Persuading a BF baby to take the bottle

[dizzyem]

I have a 19 week old daughter and we can only get her to take a bottle of expressed milk if she starves herself all day (which I am not happy about doing). I have tried different bottle/teat types but no success. Also tried a Doidy cup but she really didn't have a clue so I think she needs to be a bit older.
Frustrating thing is she used to take a bottle until I got an infection at 8 weeks and then I didn't bother to express as it was too painful. Have been trying since 12 weeks to persuade her to take a bottle as part of regular routine.
Has anyone got any tips that they found worked?

Hi. My DD was same - refused bottle point blank. Was trying to wean her off breast feeding for returning to work, then at 6 months, I got pleurisy & had to stop feeding that day so I could b treated 4 it. She would only entertain the "bumpy" teats - think they were Nuby? got them in Boots. Try & get somebody else to do a few feeds for you so she doesn't smell ur milk. Couldn't express milk either then, but she would take Cow & Gate formula after that.
Next best tip, don't touch follow on milk unless deficiency in food - extra iron is too much & she got very badly constipated.
hope that's something u haven't tried.

Marking to steal tips. My 14 weeks old just screams and gags on the teats. Have been trying since she was 8 weeks (admittedly not very regularly) but she just will not suck.

Went out tonight and had to feed her before I left and then hope she would stay asleep while I was out (which luckily she did) as we knew she wouldn't take the bottle of EBM I left for DH to try.

Another mum I spoke to had a similar problem I think. She suggested putting the bottle of milk under one arm to feed the baby. Sounds odd i know but it means that the baby is in a similar position to breast feeding and the milk doesn't just flow out as it would when you normally hold a bottle. i know sometimes babies are put off by the fast flow of milk from a bottle. Hope that helps

We had this problem. I'm not sure I can be of much help, I would say just keep trying every so often.

DS finally took a bottle when DP took him to our local's pub garden, with a couple of his friends in tow one day.

So perhaps my advice is take DD to the pub?

I'm having this problem at the moment, but with 7mo DD; she had taken one or two bottles of ebm a day for about 4 mo. she has just suddenly started refusing when i've moveed to formula, but won't even take ebm anymore.

will be sending DH to the pub with her at the weekend !

Formula tastes very different to BM (according to my DH )

BM is very sweet while Formula tastes quite yukky.

Maybe try to get your DD to take EBM again then add more and more formula to ease her into the taste of the formula?

Ds2 was like this - took the bottle of EBM fine daily for the first 3 months then wouldn't take it for ages.

I think I persevered for a fortnight then gave up for a few months. After a few half hearted and unsuccessful attempts we just went cold turkey and I decided I would only breast feed him morning and night. He was 9 months by this time so he was starting to drop feeds anyway, and was getting less reliant on the milk.

I just kept offering him milk every hour or so through the day until he took it. It was pretty painless in the end and once he'd taken it once, he was away.I think he just wasn't ready for it when he was younger - he was quite emotionally attached to the boob and fed a lot for comfort etc, whereas when he was older the transition was fairly easy.

Now he's 17 months and I'd struggling to get him off the bottle Won't entertain milk in a cup!!

I want to give her EBM rather than formula if possible but she just will not suck. Other people have tried to feed her a bottle of EBM also without immediate success. She would rather starve herself for 8-10 hours! I'm hoping she will come round to the idea eventually before I go back to work in the summer.

Perhaps I'll send her to the pub with DH or then again perhaps I'll go to the pub and leave DD2 at home with DH!

I am also trying to get my 5mo DD on one/two bottle or cup a day so I can go to work. So far its not working. Will keep an eye on this thread to see if there are any more tips and see how you are getting on dizzyem.

We are still at the stage of limited success of I have accepted that DD will have a bottle after starving herself for 8-10hrs which is obviously not good for her and so it makes me reluctant to go anywhere without her. Roll on weaning in another month or so....

My DS didn't take a bottle at all at 5 months and now at 7 months he is fully weaned and I have stopped BFing

What worked for us in the end was treating the bottle as something completely different to BF - although he was starting solids at this point, which made that easier. I started by giving him the bottle to play with with a little bit of FF in the bottom when he was just lying on his mat. He barely drunk anything but it stopped him being scared of the bottle, like the couple of times previously when we had tried to pretend it was BF with cuddles etc and prompted 30 mins of screaming ... Then I started to offer him the bottle in the bouncy chair when he'd finished his rice/purees etc, although he still didn't drink much and just chewed (nasty side effect was that he started to chew me too but that stopped).

The next breakthrough was a NUK bottle with a large latex teat. First time I tried that he took 4oz! Then we went backwards for a bit, but I always offered him a small bottle at the end of his solids feeds and slowly he started always to take some. Each time I offered him a bottle I kept on offering him a top-up BF as well for about a week, by the end of which he wasn't interested so I dropped that BF.

