DS refusing bottle - have 3 days! What can I do?

[fruitstick]

DS is breastfed although has had the odd bottle in the past.

I'm going to a wedding on Saturday and staying overnight, Have tried for the past few days to give him a bottle but he point blank refuses. Have tried cup.

What do I do? I can't just leave him for 24 hours and hope for the best!

A couple of things I tried to get ds used to bottles:

putting him to the breast for a couple of mins and then transferring to the bottle (so he wasn't starving hungry - in the same vein feeding him before he was really hungry)

trying different temperatures of milk - I discovered ds is v sensitive to the temperature and preferred it warmer than I had initally thought - also he would refuse the bottle halfway though if it got too cold.

ensuring that the teat was warm so it didn't feel too different to the breast

putting him in the position I would normally bf him in and holding the bottle in a similar position to the breast

getting dh to feed him - so he wasn't confused by the smell of milk on me.

I had to leave him for c24hrs when he was about 4mths and was really worried about the feeding as he had only taken the occasional bottle before then but dh said that he just gobbled it all down and wasn't bothered at all!

Best of luck in getting your ds to take it. Also bumping this in case anyone else has some good ideas for you

Just keep trying at every feed time and stay calm and relaxed while you try it, maybe try for longer each time.

You could also try holding him up in front of something that fascinates him like a mobile or picture and try him with the bottle while he is distracted.

I reckon if you just keep trying every few hours he will be much more comfortable with the bottle in 3 days. Good Luck.

Have tried again but no luck. Just gets very upset and won't even let the bottle in his mouth.

DH tried but he has no patience. Am going to ask my sister to try tomorrow.

How old is your ds? Is he having any solids yet?

I think it's very likely your sister will have better luck than you, especially if you go out for an hour or so. Who will actually be looking after him at the weekend? Hopefully not your impatient dh?

He's nearly 7 months and on 3 hearty meals a day.

My brother and my niece are looking after him (niece is 23) so they are more than capable.

I just don't want to leave him screaming for 24 hours, both for his sake and my chances of ever getting them to babysit again!

Okay, so he is not going to starve even if he doesn't have much milk for the time you are away. I left my ds overnight with mil when he was a little older but not much, he completely refused expressed milk for the whole time I was gone, but he wasn't unhappy even though he was used to having 4 or 5 breastfeeds a day.

Does your ds drink water from a cup? If he does then I really would try to relax about it. You have a few days to keep giving him practice with the bottle. If it doesn't work out, chances are he will take the bottle once you are not around. If he doesn't he will have extra cheese and yogurt and he will really, truly be fine for one night.

lark you have fair cheered me up!

What a calming influence you really are!

Thank you all.

Hi Fruitstick - hope you and your DS are well. We've just got DS2 onto a bottle - same age as your DS of course - in the past 3 weeks. What we did was have me disappear for the day and have DH offer him a bottle every few hours, just for five minutes each time - he amazed us by taking 3 oz of EBM in the morning while I was around but then wouldnt take any more until 2 in the morning when I was back around - going through early separation anxiety. Though when he saw me he immediately sank 9 oz of EBM and until today has been fine on bottles and mix feeding (teething today so refusing bottles big time).

Top tips are

• when you are offering the bottle wear a thick sweater of DH's; wont be able to smell the milk

• let them play with the bottles to get used to them as nonthreatening items

• warm the bottle and the teat up so is luke warm to your wrist

• dont wait till they are ravenous to feed them

• if they will take a cup,offer it in a cup - it may be they would prefer it from a cup anyway. DS2 spent 12 hours guzzling water from a cup but totally refused milk though.

• he will drink if he's hungry enough - though given my experience with DS2 I would recommend that you leave him for the day/night with someone else before you go to the wedding so he gets used to the idea of someone else looking after him.

• if he's on solids and refuses milk, whoever is looking after him he can give him yoghurts, dairy based foods etc - one day without milk wont be a problem. Though if I were you I'd take an expressing kit to the wedding with me as you may feel like you're going to explode at some time...

He will now take about an ounce from a beaker quite happily.

Bottles met with fierce resistance and wailing.

I'm hoping that that means if he's hungry/thirsty enough he'll drink more.

Please tell me I can go away and not worry too much.

If he can take an ounce from a beaker he can take alot more - so just go straight onto a beaker and bypass bottles totally (saves you a further battle down the line!). Definitely go away and not worry too much - he will drink if he is hungry/thirsty enough.

OK, we were gone for 24 hours and DS didn't drink anything. Had difficulty settling in the evening but other than that seemed perfectly happy.

I'm about to go back to work part time so really need him to be able to drink from a cup so I feel I need to replace his afternoon BF with a cup.

However he's still not drinking anything. It's been nearly a week now and he seems to take a few sips, spit some out and not bother. He doesn't seem upset and is happy to hold out until bedtime. However, I'm worried that he is not getting enough milk.

I've tried breastmilk and formula and it makes no difference. I'd rather he had formula as I hate expressing but doubt a different brand would change anything.

What do I do? Persevere and hope he accepts it eventually - surely he can't keep skipping his afternoon feed without coming to harm?

Keep presenting the cup at the time when you want him to have it. He will take it eventually. Don't bother with bottles, as a BF 7 month old he is too old for them anyway (well, I think he is). Ds was BF and apart from a few feeds when very tiny, never drank from a bottle. Transfer to a cup in preparatio for nursery took about a month.

georgi, did you still BF him at that time as well or just leave him until bedtime?

I worry that if I feed him, then he will never take the cup but if I don't, he will miss out on something he needs.

I continued to BF morning and night until he was nearly 2. I just trained him out of daytime BF in preparation for going to nursery.

I can't tell you whether to go to mixed feeding or not, but if you are intending to do so then way I did it will work. There never was a more boob obsessed baby than my DS but even he accepted it after a couple of weeks.