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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

bf baby won't take a bottle

17 replies

janx · 12/04/2008 15:40

my ds is 4.5 months and I have always had a latch problem with him. I am trying to persuade him to take some expressesd milk, but he really doesn't like it. My boobs really need a rest - any ideas. my dd took to both boob and bottle with no problem

OP posts:
chibi · 12/04/2008 15:55

You could try cup feeding - I think rather than sip the bay laps up the milk iyswim. I did this from time to time when I expressed but didn't get what I considered enough to freeze. I would let dd drink (well lap) it from an open bottle.

chibi · 12/04/2008 15:55

baby not bay

Original poster
janx · 12/04/2008 15:57

Oh I never thought of that - what sort of cup did you use chibi?

OP posts:
Flynnie · 12/04/2008 16:03

My 7mth old has always been the same until i started using a doidy cup. she loves it...if you can handle the mess!

chibi · 12/04/2008 16:04

I just used the bottle I expressed into! I had her on my lap facing away from me - this made it easier to give the bottle a gentle enough incline so that the milk was there fro her to lap up but not actually pouring into her mouth.

I was only giving her teeny amounts this way - a half ounce to an ounce. I don't know how effective it would be if you wanted to do a whole feed.

As far as bottles themselves go, I had a lot of success with a Breastflow.
They are meant to mimic a nipple - who knows...at any rate dd would take milk from this kind of teat rather than any other.

Good luck - feeding can be overwhelming, I remember dd feeding every 2 hours at that age. Hang in there if you can, it get much, much easier with time.

Original poster
janx · 12/04/2008 16:26

Thanks - its not so much overwehelming as painful. Fed my daughter for a year with no problems but my ds just won't open his mouth wide enough!

OP posts:
StarlightMcKenzie · 12/04/2008 16:39

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Original poster
janx · 12/04/2008 17:13

You're right StarlightMckenzie - I just don't like it when he cries over it and gives me that look as if to say what are you doing!

OP posts:
StarlightMcKenzie · 12/04/2008 17:24

This reply has been deleted

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fairylights · 12/04/2008 17:29

my ds didn't take a bottle til 10 mo at which point he seemed to have had enough of me, sorry i know thats not much consolation to you! But we didn't really persist and i think if someone else had really tried with him (wihout me about) it would have helped a lot. A friend of mine went back to work at 4 mo and could NOT get her ds to take a bottle, then on the weekend before she started back at work she just left him with his dad and went out as much as possible and in the end he did take it, but it really took a lot of pressure (for them!) and persistence to get him going on a bottle.
She was v relieved, needless to say..

Rolypole · 12/04/2008 17:31

Lots of sympathy, I found it hard and my dd never took bottle but was fine with a cup (tommy tippee snack pot, actually, like a v small beaker) from 4 months. Bit tricky to get masses down her at first but soon got better and added advantage of never having to wean from bottle or sippy cup.

Holymoly321 · 12/04/2008 19:08

Oh Janx I feel for you - have had simialr trouble with DS2. The fuss! You'd think we were trying to poison him! He's 4.5 mths too. In the end, I left him with DH for a day and he only took a little all day, but have persevered since and he will take a bottle at a dream feed and again during the day - sometimes - if he needs to. I know it's hard but perseverance is the key. Also, suprisingly, he wanted the milk to be quite hot... I wish you the best of luck, keep the faith and it will come...

Original poster
janx · 12/04/2008 20:09

Thanks for all the support. DP has tried with him, but he still won't have it - he would rather go without - he either tries to chew the teat or really cries. Will keep trying

OP posts:
claraquitetirednow · 12/04/2008 20:12

I had to get dd1 to take a bottle before she was 5 months as I was returning to work. It was a nightmare, she was having none of it. We perservered, trying all the tricks (get someone else to feed her, distract her while you feed etc) but in the end, it was MAM teats which did the trick. I have read a lot of other people saying MAM were the best in this situation.

Good luck, it's very stressful - we took no chances with dd2, she had a bottle of EBM every day or two from 3 weeks old!

Holymoly321 · 12/04/2008 20:28

Agree totally with claraquitetirednow re MAM teats - we use these on the Avent bottles as these were the only ones that worked with DS1 and now with DS2. We got DS2 to use them but he has the number 3 fast flow ones. HTH.

Original poster
janx · 13/04/2008 09:44

Hi
We have the mam teats - maybe need a faster flow one

OP posts:
katyjo · 13/04/2008 10:12

Hi didn't read all the posts, but ds wouldn't take anything except nuk learner bottle, its a cup really with soft spout - great!

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