AT MY WITS END TRYING TO GET 7 MONTH OLD TO TAKE BOTTLE - HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING

[NoseyHelen]

Title says it all. I am at my wits end. I've been trying since DS was 10 days old to get him to take a bottle.

We have tried him on EBM, formula, warm, warm, cold, Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottle, MAM bottle, spouted cup, MAM soft spout, Doidy Cup, spoon. My husband over 7 months has got him to take 3oz in total. I have never suceeded in getting anything down him. We have left him with the bottle to play with on his own (watching from a distance) when full of milk, water, nothing.

Having got him to sleep through from 12 weeks he now wakes up at night for ages which I think is because he is hungry having missed his afternoon feed because I'm refusing to breast feed him when a bottle/cup is on offer.

He currently has 7am BF, breakfast, 11am BF, lunch, (3pm bottle that is declined,) dinner and then bedtime BF.

I spoke to HV today - she said reinstate afternoon feed but let him play with empty cups and then at some point put water in them. I feel that this is a backwards step and us just trying yet another techmique that is going to fail. I want DS to have milk feeds, not water, and if it fails he will dehydrate over the summer.

Mine would never take a bottle untill I went back to work when he was 5 months old. His hungerstrike lasted 2 days and he's been taking bottles hapily ever since (though never ever from me - why settle for a bottle when the real thing is on offer?)

My 2ds never took bottle very well either - my advice is to give up trying with a bottle and just concentrate on a beaker - ive used the tommy tippee beakers and just keep offering it - dont use bottles or any other cup - stick to one or you could try a straw mine have both liked that.

It does get there just be persitent and lots of praise when they take a sip from beaker

Had success with NUK bottle today and he also seems to like the NUK trainer cup - only 120 mls but better than nothing and enough to make my week!

If it's just going to be for the odd half day so you can go out on you're own I would just not bother about him having a milk feed while you're out. As an occasional thing I really doubt it will matter if he misses the odd feed and has human food instead.

Hi. I had the same probs until at 9 months DD took an Avent toddler spout, which I had never tried before. I went out and danced naked on the lawn with joy

Oh so glad that this isn't just me. DS is 8mo today and we've never had much success. I started trying with a bottle at 6 weeks because I really wanted to bf and had loads of problems with that too. Plus I've spent a small fortune on every kind of bottle and cup I can find.I'm back at work now in the mornings so CM has to get as much milk down him in food as possible. He will take water from a cup with meals but as soon as I put milk in he turns his nose up at it. I would love to take a day off or possibly even a night but his sleep has been rubbish since I went back to work and I often take the path of least resistance and feed him back to sleep so that I can get some myself and function in the morning at work.

DS has never been a good feeder and solids are a battle but getting slowly better.

Unfortunately I feel like this has made my experience of bf very negative and if I have another baby it will more likely than not be ff from day 1.

its as though they know 'breast is best' or something. i've tried feeding DD EBM from 6 weeks but to no avail. she will have nothing to do with it. she's 4 months now and we still try but its a battle. she's got a month because i need to get back to work too.

I was in this position with my dd except she was happy taking the occasional bottle until the week before I went back to work and then she screamed blue murder anytime a bottle came near her. It was as if she knew I was leaving her, she was only 3 months old at the time. Anyway after trying every teat I could get we ended up with the nuk latex teat. After about 3 days of only offering the bottle and me expressing and her screaming she took it. Bit extreme I know but I didn't have much choice at the time.

Just letting you know that it can be done

hi both my children were bf & neither of them would take to a bottle no matter how hard i tried.I give my daughter milk/water from an ANYWAYUP CUP the spout is hard but after trying several different cups this is the one she prefered.Personally at 7mths id go straight for a cup.