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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

This is really starting to become distressing...

43 replies

EdieMcredie · 06/12/2007 19:14

My 3 month old baby will not take from a bottle. She used to, just fine, until a few weeks ago, then just stopped. I have been on here before about this but wasn't so desperate. We are trying every bottle and teat going, every night. Tonight she screamed until she was drenched in sweat. She is now asleep as it was that tiring. I thought she was going to have a fit she was that distressed.

Please, please help somebody...

OP posts:

vis · 06/12/2007 19:55

hey this was what i went thru 1week ago.
BF 3 1/2 mth old. from 6wks age expressed and bottle fed once a day.( also has a dummy for sleep time)

a week after 3rd set of jabs- out of the blue refused his regular nuk latex teat...went on for 3 dys screaming as if the teat and the bottle itself was poison- pushing it away even before it was in his gob.

played with a silicone teat..then showed him how mummy liked to suck from a teat ( not his) and allowed him to play with another teat, had to be really patient ..2nd night in a row has taken 5oz!!

nannynz · 06/12/2007 19:55

Edie - It did take a lot of paitience(and a few tears) but he did take it eventually!! Little stinkers that they are! If you really want her take it she will.

BTW - the said baby had been on avent bottle, the grandmother would give him one a day from birth but at 8 weeks he stopped. By the time I arrived four weeks later he wasn't taken any bottles. The second day he took a bottle when I switched to faster nipple(it was a Friday) but over weekend he stopped and I had to start all over again.

You could always just offer bottle for how ever long it takes to get him to eat. In future(if I ever have this again) I think that is what I'd do. Just offer bottle until they took it and then go back to bfing and offer bottle every few days and if they go back to not drinking bottle then I'd go back to only offering bottle.

And it's so strange as all the books say about nipple confusion and how if you give a bottle they will want to stop bfing. But it's always the other way if they are bf they don't want bottle.

welliemum · 06/12/2007 20:03

Mine were such frequent feeders that if I'd had to leave them at home I'd never have gone anywhere. Instead I went everywhere, just took them with me!

If you're desperate to go to your work do, could you do it with the baby? Turn up at 6, install yourself in the comfiest chair, attach baby, and chat away. Nominate one of your mates to keep you well supplied with food and drink. Then when it gets to the time when dd usually goes to sleep, you head off home and put her to bed.

Depends hugely on the type of event and the people you work with, but - could it be done?

yogimum · 06/12/2007 20:04

I would be persistent with one bottle. I was in the same position as dh and i were getting married. I bought every bottle under the sun, eventually he took the tommy tippee but this took weeks. He wouldn't take it from me and i would have to be out of the house. If desperate I would offer it in the lid of the bottle (sterilised of course). It took us a couple of months BTW

Original poster

EdieMcredie · 06/12/2007 20:32

Thanks, that's all really helpful.

Can't really take her on work night out as we are going to a wine bar.

But will take all advice on here and keep trying. Thanks guys. Just felt really down about it...

OP posts:

yogimum · 06/12/2007 20:36

Good luck. If you give her a good feed before you go hopefully whoever is babysitting will only have to give one or two feeds before you get back. If she won't settle you can always come home. I really thought I wouldn't get a honeymoon but compromised with one night away instead of two though had to express twice in the night as I was so uncomfortable. I hope you enjoy your night out.

BahHunkerBug · 06/12/2007 20:45

Try feeding her till she's not starving, then sneaking the teat with very warm (body temperature) milk into her mouth. Worked with DS1. Didn't work with DS2. Depends on the baby though - DS1 would guzzle a pint of EBM in a day when I went back to work, DS2 would take 2oz, just about.

Or try a sippy cup where she gets milk when it tips up, so she tastes it instantly and hasn't got to suck for it much.

welliemum · 06/12/2007 20:52

Oh, Edie, I do sympathise. I know what it's like to feel chained to the baby. I know everyone always says this, but it truly doesn't last long.

A lot of babies - including mine - do a huge growth spurt at around 4-5 months where they feed all the time and drive you crazy. But once you're through that, they're much bigger, they can go longer between feeds, and in no time you'll be giving them solids and it all gets so much easier. Promise!

Original poster

EdieMcredie · 06/12/2007 21:11

Thankyou! I absolutely adore breastfeeding, don't mean to sound so negative!

I will try that thanks Hunker.

OP posts:

gomez · 06/12/2007 22:39

Ah goodness Edie I am sure we all know how you feel .

Feed her before you go, very last minute (could DH travel there with you in fact which would buy a wee bit more time), get DH to take her for a walk/drive whatever give you a shout again after 1.5/2 hours or so, you feed her again DH takes her off home and then you enjoy the rest of your evening. She might be hungry when you get home but you know she will be fine.

DS in particular just wouldn't have it. Would get hysterical but would be quiet on DH's knee or shoulder until I got back home. Got far less upset that way then when we tried to get him to drink from a bottle. Just wouldn't have it, for anyone!

soapbox · 06/12/2007 22:50

My DD would never ever take a bottle - we had every kind of bottle and teat available almost the world over (I kid you not, people were sending me the damned things from all over the world).

In the end I just had to change my expectations a little. When I went back to work she would go all day with just some water out of a cup and feed in the mornings and evenings.

TBH, a few months out of the social scene seemed a long time then, but looking back it was but a nano second

soapbox · 06/12/2007 22:51

Do you really have to go on the work night out?

BrandyButterGalore · 06/12/2007 22:56

have youtried a haberman feeder?

it allows much more control of flow (by the adult) than a normal bottle and was developed to feed babies with cleft palate who couldnt suck (iirc)... and therefore you can trickle the milk into them even if they dont suck... and more often than not, eventually they will get the idea and start to...

worked with at least one of mine, who were all bf and v reluctant to take a bottle for me to have a bit of time off.

will try to find a link...

BrandyButterGalore · 06/12/2007 23:02

the first uk seller i turned up on google is here

and theres a wee bit more description on here

HTH

Kitsilano · 07/12/2007 08:59

try the breast bottle nurser. it works - though still may take a few tries.

www.totsmart.co.uk/products/breastbottle.php

yogimum · 07/12/2007 10:30

I bought the breast bottle nurser, thought it was a waste of money. We've moved house recently so not sure where it is or you could have it but I wouldn't buy one.

Original poster

EdieMcredie · 10/12/2007 09:35

Oh that's interesting.

I don't have to go on night out, it would just be nice that's all. Haven't been at work for 6 months and missing all my friends! I don't drink really do it's not that im missing.

Well a bit of an update-DP wanted to take her to his mum's for the day yesterday-lives about 20 miles away. I quite fancied some christmas shopping with my mum. I fed her and expressed 4 oz. Off they went.

Later DP texted to say they had tried spoon feeding her and she loved it. Drank all 4 oz although took a bit of time!

I was pleased she had the milk but still a bit disappointed she hadn't had the bottle (it was a tommee tippee).

Just before they were due to come back DP phoned to say she was sucking his mum's finger furiously so could I express a bit more then nip out so when they got in she wouldn't see me. I did this and when I got in she had just finished a bottle!!! (It was Dr Brown's)

So so pleased she finally got it.

Just hope she keeps it up. We are going to try giving her EBM each evening now.

Thanks everyone for your help and advice xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

OP posts:

Original poster

EdieMcredie · 10/12/2007 18:07

Back to refusing again!

OP posts:

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