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?

I haven't read the whole thread but a ray of hope - ds refused a bottle for ages when I tried at 2-3mo. Gave up in the end, then tried again at 5mo and he took it straight away, looking at me as if to say "what? I just wasn't ready...."

Not much help if you're in a hurry though

Similar but different.....

My 6 month old ds has had bottle from 3 wks for dream feed. Have been gradually dropping a feed/ wk for last month and now down to just the one in the morning. He takes bottle with formula from me all day but at bedtime WILL NOT entertain the idea. Last 3 nights he has SCREAMED for 30 mins until I give in and put him on the boob, then is still upset because not enough milk. Eventually so tired he settles with a dummy (didin't have to use before this started). Takes a dream feed from hubby at 10pm but last couple of nights has woken in the night for food. What should I do? Any suggestions gratefully received.

Latex teat, and perseverance worked with dd1

Just some feed back for anyone trying to transition. This worked for me.

1. Try when the baby has just had a nap and about 30 minutes before their usual feed.
2. Have the milk slightly warmer than normal and make sure the teat is warm.
3. Tuck one of the babies arms behind you and hold the other arm down if they keep pushing the bottle away.
4. push the teat into their mouth and wiggle the teat a little to stimulate the sucking reflex
5. If it doesn't work distract, make them laugh, walk about a bit then try again. Try three times in total and then give up til the next feed time.
6. If it doesn't work wait 10 mins and give the usual breast feed.
7. Keep trying.

I tried at the same time every day and it worked!

Hi there,

Not sure if you will have tried this but...

My DD is 11 weeks and we introduced expressed bottle at 6/7 weeks. The very first time we gave her the bottle, I breast fed her first for a short time then introduced bottle, then went back to breast. The reason we did this was because on that particular day I had only managed to express 2oz.

My DD does still gag on the bottle.

Not sure if th way we introduced the bottle helped or whether she would just have taken the bottle anyway, but I suppose it is worth a go?