Sorry, I know it's been done a thousand times, but how do I get a BF baby to take a bottle?!

[Caz10]

She is 5mths... we have tried:

• tommy tippee closer to nature, both newborn and medium flow teats
• doidy cup
• sippy cup
• me giving it, dad giving it, gran giving it
• evening time when she's very hungry after her bath
• lunchtime-ish feed when she's not always all that hungry
• 1st thing in the morning
• room temp milk
• warm milk

Going slighly doo-lally with it, and also panicking as back to work in a month, with one full day to do in less than 2 weeks!

If anyone has the solution, please share!! Thank you.

Like Tink says, a month is a long time. She might well take milk in a bottle or cup in a months time. You do right not to push the issue and just offer a bottle every couple of days or so, no point upsetting everyone.

Don't forget she will be 6 months in a months time, so you can mix milk (expressed or formula) into her food.

Or you might find that she starts reverse cycling, i.e. sleeping when you are at work and nursing more when you are home in the evening/night.

Lastly could DH not bring her to your work for feeds ?

Mine just wouldn't take a bottle - even at 14 months. On the first day I left him with a friend for 6 hours she got some down him with a spoon.

Having said that, he's a stubborn little monster and when I insisted that he no longer needed a lid on his cup at 2 3/4 (when we'd just spent a week campling and not using a lid) he refused to drink point blank for 24 hrs. He then took about an inch from the bottom of a cup (without a lid) and then went another 24 hours. In the end he was so thirsty he gave in. We did this with lots of smiling and plenty of offers of fresh and lovely drinks but all without a lid.

Maybe you've just got a stubborn one too. It may be that you have to resign yourself to feeding all night. LO won't come to any harm and you may find with you definitely out of the picture (when you're back at work) there's no point struggling so she'll drink quite happily from a bottle/cup/spoon/syringe . Good luck

dd1 eventually took bottles with dh when she got hungry, although she also reversed her night/day feeding patterns as well i.e. fed more than usual in the evenings and overnight.

dd2 (6 months) won't take milk in a cup, but will take water with no problem at all.

So long as you can get liquids into her during the day (for dehydration), you can put milk into her food and bf feed lots in the evenings/early mornings.

Again, thanks so much! She actually drank some water from her sippy cup more happily than she did milk, so might try it in a bottle.

I think I just have to get over the mental hurdle that she will not starve, even if she has no milk during my working day. I just hate the thought of her being hungry and upset.

Babieseverywhere, for the 1st 2 weeks DH will be able to bring her up most days, THANKFULLY! Really hadn't wanted to do that because i think it might upset me and/or her, but it's better that than she starves!!

Got a NUK bottle - my final weapon!

What do people think - best to pick one type of feeding method and stick with trying to get her to take it, eg keep trying the same bottle every day? Or if she rejects it, try something different?

PS wrigglejiggle good point re the food I hadn't thought re that - I could get dh to give her cereal etc with EBM?

Caz-My DD will take milk out of a tommee tippee cup so am trying to find a bottle type thing with a similar spout, have started a thread in Products and have had lots of helpful suggestions. My DD doesn't like teats...