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Original poster

Tips on getting bf baby to take a bottle

25 replies

Jenmk1 · 29/03/2015 18:54

Nearly 7wo DD has an aversion to taking bottles! She is EBF and I've been expressing & storing milk in the freezer. We've been trying every couple of days to get her to take a bottle with no joy. Tried 2 different types of bottles (Philips Avent & MAM), warming the milk vs room temp, different times of day, waiting til she's hungry vs when she's maybe not so hungry (and therefore a bit more calm). DH has been trying with me out the room so she can't see/smell me. She ends up screaming & spitting the teat out & getting really distressed. Has anyone any magic tips on how to get her to take a bottle or is it just a case of perseverance? Thanks!

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Notfastjustfurious · 29/03/2015 19:00

Perseverance or she just might not - ever. My dd is 9 months now and has never taken a bottle. I tried all different kinds and different times and different people and she just flat refused each time and got very upset so in the end I gave up. Started introducing a cup at 5 months and she takes from that now but the whole bottle thing was a lost cause. Good luck though, you might find she just goes with it one day.

feezap · 30/03/2015 10:23

We had this issue for a long time and the only thing that did it was perseverance. I needed to be able to get out long enough to exercise my pony and didn't enjoy the thought of DS not being able to be fed if he got hungry whilst I was out.

We offered a bottle every day, always warmed to body temp, and about ten minutes before he'd usually get hungry for a feed (sometimes hard to predict!) If he wasn't over hungry or over tired then it was easier. DH did it with me out of the room to start off with, then once he was having success, GPs started to have a go. With each new person it took time and patience for DS to get used to it.

But it did eventually work, now anyone can give him ebf from a bottle, in fact you have to be careful not to let him see it before its ready or he gets cross!

It is such a good idea if you can get it to work for you, it means you can happily leave the baby, and even if they are not due a feedfeed you know there is something there if they do get hungry.

In an emergency last week I had to leave DS with my (amazing) Mum for a whole day, I had some frozen milk stored up so she had plenty for him and they got on just fine. My boobs weren't though!

Good luck xx

Stillwishihadabs · 30/03/2015 10:30

Hmm ds never did. Would take formula from a tommy tipee beaker at 4m.

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Original poster

Jenmk1 · 30/03/2015 10:46

Thank you for the advice everyone.

Feezap, how old was your DS when you started trying the bottle? I worry that DD is a bit young still at 7 weeks but everything I've read says as long as you wait til after 4 weeks it's fine so you don't mess up your supply. It's difficult finding time to express every day as it is since I'm on my own with DD during the day & at night she's cluster feeding just now so don't have much time between feeds! Feels like I'm wasting precious EBM every time she refuses the bottle. Will definitely persevere though.

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Writerwannabe83 · 30/03/2015 10:55

I started trying at 8 weeks and tried and tried for months but he point blank refused.

The first time he very begrudgingly had one was when he was 9 months oldand that was only because I was away for the night and he soon realised it was that or nothing.

fizzzog · 30/03/2015 10:59

Will she suck on your finger? The lactation consultant showed me 'finger feeding' a straw like contraption you tape to your finger.

Minitant · 30/03/2015 11:00

It sounds a bit brutal but my husband's technique was to make sure the teat was right at the back of my DD's palate. I had been sort of putting the teat near the baby's lips and hoping she would get it!

Micah · 30/03/2015 11:03

Is there any particular reason you want her to take a bottle?

I found it far too much faff, and was fine just not. If you give a bottle you need to express anyway, so might as well just feed.

It's only for 6 months.

RosesAreOverated · 30/03/2015 11:07

I used disposable bottles, never failed, I think it was because the teat was so much softer and once they got the hang of ff it was much easier to get them onto a normal bottle.

Minithemoocher · 30/03/2015 11:19

Perseverance worked for us. Just keep trying! One day DD just seemed to get it. We also introduced an expressed bottle as a dream feed which my DH used to do so that I could get some more sleep. She took the bottle better when she was sleepy, so once we had that sussed we moved on to trying to get her to take it in the day.

TheFecklessFairy · 30/03/2015 11:55

Is there any particular reason you want her to take a bottle? said Micah

Does it really matter why?

BertieBotts · 30/03/2015 12:05

Brown latex teats. Oh and YY you need to "shove" quite a bit more than you do with a boob. Obviously don't force them, but you have to be a bit more forward with it, they won't take it in quite the same as with a boob.

Feckless - no it doesn't, but often parents introduce a bottle because they are told that they should "just in case" or so that they don't miss some mythical window, which is not based in any fact at all. If the OP was persevering with bottles because she thought she should rather than because she actually wanted to, it might be a relief to know that it was not necessary (or that it is OK to stop and try again in a few months)

Micah · 30/03/2015 12:25

Yy to Bertie.

