Bottle success stories

[Olive2019]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had any tips for introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby (3 months old). I’ve been trying for the past 2 weeks with no success and starting to get worried as I have to be away from home for a day in 2 weeks’ time. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

I’m trying also at 4 months old, I have Dr Browns bottles and only tried a few times so far but no luck. My friends daughter was the same and the night before she went away took ready made formula from a Mam bottle , she wouldn’t take expressed milk at all so that will be my last resort but I have a couple of months before I go.

Dont switch the bottles too often give them a week before trying with a new one. My wee one only took from mam bottle and apitmal ready made stuff.

Hi Olive. My DD (now 7 months) was a massive bottle refuser from 8 weeks onwards. We tried everything, including many different types of bottle. For the past 6 weeks or so she has taken a bottle regularly. In the end the things I think helped most were:

1. Position - I found that it helped to have her quite upright on my lap and facing away from me, as anything too close to the breast just had her rooting around for my nipple.

1. Warming the teat in hot water. Just put it in a bowl of hot water for 30 seconds so that the silicone gets nice and warm and pliable. I think this makes it less "rubbery" as it goes into their mouth.

1. Have the milk really warm - warmer than blood temp.

1. Don't force it if baby starts to get really upset. Just put the bottle aside, BF instead and offer bottle again at next feed.

1. Don't let baby get too hungry before offering bottle. You could think that if they were really hungry they would take it, but I found that DD just got too hysterical and it made things worse.

I don't actually think the type of bottle makes that much difference, as in the end my DD will drink from a variety now, but for what it's worth, MAM bottles are the ones I had success with first. The teats are quite soft so supposed to be good for BF babies.

Best of luck. I know how stressful it is. Just keep trying.

Sorry - my post had paragraphs in it when I typed it!

I don't know if it's luck or coincidence but my DD finally took a bottle at about 6 months after refusing all previous attempts. It was the Nuk latex teat that worked for us.
Good luck, I know it's really stressful.

Thanks so much for your replies ladies - you give me hope!

@Creas35 I hadn’t thought about trying formula as a last resort but will give that a shot next week if it’s still not working - hope your LO takes the bottle soon too.

@NotSoThinLizzy Great tip thanks - I’ve tried a Tommee Tippee today so will stick with that for the moment.

@1Wanda1 This is so helpful, thank you! Will definitely be trying these tips tomorrow. It makes me feel much more positive just hearing from others who’ve been through a similar battle so will keep persevering.

Thanks @kunderscorej - I tried the Nuk last week after reading various success stories on MN but we didn’t have any luck with it, I think I prob haven’t been consistent enough with each brand before panic buying another one though

I tried lots of teats but in the end the cheapest bottle won!
I chose the one that looked most like my own nipple. I also fed in the bouncer with baby facing away from me which worked well so he couldn't smell the milk or see me. Or you could get someone else to try and bottle feed initially?

Thanks @TapDanceJazzHands - I’ll give the bouncer tip a shot tomorrow. DH has been trying too, to no avail so far

Just to say huge thanks to all of you - I basically combined all your tips (sticking with the same bottle, warming teat, making milk much warmer than we’d done before, feeding in the bouncer) and we’ve finally cracked it. He’s had a bottle for the past 3 days. I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is. So grateful for the wisdom of Mumsnetters

I finally succeeded by letting DD have some of her feed from me and then giving her the bottle - so a bit of a sneaky switch!