Eventually we got to the point a couple of weeks ago where I think he started to find BF annoying and slow, waiting for the let-down and the juicy hindmilk etc and he started to see the bottle and reach for it. It took about a month all in all, with some backward steps along the way.

Sorry for a long post, but I hope this is helpful or at least encouraging that it can be done A couple of friends who are struggling to get their babies onto a bottle also found that the NUK teats got a better reaction than others.

Thanks for that chestnut, I have also spoken to a couple of friends who said their little ones didn't take a bottle until 7 months or so and one of them also mentioned the NUK teat. I have tried this one before with DD2 but will try again once she starts weaning in a couple of weeks and keep my fingers, toes and everything else crossed.

Its so reassuring to see that I am not the only one with a baby that would rather starve than take the bottle. I feel so much better after reading this thread and am fully stocked with NUK bottles and advice. Thanks every so much!

My dd is 9mo and has only just started taking a bottle despite us offering it frequently since she was 10 weeks old. She has the NUK bottle with a NUK medium flow teat.

But the NUK bottle is the same one we've been trying for months What we've done differently is give her the milk hot (rather than tepid) as I read on here that sometimes bf babies like their milk hot cos bm is blood temperature which is actually hot rather than warm.

Important disclaimer: I know nothing about feeding my baby - yet

I bought this book "Nursing Mother, Working Mother" because I want to BF when this LO is born in 3 months, but I also have to go back to work within 4 weeks of the birth. ( )
Anyway, this book seems really good, (recommended by lactation consultant friend-of-friend over here) and in it they suggest getting someone OTHER than you to offer the bottle (cos you smell of milk and boob and other things he wants) and when offering the bottle, holding him in a completely different way to how you hold him when you bf - for example, sitting on your DH's lap and facing outwards. I think the idea is to establish a sense that bottle and breast are different KINDS of feed, and while he gets the breast from you, he gets fed differently from someone else.

Interestingly, they also say that lots of older babies refuse to feed from anyone but their mum and then clusterfeed/feed all night, and while this isn't ideal for the mum, perhaps, it doesn't harm the baby. I can't remember how old the babies were in their examples, and am too tired to look now, but will try to come back tomorrow (sorry, about to sleep).

Anyway, in case the holding helps - I hope something does! That might not work (they also suggest establishing this within the first 4 weeks so maybe that's a factor) but worth a go, maybe?

Yes agree about the holding. I put dd in her highchair or pushchair for milk in a bottle and don't hold her.

Keep trying various things and something will probably click. Try enlisting your mother/MIL as well as DH. We had the same problem - DS taking a bottle when tiny, then went off it over a couple of weeks, then got him back on with lots of perserverence, then he went off it again completely in the space of 2 weeks, and just screamed at me... He is now fine with it again.

We got him back on with NUK which he likes playing with as well as drinking from, but a friend found Breastflow ones worked with her refusnik daughter. Another friend went straight to cups at about 6 months. My giving it to him in his bouncy chair worked for a while.

At 6months DD" is still refusing to suck form the bottle - she will have it in her mouth and will happily chomp on it! She is starting to drink from a tommee tippee cup so as long as she continues this then hopefully she will at least get milk when I go back to work in a few months. Just need to get the bedtime sorted now.... I'm supposed to know what I'm doing this timeround but DD2 really is an enigma, more so than DD1 when I didn't know what I was doing...

I tried all sorts of bottles with my first and found the tommee tippee ctn ones were best. Formula wise, as I didn't manage to express enough for work, he preffered SMA.

2nd time round, i've just tried the breastflow ones. She's always sucking her thumb whilst big bro never did.

I also found it easier if someone else was doing the feeding as well. Tom has a nursery trip next week so MIL will be looking after Erin for 7 hours and that will be longest i've left her.

At 7 months- DD2 has today taken it upon herself to drink from a bottle when offered after meals on 3 occasions - only upto 2oz max but its progress and whilst she seems willing to entertain the idea I'm going to aim to continue it. So much thanks to all for your advice, tips etc lets hope she continues to go with the flow!

Amazing. My DD who I've been trying to get to drink formula from a bottle for ages has just taken 1.5 oz for the first time today. She is 7 months. Am so chuffed.

Hello again Dizzyem - congrats on your success and perserverence Glad it's finally coming together. These little people do like to keep us all on our toes!

Hi my little boy is 8 weeks on friday like most of you refuses to suck on the teat,he just opens his mouth and screams.Tried NUK and TT closer to nature to no avail.Just ordered a breastflow bottle of AMAZON.Tried everyones tips i.e mum/husband feeding he just screams.Feel trapped as hes feeding like mad,can only really venture out once hes fed starting feeling depressed and weepy.He wont even take ebm in the bottle Health Vistor coming on friday is he too young for a cup?

pammartin - sorry you're having a difficult time with the bottle, but do know exactly how you feel. Have you tried heating the milk (just stand bottle in some hot water until temp you want). I have found that my dd will only drink milk that is heated and even then not very much just enough to get her to her next feed from me usually!