Need advice on getting baby to take expressed milk in a bottle

[chilli77]

Hi Im a new user and a new mum to a 3 month old baby girl called Olivia.

I plan to bottle feed her in August, I have been brest feeding exclusivly for now. My health visitor advised me to start expressing milk and offerering it to her to get her used to a bottle, Ive been trying for 5 days now and no luck, ive trried my husband has tried. Ive been using boots feeding bottles. Any suggestions, She just cries and gets hysterical.
Many thanks

chilli, I've just had some success with MAM bottles after trying virtually every other teat on the market. From other threads it seems that 3 months is a bad age for bottles, my ds3 was happily taking EBM from a bottle till a couple of weeks ago. MY MIL looked after him yesterday and she put a bit of teething gel on his gums and on the teat because we reckoned that was part of the problem. He sucked away happily for a few minutes and took about an ounce. That was fine as I'd fed him just before leaving him there. He had previously rejected Avent, Boots latex, the Adiri breastbottle nurser. Other people here have had success with NUK. I've found its best not to push it too much either. We gave ds3 a break for a couple of days because he was getting hysterical and very upset and we figured there was no point in upsettin him even more. Incidentally my SIL bottlefed all of her children and she found they refused bottles when they were teething too.

Hi there, I had the same problem with my son I fed him for 6 months and could not get him to take a bottle wasn't what was in it but where it was coming from! my tips are... try first feed of the day, try avent bottles or the tommee tippee nuby teat bottles, there are some out that are supposed to be even closer to breast feeding can't think who makes them now.. have you tried going out the room when your husband tries to feed her? my son eventully just took it took ages and alot of screaming but that was it once he had done it once I did not mix feed otherwise I think I would of been back to square one! hope you have some luck! Zoe (reeceyboy)

Have you tried starting off with breast, popping her off and slipping bottle in?

Heating teat?

Walking around with baby facing away from you (held round waist)can be successful (wierd sounding I know but has worked a few times IME)

tried that mears, it worked! Held him facing away but cheek to cheek with me, rested my little and fourth fingers against his other cheek, MAM teat in mouth, drank the whole lot! The bottle and teat were nice and warm too. Big relief!

I bought those Nuby bottles by tommee tippee when using expressed milk but she would only take it when dp fed her the bottle. If I was around she would refuse it so that I would feed her.

I would leave it until a few days before you go back . It's not worth stressing about now and even if she takes it w nodoesnt mean she will then. In Aug she'll be a different baby. I used the playtex system.

many thanks for your messages, ive been perservearing, but still no luck, my baby feeds usually 5 times a day so i have been trying the 3 during the day. I have today purchased a new advent bottle and a teat which you can alter the flow. Today has been a nightmare, she got herself so wound up, and being a first time mum it makes me nervous to see her like it, how much crying is ok?

leave it, chilli. I was really stressed about it too but was told here to leave it and enjoy my time left. Two days before going back to work I went out to lunch and left dh with dd and a playtex bottle. He had no problems and dd was a very different baby at 6 months to 4 months.

chilli, ds3 was like that and we gave up for a few days and tried again. He had gotten to the point where he went hysterical just looking at the bottle. We went out a few days later and left MIL with the MAM bottle. She put teething gel on the teat and on his gums and he took the bottle straight away. I'd say forget about it for a few days and try again then.

I had the same problem with DD1 two years ago, and it took two months on and off for the stubborn little mule to take a bottle. In retrospect, I was probably trying the bottle at a feed when she wasn't that ravenous (early afternoon). Trying first thing in the morning might have been better.Those two months gave me plenty of time to notice that the way babies suck at the breast and on the bottle is different, and DD1 did seem to prefer latex teats which are softer and thus more like nipples than silicone ones. Determined not to go through this again, I tried my now 10 week old DS with a bottle of EBM at 4 weeks and was horrified when he refused that. Found recommendations on Mumsnet for NUK bottles with latex teats(available in large Boots and Superdrug) and these have worked for us (teat is very squidgy). He's also happier when milk is warm rather than lukewarm. Hope this helps, but would also echo advice not to get too wound up by it (hard I know).

Vote here for the Bfree bottles. Like the MAM ones (have them too!) they have a vent for smoother feeding. DS didn't do too well with avent bottles, and I found that he tried to feed off me like he would with a bottle, bobbing on and off. The different bottles did seem to help. Perhaps if the way the milk comes out is similar she will take it better. Although perseverance does seem to work in many cases. Like people have said, don't stress about it.

