BF baby won't take a bottle.. HELP!

[Luna95]

Hi!

My LG will be 5 months old next week. She has been pretty much EBF with the occasional bottle here and there. I'd really like to start combi feeding with the aim of doing the morning and bedtime feeds on the breast and her day time feeds bottle & formula. The trouble is she is so hit/miss with taking a bottle (mostly miss). I was previously using tommee tippee bottles which she totally refused so bought a couple of MAM bottles which she has accepted a few times but not reliably at all... she refused all attempts yesterday and just became upset when I tried to bottle feed. Has anyone experienced similar? Any tips or advice will be very welcome!!

She was also sleeping through the night from about 6 weeks, however for the last 3 weeks she has been waking about 3/4am for a feed and can be quite difficult to get back off... I'm worried my milk isn't keeping her full for long enough over night. I also know there is a lot of development which takes place at this age so could that also be to blame? If so how long does this phase generally last?

TIA x

My DC were EBF until 9m and never took a bottle. They would drink from a cup though, have you tried that?

Firstly, it’s common for babies around 4 months to go through a sleep regression. They learn a lot and may sleep less long during the night.
Secondly, there is no evidence that bottle fed babies sleep better during the night than EBF children. (My own are a good example: nr 1 was a terrible sleeper and was bottle fed, while my second sleeps through since 4 months and is breastfed).
Thirdly, when baby is growing, looks happy and has plenty of wet nappies, your milk is fine!
But most importantly if you don’t want to EBF, that’s fine as well! I’ve heard it could help if dad gives a bottle as babies can smell you and associate you with your milk. Good luck!

My babies never too bottles reliably. Son took one for about 2 weeks then refused and screamed bloody murder when we tried. They say it is best to get someone other than mum to try with a bottle but that didn’t work for us. It was a lot easier once they were having food as well. When they started having food I would just leave baby food and a small amount of milk in a Tommie yippie with others who looked after them. Have you tried one of the Tommie yippie sippie cups instead of a bottle, or a spoon?

Try Lansinoh bottles, they're much less confusing for bf babies.

I've found with mine that I have to get the right timing, I've had best luck when she's just woken up from a nap, or when switching between breasts. Trial and error - a few weeks ago she seemed to have no idea what to do with it

I had this problem at the same stage which was a month before I was due to go back to work, so I had to find a solution. Which was to leave my daughter with my mum for an afternoon and she persevered with it. My daughter missed one feed as she refused the bottle but at the next usual feed time she guzzled a bottle in no time. She was hungry when I came home, having missed a feed, but I BF her (not having intended to completely stop BF anyway).

She kept trying to push the bottle away, so we had to tuck her arms in under one arm of the person feeding her so she didn’t automatically do that. Keeping her “pinned down” (gently!) like that seemed to calm her and then she accepted the bottle.

I had this with my second. Eventually worked out that if I put the bottle test under hot water for a minute to warm it up she would take it. I then needed to ensure there was no distractions as if she stopped at any point then that was the bottle done.

Good luck hope you figure something out

I'm currently in a similar situation, baby is 4 months. We have tried MAM bottles as these are what we had from first baby, but she isn't having it! I've just ordered some Minbie bottles to try as they have a different shaped teat that is meant to be more similar to the breast.

Thank you all for your replies! I will definitely try out some of these suggestions! I have had a Lansinoh bottle arrive today so I'm excited to give that a try soon!

How did you get on OP? My son is 5 weeks old and currently EBF. I do want to continue to predominantly BF, but really want him to take a bottle. He loves a late night and will not settle until about 10.30-11.30pm, up for 2 feeds at 1 and 3ish, then gets fussy from about 5am and only kind of cat naps from then. I then have a toddler who gets up around 6.30. So I am blinking exhausted. If I could go to bed at 8pm and let my husband do the night shift I really feel like it would help my exhaustion and sanity!

We have tried every day for over 2 weeks now and he just screams at us. My husband is the one who offers it. We have tried breast milk and formula. He has randomly taken an oz or 2 so he knows how to drink from a bottle, just refuses!!

Will it get better? Should we be trying every day or leaving it a few days?

I also want to be able to do things like go to the gym, or to the shop by myself. At what age do BF babies start to feed a bit more on a schedule? Will I be able to leave him for an hour or 2 anytime soon if he still won't take a bottle? I know he is still young but my exhaustion levels are making me think the worst!