getting breast fed baby to accept bottle...

[Flowerface]

sorry for the typing - holding baby with one arm...

any suggestions as to how to encourage 5 week old dd to accept a bottle of expressed milk?

she doesn't seem interested in the slightest, or cries with the teat in her mouth. i really want to get this cracked before she's too old to ever take a bottle. are there any tricks of the trade?

i tried with DD but she wouldn't accept it off me

in the end, i bought a breastflow bottle and sent DH off with her to his mum's for a few hours

she took the bottle after a wee bit of resistance and drank 4 oz in total

she was wrapped in a vest that smelt of me which i think helped

she was around 8 weeks old

yesterday i was out for a few hours and she took the bottle again with no problem altho' she prefers me

also, try some breastmilk on the teat

I have a Breastflow bottle too, and DD seems to like it. She's 8mo although was very premature so is really only 5 mo. She's never had 4oz in one go though! 3 1/2 is her record... But she seems happy on it.

Perseverance. Keep trying, every day, when she's not very hungry (maybe an hour after feeding?) and keep going until she gets it. It's a learned skill - keep telling yourself that.

i don't have any real advice i'm afraid, but i honestly don't think they get "too old" to take a bottle.

ds2 refused a bottle steadfastly until he was 9 months old.
ds3 has just accepted a small amount from one at 6 months

unless you have some really urgent need to bottle feed i'd say don't worry too much, there are other ways of feeding a bf baby if you aren't around so don't stress out too much over it