getting bf baby to take a bottle

[lazycat]

does anyone know how i can get 12-week old bf dd to take a bottle? she's not very keen. any help really appreciated - am starting to get a bit panicy!

hmm in my exp they either will or they wont. My ds1 wouldnt have a bottle near him but ds2 did but only the tommie tippie like breast bottles.

maybe stating the obvious but have you tried different bottles/teats? are you giving breast milk or formula? are YOU giving it or your partner?

Hi lazycat, i got some advice on here a few weeks when my 14wk bf baby started to refuse the bottle and this is what worked for us; when it is not feed time and she is in a happy mood put a little bit of ebm in a bottle play and play with her with the bottle, I put it on her nose and cheek and made her laugh with it, then I started sticking it in and out of her mouth and she would make sucking motions on it then she eventually started taking a couple of mouthfuls and more each day, I now make sure she has one bottle a day to keep her interested in it and she took 7ozs today from it! Does she use dummies? my DD uses MAM dummies and I bought the MAM Ultivent bottle thought the sensation of the silicone teat might be similar?(after previously using TT closer to nature) and she is happier with the MAM bottles (now refuses TT closer to nature!) - good luck x

giving formula as supplement to breast milk. she is not gaining weight, so hv and dr say i need to do this.

haven't tried other teats or bottles - could you recommend any?

both me & dp are trying to give bottle. she takes it sometimes, but gets so upset at other times that it breaks my heart to keep trying, even though i'm worried sick about her weight.

Tommee Tippee bottles worked for us with ds - and regularly giving him one bottle a day from 2 weeks old onwards at the same time of day.

I found with both the boys that holding the bottle in such a way that Held the bottle between my thumb and forefinger and had my middle finger and 4th finger on DS's cheek, I felt the the skin contact was something that could be lacking and it seemed to help.
Not sure if that makes sense.
Good luck

my dd acted like I was trying to murder her. I persisted, same time every day and eventually after a period of about two weeks she took a bottle, again tried everything and settled with MAM bottles.

Keep trying it will happen. Express only a small amount though for them to practice with as it is heart wrenching when you have to throw away breastmilk.

Good luck.

ok, here are some things which helped me:

hold your lo as if they are going to be bf-ed

take your top off for max skin contact

bf baby until almost full then slip in the bottle

use exp bm for a bit until lo is used to it

add exp bm to a little bit of formula

get someone else to do it (who doesn't smell like bm)

walk around whilst doing it

perseverence

thanks for all the tips!

lulalullabye - my dd is acting the same way and i feel so guilty. she looked at me so reproachfully last night - it was awful. i love bf her, but am too worried about her weight not to give formula.

I stopped bf at 4mths and she is noe 6mths and on the 0.4th percentile, so I really woulden't worry about the breast feeding.

I would post about what to do about weight gain before you consider topping up if you don't want to.

i don't really want to top up, but dd has gained weight slowly (and even lost weight a couple of weeks ago) since birth. i am so worried that i finally gave in to formula, after holding out against hv for ages. dd is so skinny that i'm frightened she's starving.