave her with too. i will try the bra trick aswell! i do think she truly doesn't reaalise she can get milk out.

horsey, as there is no urgency, then there is a lot to be said for leaving it for a week or so before trying again.

Let her forget she doesn't 'like' the bottle and try again gently.

OTOH, if you don't plan to be away from her that long, it prob doesn't matter. As she gets older she will tolerate being without a bf for longer and whoever is caring for her can give her ebm in a cup if needed.

Fighting her to get a bottle in her isn;t worth it, IMO