Do some babies never take bottle?

[Stripeyshirts2450]

LO is 12 weeks I've been trying him with bottles since week 10. I admit I may have left it a bit late.

I want to express breastmilk and use a bottle just occassionally like if I go out and give DH a chance to bond and do the odd night feed. I have already tried a few different teats but he just cries hitting it away and I feel so guilty for trying to make him take a bottle and also frustrated that I've spent time pumping and wasting my milk.

He doesn't take from me but also DH, sister and MIL have tried. Any tips? A part of me wonders if I'm just being selfish and should stick to breastfeeding as I do love it, but I also feel like it's important to have the bottle option.

Spent loads of bottles - DD1 never ever took a bottle. DH spent ages trying to no avail.
She did take milk from a cup though and from about four months was reasonable quantities so I could go out occasionally.
I was the same apparently

Mine wouldn't. I can't remember how old he was but definitely before 6 months. I needed to give him medicine and the suggested method was to express into a bottle and mix the medicine in. I bought a bottle and gave it try...

Nope. Not a chance!

My oldest was ebf until 8 months when we went half and half, two bottles and two bf only managed it it's the help of a nanny

My second one didn't accept a bottle at all and it nearly killed me, she wouldn't eat either, had her last bf on her first birthday and luckily started eating a bit more by then

DS (8y) still would rather starve now than eat something he doesn’t like. If they’re hungry, they’ll eat it doesn’t always work.

We found workarounds with weaning and other distractions... We had a funeral when DS was 4 months. I fed him just before we went over to the church and then my friend/his godmother pushed him around town in his pushchair to force him to nap and then brought him back later.

Got 2 of my 3 to take one when they were 22 weeks and nearer 28. Things that are worth trying

• faster flowing tears. Older bf babies tend to be very efficient so they will get frustrated if they have to work at all
• warm the milk (though watch as some babies hate the soapy taste that bf has when it sits a bit and the lipase develops)
• don’t feed them in a cuddly position. Face them out and upright and jiggle them a bit as you sneak the teat in. Some will never take it from mum, others are more distractible.

-there seems to be a thing that once they take one bottle they are fine from there on in

• if using expressed, only offer an ounce at first as there is nothing worse than seeing a lots of wastes ebm and it just makes it more pressured

I think the wait 6 weeks advice is deliberate to keep mums breastfeeding..I have never known any baby take one after 6 weeks.
I mixed fed from 10 days with both of mine and there was never any confusion.

I also left it late. We found eventual success with the Lansinoh bottles - although I've heard good things about Munchkin Latch too! Good luck.

I'm worried I may have frightened him or given him an aversion somehow as he cries so much when it goes near him. I suppose I'm trying to work out if it's worth persevering and how.

My DCs are 16 and 12 now so I’m not up to date on current bottles and what’s out there. Neither would take a bottle and I tried loads.

My cousin in Canada had sent me a first stage sippy cup and they both used these instead. But not as a proper substitute. More like for if I needed to go out for just a couple of hours.

At the time I had to import the cups but you can get them on amazon now. They’re called Playtex Sipsters and they used them from about 4 months.

I left it until 6weeks to introduce a bottle with mine and DD will reluctantly take it.

She doesn't drink a lot when I'm out but enough that she's not starving.i think she would rather wait for me to reappear.

She likes the NUK bottles and teats as they're shaped for breastfed babies. Tried Tommy tipee and Medela but she didn't like those

I left it until 6weeks to introduce a bottle with mine and DD will reluctantly take it.

She doesn't drink a lot when I'm out but enough that she's not starving.i think she would rather wait for me to reappear.

She likes the NUK bottles and teats as they're shaped for breastfed babies. Tried Tommy tipee and Medela but she didn't like those

my second never, even now she dislikes milky/creamy foods.

Mine never did, but would take ebm from a sippy cup from about 27 weeks - you are nearly halfway there. Even if they won't have milk at that age, they can have food and water, so a gap of 3-4 hours is easily manageable.

Unless you really need to leave LO in the next 3 months, just relax. They are off exclusive bf so fast in the grand scheme

Mine did!!! I didn't even try him on a bottle for honestly months. I never felt the need to. Loved solely breastfeeding etc. He really struggled at first but he did take it after a while. Took a lot of persistence and repeated attempts of me leaving him with his dad etc so there is hope :)

My second dc never would. We tried expressed milk at i think 6-8 weeks when I went to a concert leaving DC's with DH and she refused and just cried most of the time I was gone. We tried bottles, cups even a teasooon but she would only drink milk from me.

Mine did!! Not till 15wks though and the only one that he will take is the NUK latex teat bottle as it's so soft and must feel similar to a nipple. He won't have any of the others. It's so hard isn't it! I also found it easier to get him sued to the dummy first by giving it him half asleep, then once he'd established that we tried the bottle a week later and he finished off 3oz. Don't give up without giving it a try xx

Babies will take them after 6 weeks. I’ve had 3 myself that did. No need to scare monger. It’s not a huge different and we start getting babies used to solids from 16-24 weeks.

Mine never did take a bottle, and he wouldn’t take expressed milk from a cup either anyway, even once he could use a sippy cup. He was always completely happy with water though once starting solids or (later) cow’s milk. Expressing was a complete waste of time and effort with him. I ended up cooking stuff for him with the small amount I had in the freezer

Babies will take them after 6 weeks. I’ve had 3 myself that did. No need to scare monger.

I do so love anecdata. Just because something is true of all your kids doesn't mean it's true of everyone's.

Mine never took a bottle. Probably our own fault as we didn't try until he was about 6 months and then didn't persevere. I wanted him to take a bottle at the time, but looking back I'm proud that he didn't.

Ds never did. Went straight from boob to one of those sippy cups. Tried everything, he just wasn't interested .

@BecauseReasons I think that poster was countering another pp who said they’d never known a baby take them after six weeks (ie more anecdata...). It obviously depends on the baby.

My son never took a bottle, but then again I didn’t really try very hard as I didn’t really want to be away with when I was bf (thanks hormones!). He started drinking from a doidy cup at 6 months and then tommee tippee free flow.

Thanks for so many replies- how long to persevere for before I am really upsetting him/he is ones of those that just won't take one?!?

I would leave it for a bit and come back to it in a few weeks. You just don’t know whether they will “never” take one (because there is a time limit to how long they need a bottle for anyway) and don’t forget that sometimes those who do accept a bottle later refuse them, so there are no guarantees

My DD finally took a bottle at about 6 months. Nuk latex teat. Don't know if it was that particular teat that cracked it, or just the timing was right (starting weaning, getting used to putting things in her mouth etc). It is very frustrating, good luck.