With my first I very much felt pressured into making sure she would take a bottle. It would make it easier on me, apparently, give me a break, make sure I didn't get tied into breastfeeding and could switch to ff.

It was just more pressure, more stress, more work, and upset our established bf. Expressing was a nightmare, and just made me worried about my supply. In the end too she started to prefer bottles and refuse the breast, so I stopped giving the bottles (was relieved to stop the faff!) and bf settled down to its easy routine again.

Dd2 I just never bothered, never needed to give a bottle, and bf was much easier.

Sometimes it does take one person to say "you don't have to do that" to realise that actually, you don't. Even when everyone tells you you should.

HazleNutt · 30/03/2015 12:51

NUK First Choice Latex teats have been successful with many bottle-refusing babies, and also warming the milk a little more.

But some babies never take bottles. I tried everything, must have bought about a million different teats and bottles, but the best we could manage was that he took a bare minimum, and waited for me to get home. (I had to go back to work when he was 4 months, so yes, oddly, I would have preferred if he would take bottles).

He was fine, we managed, but I most certainly hope the next one will take bottles. And will start offering them asap and regularly - yes, you hear all this scaremongering about babies getting lazy and not wanting to BF any more if you give them a bottle, but in real life, I have never heard that happening. I know plenty of bottle-refusing babies though.

Original poster

Jenmk1 · 30/03/2015 13:16

I know I don't have to get her on to bottles & if she doesn't it's norther end of the world. Luckily I'm not going back to work until she's nearly 10 months. I would just like to have the option of being able to leave her with DH or DM for more than an hour or so without worrying that she's screaming the place down looking to be fed. Or for DH to do a night feed occasionally. As much as I love her it's hard work being at their constant beck & call.

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Original poster

Jenmk1 · 30/03/2015 13:17

*not the end of the world

OP posts:

Micah · 30/03/2015 13:20

She's only 7 weeks. It does get easier :). I found 12 weeks the magic age where the seemingly constant feeding separated out into more predictable feeds.

Then when you hit weaning age in 4 months time feeds will space out to manageable, and the can have a yoghurt or rice cakes to hold them off until you get home.

flipflopsonfifthavenue · 30/03/2015 18:55

DS1 eventually took a tommee tippee bottle with formula around 7mo. This it was just like another type of food for him at that point. Always refused expressed milk.

Tried earlier with DS2 around 3mo and he took about 60ml of ebm from DP. Was clearly a mistake he won't be repeating and has refused any attempt since.

Don't know if I can be bothered to be honest. Wil probably try expressed milk or formula with a sippy cup next as he'll be 6mo in 6weeks or so.

Original poster

Jenmk1 · 31/03/2015 14:25

Thanks everyone for the suggestions for bottles/teats to try. I've ordered some disposable bottles to try first. I'll make sure DH knows to be more "forceful" (for want of a better word) with the teat too.
I had to leave her with DM yesterday to go to a dentist appointment & the dentist was running 40 mins late. By the time I got back she was hungry & cranky. Would have been so much easier if I could have left a bottle for her.
I'll try not to get too stressed about it though. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Like you say, it's not forever

OP posts:

wotlarks · 31/03/2015 21:50

Bit of a curveball but is she the same with "fresh" EBM? ie not from the freezer? After expressing every day and filling a freezer drawer and DS1 refusing to take it from a bottle or anything else, I found out that some women's breastmilk just doesn't freeze well at all due to a high level of a certain protein (can't remember which). So it might be worth testing a bit yourself to check the milk is actually ok.

Original poster

Jenmk1 · 31/03/2015 21:55

Not actually something I'd considered wotlarks, thanks. We have tried her with at least one "fresh" bottle (ie expressed about 2 hours beforehand & stored in the fridge) from what I can recall. I'll bear that in kind for the future though, thanks.

OP posts:

FitzChivalry · 31/03/2015 22:09

Agree with Hazel, NUK bottles and warm the milk more than you would think. Mine would only take the bare minimum from bottles and these were the best ones for her.

MrsBojingles · 31/03/2015 22:23

I couldn't get DD to take a bottle reliably - we've had to resort to gentle syringe feeding, doidy cup, or feeding with a spoon!

soontobemumofthree · 31/03/2015 22:39

I just let DH or DM find another way to settle baby for a couple of hours. Sorry not v helpful. But it was so much faff I rarely bothered before going back to work. At least when I came back from some time away I was ready to feed and baby ready to be fed. When I went back to work they just had to! Initially they took v little bottle very reluctantly but after about a week they realized the score and was no problem after that.

mrsmugoo · 03/04/2015 12:57

Mine never ever did despite a lot of perseverance, loads of different bottles and tests and different people trying. He took formula from a sippy cup when he started nursery at 7.5 months because it was either that or nothing!
I had long since stopped expressing as it just went down the sink every. single. time.

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