Any help/advice regarding bottle feeding?

[karigan]

Hi. Hoping someone has some advice/tips. My 4 month old DD is about to start nursery on Monday for 8 weeks whilst I complete my final teaching placement (can't defer the placement asy course has been discontinued so at this point If i dont complete the placement i would faul the pgce which would be a massive shame after passing every essay and placement thus far and only having 8 weeks of the course left.)

Ive been trying to gradually introduce bottles since early December and whilst she has been happy to sit with a bottle teat in her mouth she won't drink out of one. Since Monday i've been ramping it up and rather than offering a bottle occasionally throughout the day i've only been offering feeds through bottles during the hours she will be at nursery (8.30am-5pm.) I've tried four different types of bottles and different teats that vary from newborn to fast flow but nothing seems to make a difference.

Today is the third day she has drunk about 4oz and the only reason she's had this much is because ive basically squirted it into her mouth. She appears to have no idea how to drink from one (doesn't have a dummy tried to introduce one but she wouldn't take it) and now i feel terrible for both her and the poor nursery staff that at this point it looks like she's going to spend 9 hours of every day hungry.

I spoke to the HV about this on Tuesday but her only comment was that if she's hungry enough she will drink. But she's spent a lot of today crying and still only had the 4.5oz i've managed to get down her.

Sorry for rambling but ive got 4 more days, does anyone have any ideas of how to get this cracked? I'm desperate

Sorry for typos- im one handed on my phone.

I haven't had to deal with this op but a couple of my friends have and they were just amazed at how nursery just seemed to "deal with it". Babies tend to take bottles better from other people, when it's you they just want boob, so others find it easier. How long are your days? If you feed her just before and just after 4-5oz might be enough unless it's a very long day?

Sorry to have no advice but I sympathise. My 3 month old won't take a bottle either despite trying different bottles/ teats and feeding from others. I did see some advice to try a sippy type cup. My dd wouldn't take it but might be worth a try as your dd is a month older. Good luck!

I agree that the Nursery may have a completely different experience to you.

Have you tried a sippy cup?

Ds2 decided to stop taking a bottle and refuse formula when I went back to work (he was 6 months though so a bit older, on solids, and he would drink water from a sippy cup). Thanks ds2

How it worked out was that he had no milk when I wasn't at home (8.30am-5.30pm) but fed A LOT at night. Apparently this isn't uncommon.

I suspect that if he'd been getting no food at all during the day then he'd have taken the formula.

Thanks for the reassurance! Ill buy a sippy cup and try that tomorrow. Otherwise i think ill drive to the nursery early and feed her just before u hand her over.

I have to drop her off at 8.30am and technically could be picking her up at 5pm as thry close but depending on how sympathetic the head teacher is it could be 4pm.

Do you have anyone you could leave her with for a couple of hours before Monday to see if she'll take the bottle from them when you're not there? My friend's ds will not take a bottle from her but will happily take it from anyone else as long as she's not present!

My DH, MIL and a couple of friends have all had a go over Christmas whilst I made myself scarce and had the same result. It doesnt seem to be that she's refusing more that she seems utterly cluessless in regard to how to get any milk out of bottles. I've tried different types of formular as well as expressing breastmilk but everything has the same response.

I feel a bit stupid now as i was so keen to not interfere with her establishing breastfeeding by holding off on introducing bottles that it seems like i've shot myself in the food re bottlefeeding.

Soft spout sippy cup eventually did the trick for us- she was about 5 months old at the time though and we had tried everything so suspect she was just developmentally ready at that point, but might be worth a try?

Thank you all. :) I'll go and buy one first thing tomorrow. fingers crossed

If things get desperate you can try just a regular cup - when my DS2 went on nursing strike at 2 months I had to express and then pour it into him, literally. Babies have an ability to cry and swallow at the same time and not choke themselves so while he was roaring I was able to get milk into him.
As I said, if you get desperate!

Thank you all so.much- tried the sippy cup this morning and she's already had 2 oz (which is half of what she had all day yesterday.) Whilst she's still drinking less than if she was feeding as normal she's clearly eating enough to feel at least semi-filled as she has been laughing and playing this morning.

I feel so much more confident about leaving her next week.

Thank you all. :)

Don't beat yourself up about not giving a bottle earlier: mine had bottles from time to time from birth for various reasons, and still refused when he got to that sort of age. So it may well have made no difference at all if you'd given one earlier.

I found it worked better propping mine in a bouncy chair or similar and giving the sippy cup, rather than trying to cradle the baby.