Getting a breastfed baby to take a bottle

[snowflake99]

My baby is now 8 weeks old. I'd like her to take a bottle of expressed milk so that I can leave her for short periods but she screams and gags when we try to give it to her. Any tips?

Which bottle and teat size are you using?

Is the EMB body temp?

Is she lying in the same position as she is when nursing?

I have had trouble getting ds to take a bottle (dd was at nursery full time at 8 weeks so had a bottle of ebm from the start with no problems). Both of them liked MAM teats the best. Dd would take her milk at any temperature but I would probably warm it up for a baby who has always had it 'from source' so to speak

Get someone else to try with the bottle, while you leave the room. If they can see or smell you then they'll be thinking of what else they could be having. Thats the theory anyway.

Try loads of different teats - maybe you could borrow a few from friends to try? My greatest success was with Nuk teats but Playtex ones that go with the plastic bag system are also popular with breastfed babies and also Mam as littlelamb said.

And definitely see if you can get someone else to do the first few bottles - leave the house if you can, even if only to go to the corner shop.

It's probably the teat. Try a slow flow. DS likes Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature after rejecting a ton of others...

my LO refused for 3 months and finally i got him to take tommee tippee closer to nature but with faster flowing teat as i had very fast let down.....your LO probably 2 little for such a teat- but that is what worked for me- he was about 8 months when he finally gave in....he is now 14 mths and taking bottle really well and still has one BF a day....

PERSEVERE and make sure LO is hungry!!!!

We started introducing a bottle at about 4weeks. DH gave it to her. We used tommee tippee bottles and teats, starting with the veriflow teat and then progressing to no 1. It did take a lot of perseverance -it probably took several weeks for her to start taking a bottle properly. I used to leave the room.

dd was eventually persuaded to take a bottle of ebm from someone other than me - without me being even in the same room - at about 3 months but it took us a fortnight of trying. After than she was fine but would never have a bottle from me, which was OK. ds NEVER took a bottle of anything from anyone - went to nursery at 6 mths old and would eat their pureed food and sip a bit of water and then make up for it bigtime with huge breastfeeds night and morn. Good to try different teats (I used Avent, which was a good expressing system I think) and make sure it's not you who does it.

we had this problem as well at around 12 weeks, I had to go into work for a couple of afternoons and DS completely refused his bottle of EBM.

Tips which worked for us were, give them empty bottle to play with for a couple of days...ie put the teat to her mouth, run it along her cheek...let her touch it, so that she familiarises herself with it.

Then with your bottle of EBM, try warming it slightly or use some freshly expressed milk and approach her from a completely different angle than you would normally when breastfeeding, perhaps prop her up with some cushions and offer her the bottle face to face. If she gets upset, stop straight away. But then try again a bit later, or the next day and keep trying until it works.

I've also heard the theory about leaving the room because they can sense you're there and know something else is available but i found that DS was more relaxed when I stayed in the room and watched DP feeding him. He did keep shooting me some confused looks though, but he enjoyed his bottle of milk just the same!

Try tommee tippee closer to nature, they took me straight from bfeeding to bottle no problems. Id also say get someone else to do it as if they smell your milk theyl refuse the bottle. good luck

Tommee Tippee, closer to nature! My dd was a real pain for taking a bottle but when we tried this she took it straight away. They're great and really are alot like a breast.

Thanks for all suggestions - still no success so far but have bought/borrowed some different bottles to try. Also like the idea of playing with the bottle a bit in the day so it is more familiar. Will let you know how I get on!

I'm having the same problem - how are you doing now??

Cx

It took me three weeks of trying to get my 20 week old DD to take a bottle, tried a few different bottles and teats. Eventually she took it with milk very warm, and from a Tommee Tippee slow flow(typically the bottles I had in the first place which came with the steriliser!). Think it was persevering more than anything that worked, think she just knew what she preferred!

I just offered a bottle instead of a breastfeed every morning at the same time, didn't force it, but wouldn't breastfeed until at least an hour later so she didn't associate refusing the bottle with being offered breast.

I also have to express immediately before giving as my breastmilk seems to "turn" quite quickly.

Sorry to hijack! Quick question -

Does EBM need to be warmed up? I express throughout the day so DH can give DD a bottle in the evening, and keep it in the fridge in the meantime. Is it best to reheat to body temp?

I think that all depends on what your little one will take... We heat it up to body temp, if it's cold we get the most endearing expressions of digust!