Baby hysterical if offered milk from anything but breast

[Rosebud1302]

Sorry everyone it's me again! It would appear I am going through a stage of many FTM questions and it is so reassuring talking to you guys.

Baby boy is 6 months old and has always been BF. Has always been very on and off taking bottles. Almost certainly my fault for leaving it for months before introducing them. But he did accept them quite happily for about a month. In fact he really enjoyed them. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. He was left with my mum while I went for a catch up day at work and he would not accept the bottle at all. Therefore went from 8:30-6:30 without eating anything :(

I was hoping this was a one off. But nope. Absolutely will not accept the bottle. Gets so so upset when it is near him or he is encouraged to drink. So I gave up on that idea and thought maybe he would prefer the free flow cup we have for weaning. Nope. Same thing. I was simply holding the cup while he was on my lap and he cried and cried and cried and cried. This has happened twice. He had 1oz in the end but he was not at all happy about it.

Is this a normal reaction?! Honestly he was so upset it was heartbreaking. I don't know what to do. Do I give up and accept he will only ever bf? I go back to work when he is just under a year old. Do I keep trying and try and push through the crying?! It seems cruel but does he need to get used to it?! I genuinely don't know.

Obviously it isn't ideal as it means I can't go out without him really. I have a lot of catch up days with work coming up which I booked thinking he would take the bottle fine but now I don't think I can go and risk him not eating all day. That can't be good can it?? Poor thing. I wish I could just explain to him it really isn't the end of the world 😔

Any advice or experiences gladly appreciated as always!

How's his food intake? He might be happy just to have meals and then BF when you are there. Is he drinking water? Or could your mum come to your work at lunchtime so he could feed.

Food intake is on and off but obviously still quite new to it. Same with water he isn't massively keen. Unfortunately she can't no as she can't drive :(

I’ve been in a similar position and have ended up coming home at lunchtime to bf my baby on my KIT days as he won’t twke a bottle. He will be 11 months when I go back so I’m hoping he’ll be fine on just morning and evening feeds by then. I’m sure if I had persevered he would have taken a bottle eventually but I decided I couldn’t be bothered trying to force him.

My ds refused bottles etc entirely but I left him from six months with food including porridge made up with expressed milk and he was just fine. Took to food quickly (I guess he had to). At least I never had to worry about trying to wean him off bottles.

Thanks guys. I guess there isn't much I can do if he won't take them! I will just have to hope he is ok with mainly food when I go back to work fully 🤞

Does he have a sippy cup with water in at meals? We bypassed bottles entirely and went straight to sippy cup. There's an avent one that's particularly good for breastfed babies that my DD happily drinks milk out of.

Yep he does and will take a bit of water at meals (not a lot) but as soon as he knows I am trying to give him milk in it he loses it :( I thought the same I don't want to go back to bottle now as I will just have to stop it anyway. Did you just give your LO the cup and let them feed themselves or did you hold it? I'm holding it for him because he doesn't know how to hold it or use it properly but that is stressing him out.

My LO is a couple of months older than yours and can now do it entirely by herself. She was trying to do it herself at six months and I put my fingers on the underside of the cup just to help her support the weight of it so she could use the handles and still felt in control. I know they say freeflow from 4 months, but we started with this one:

Philips Avent Easy Sip Spout Cup with Handle, 200 ml, Pink/Purple - SCF551/13 www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00N3P9EXI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_N9-BCbHCBTCDS?tag=mumsnetforum-21

The action to get the liquid out is similar to feeding from the breast and stops it going everywhere in the early days when they've not yet got control.

Ok great thanks yes I do think I need to let him "do it" more than I am at the moment. And thanks for the link we have the Tommee Tippee one so i guess pretty similar?!

I gave my similar aged bf mad baby a bottle to play with as a toy for a bit. Took it in the bath etc. He got familiar and happy with it with no pressure for it to replace me, then i started putting a little at a time in so he got sips of water/milk when chewing on it. Gradually worked up to having it as a proper drink. It worked well.

Mine was the same. On KITs I rushed back at lunch. I went back to work when she was ten months. At 8 months I started feeding her at 10 and 2, and every week added 15 minutes either side until she was eating at 8:30 and 4:30. Distracted her with food and water in between. Fed her every hour or two overnight. It was horrendous for a couple of months - I was knackered, but at 12 months she started taking cows milk through a nuk soft spout. She's 15 months now and down to one boob per day.

Oh and she took a tommee tippee sippy cup but enjoyed the fact that it was not spill-proof too much.

The Tommy tippee is free flow, so just pours when upside down. The one I linked to has a slit on the teat rather than a hole, so baby has to gum on it to get anything out. Stops them pouring water everywhere.

Thanks everyone. He was super interested in his cup at dinner today (with water) and he really trying to use it himself so I plan to keep going with that for a few weeks and hope it just translates to him feeding himself milk! It would be a lot less stressful if he could do it himself instead of me having to hold it and try and get him to take it. We will see!

Yeah... I had one of those kind of babies too!

To be fair, I'm sure nipples are way nicer.

Anyway, mine wouldn't ever take a bottle. It gets less stressful once they are eating solids too, and mine never did take a bottle or have any kind of milk during the day even when she was in full-time childcare when she was a year old... she would just have water (from a cup) during the day, and kept breastfeeding a lot in the morning and at night. It worked out fine and she ate plenty of solid food during the day.

Maybe focus on introducing more solid foods and finding some healthy/filling things that he will eat and enjoy during the days?

Thank you that is reassuring to hear that it is possible! I have visions of him sat crying at nursery starving hungry because he won't take milk 😔 but yes I will work hard on getting him used to and enjoying solids. He is already doing pretty well so hopefully that trend continues!