I've just had a thought. ds1 and ds2 took Avent teats no problem.ds3 will only take the MAM teat. Does this mean my boobs have gotten flatter and squidgier in the last 6 years?

hello ladies,

Thanks again for your advice, Im living in belgium at the moment as husband is in forces, so this website is a godsend as there are very few ladies I can speak to here so Im glad ive found it!!! yesterday i went to have Olivia weighed and she is not putting on enough weight she is 12lbish at 12 weeks old, appareently she is below a growth line!!! so my h/v has told me she should start to go on formula, have brought some but just as expected she will not take it!!! Ive herd that this growth chart is for bottle babies is this true? thank youx

Hey Chilli - there's lots of threads about getting babes to take bottles on here if you want to check both current & archive. There's a current one here .

My expereince with dd (5 months) was that she only started figuring out how to suck from a bottle when she started sucking her fingers properly (about 14 weeks). DH noticed the finger sucking and one day pulled out her fingers & stuck in a bottle of ebm. It worked. She is 21 weeks now and still does the bottle thing v. slowly but enough to get by.

Re. weight -doesn't sound underweight to me. My dd is 15lb 4oz today at 21 weeks. Not got the chart to hand but I wouldn't have thought she was much different from 12 lb at 12 weeks. - Again there's some threads on the whole weight chart issue - I think there was some useful advice from TikTok you could try searching for.
The thing with the weight charts is whether they are maintaining a line consistently - doesn't matter where they are so long as it's not a sudden drop - I think - I'm not an expert.

Yes the red book charts are based on bottle fed babies and dips for breast fed babies are common. I am really surprised that your HV has offered this advice. Actually quite shocked. I think she should be suggesting ways to check your milk if she is really concerned ie have you started exercising or dieting etc. My dd was 12lb 14 at 14 weeks so your dd sounds spot on. 12lb at 12 weeks is the 50th centile for what they are worth. Is she still gaining weight? If the answer is yes don't feel pressured into introducing formula unless you want to.
I am a forces wife too based in Cyprus and know how isolating it can be being overseas and away from friends and family. This site is a godsend for me too. HTH and take care.

Agree - the HV advice is shocking. My dd has gone through dips - e.g. from gaining 8oz pw to about 3oz pw now - and the HV just tells me to chill out and says how well she's looking and how I'm doing the right thing to exclusively bf. She's really supportive - sorry if you've got a less helpful HV. Do check the archives here though cos there's loads of good advice about boosting supply as well as bottles.

Chilli, don't swap to formula! If you are worried about your supply, just feed a bit more regularly for a couple of days. On the bottle-refusing, ds3 has taken the bottle when I held him as described by Mears as above. Then he refused it again! What I did yesterday was to refuse to bf him until he had taken 1-2 oz in the bottle. I held out until he was due his next feed and then he took it! Today he still put up a fight but less of a fight than yesterday. I intend to try every day until he takes it happily.( if he ever does!)

Hi, Im a new user, but it is reassuring to see that other mums and dads are having problems too getting their darling to drink from a bottle. We have real problems because when she was first born we started mix feeding, wed give her the bottle then top up with the breast, because we thought if we gave her breast first then we wouldnt be able to give her the bottle. Eventually we thought we would do one or the other, so i built up my milk supply, and she drank less and less from the bottle. Then she started refusing it altogether. But we have an added problem that she doesnt really like anything going into her mouth as she has been on an antibiotic since she was born, and most of the time we have to force it into her, she doesnt mind us giving her food luckily, but she doesnt like us putting her hands on a cup or bottle to guide it to her mouth. Any advice would be really appreciated. Sometimes i think we need actual practical help. cherie

chilli, your HV is talking b***x. I don't know if your baby is underweight or not, but all you need do to get more calories in is to feed her more breastmilk....and you already have that in your breasts

Why HVs don't come to this conclusion themselves, I don't know.

Hi there
I had this trouble with both babes - they don't warn you about this aspect of b'feeding, do they?
I eventually had success with a type of teat called Nuk. You can buy them online. Think they are really soft and nice - like mummy, presumably! Good luck

I was going to suggest NUK teats too AnnieSG but you beat me to it!
Nothing worked for DD until I tried those ... I breastfed but on the couple of occasions I needed to go out without DD they were the only teats she would take.

hi girls,

im back in england for 2 weeks of relaxing with my baby!!! Im not going to worry about things anymore as I was wasting time thinking about bottles instead of enjoying my baby girl. Im just going to try to offer a bottle of expressed milk every day and if she dosnh't take it i won't worry about it. Im sure in time she will but for the time being im not concerned anymore. She seems happy and naps well during the day so im going to ignore my h/v!!!! Im sure i will be asking you all questions very soon. thanks sarahxx

Annie SG were they the latex teats or silicone?