Bottle feeding a bf baby

[cosykins]

Hello
My dd is 4 months old and exclusively bf. I have tried loads of times to feed her expressed milk from a bottle but she refuses! She doesn't get cross, she just won't suck at all. My DH and mum have tried too, with me out of the house, but no luck. Would it be an idea to just express and bottle feed for a few days so she gets used to it?! I really want to be able to leave her with someone else once in a while....
Thanks SO much in advance for advice!

We could never manage it but I did get our baby to take some once by distracting her with TV! I never tried 'cold turkey' as I couldn't express enough but maybe it has worked for someone else.

Generally if the bottle hasn't been introduced on a regular basis from the early weeks then they won't take it later. If you express and try to exclusively bottle feed it will radically affect your supply (no pump can get as much out of you as a baby) and your baby is likely to go pretty hungry. In a few weeks you'll be able to give milk from a cup, so I wouldn't worry too much. (If you look in the Breast and Bottle Feeding section you'll see loads of threads about bottle refusal.)

Agree that if you are looking for a solution in weeks rather than days you are best waiting it out and trying a sippy cup. DS took milk from a cup at 6 months and I danced a jig with DH whilst I was out. I could never do cold turkey but by that age I would feed him and go out for a couple of hours, leaving DS with DH. He starts crying the moment I walk in though (and it is the moment he sees me, I've listened at the door to reassure myself) if he's missed a feed, but has a great time until he can see the milk source mummy.

The HV helpfully told me that I could keep him on a bottle until he was 12 months when I mentioned him taking a cup to her.

DS bottle refused, and I tried everything. I gave him a sippy cup from about 3-4 months. He could manage just a tiny amount but built up. By 6 months could down a whole cupful amazingly fast!
Good luck.

You can definitely try an open cup at 4m - DD would take some from a cup at that point. Slow work, though.

I think 4 months is quite a difficult age to introduce a bottle to be honest, from mine and my friends experiences. Have you tried sneaking her a bottle when she's been asleep for a while, like a dream feed?

Barleysugar - yes, tried this last night for the dream feed - no luck!!
Thanks all for advice and reassurance. I will try sippy cup and open cup and see how we get on!!

Have you tried a different type of teat/bottle? I didn't have much trouble with DS (I think he first had a bottle at 2mo or around that time) and we used Tommee Tippee bottles, but at some point we used a Medela bottle (that came with a breast pump) and he absolutely adored that bottle, and would love to keep suckling on it even when it was empty.