Baby won't accept bottle - help!

[Wildflower2021]

Hi all,

First time mummy here to a beautiful one month old baby girl, who is breastfed.

I've been trying to get her to use dummies and to take expressed milk from a bottle, but each time I try she makes a face (of disgust?) and spits them out. Ive tried putting a bit of milk on the teat but she's still not interested. I've been quite desperate to get this to work as the doctor has recommended gaviscon for her reflux, but I didnt want to use a syringe incase she choked so was hoping to put it in the breastmilk or medicine dummy.

Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Xx

I used a syringe and breastfed. The Gaviscon didn’t work at all though and we switched to ranitidine and then omeprazole. I think I’d com tinge the breastfeeding and battle with the syringe instead.

I'd use the syringe too, do it slowly a tiny bit at a time into her cheek and she will soon get the hang of it.

As others have said try a syringe. Also, might be worth trying other bottle brand or two. We went through Tommy Tippee, MAM and ended up with Philips Avent natural bottles, they are fantastic.

You may want to try:

Different bottles / teats. Ours took Avent in the end

Warming the milk slightly so it isn't cold

Turning the bottle / teat around in her mouth slightly (don't know why this works but it did for us)

It might take some time, we persisted for some time before our eldest would take a bottle but then she was more than happy and still BF too.

Thanks everyone. Maybe I should try the syringe in the meantime - I just worried about DD choking on it if she's not expecting liquid?

We were told to syringe towards the side of the mouth, at an angle, rather than straight back. Then I think the baby will swallow naturally, rather than choke on the unexpected liquid

Persistence is key. My DH offered a bottle everyday for a month and finally got there. As soon as she refuses or seems upset then stop and try the next day. We were told to not keep trying different bottles and stick with the same one everyday. If you use Milton then try boiling to sterilise instead. Milton has a really strong smell which was putting DS off. You could also put the teat in your bra for a while to help it smell like you.

Despite giving in to the bottle he never accepted a dummy.

@Wildflower2021

Thanks everyone. Maybe I should try the syringe in the meantime - I just worried about DD choking on it if she's not expecting liquid?

Little bits into the side of the cheek towards the back so it won’t be spat out easily but then also won’t shock. I did a teeny squirt then straight back to breast and repeated. By the time he’d registered it, he had breast milk going in again.