How to get 3 month old to drink bottles of formula

[Atticus500]

Have to switch to full formula feeding ASAP, and DD (14 weeks) will take a bottle of expressed breast milk and some formula, but just sort of plays with the teat in her mouth. She isn’t really drinking (using tommee Tippee with teat size 1) and I’m wondering what I can do to speed the process up and get her to have a full bottle? I’ve been trying to get her to drink one bottle a day and give up for 24 hours if she doesn’t have it. Am I doing it wrong?

I'm no expert, but I do know that Tommee Tippee size 2 teats can be used for babies aged 3 months upwards. Could it be worth trying a faster flow teat perhaps? I need to try my son (4 months) on them soon as I think he's struggling to get the milk out quick enough on size 1s.

Or try the vari flow teats. They can be used from birth.

If you are not a single parent then get your partner to feed her the bottle for at least 2 days. Make sure you are out of the room when they do this and don't intervene.

My DD was mixed fed and this how we managed as my partner, being a man doesn't have breasts and more importantly smell of milk. I also never changed from newborn teats.

This helped us, plus MAM bottles.

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

Going up a size teat doesnt always solve the issue. I moved up a size teat and the flow made my son choke. Im just sticking with size 1. You are not obligated to match the teat size with your babies age. Its worth a try, but dont be disheartened if it doesnt help things.

It could be that your DD just isnt used to bottles, in which case she just needs practice. Or that you smell of yummy breast milk and she cant understand why she isnt getting the boob. In which case, agree with PP about getting someone else to do it.

MAM bottles worked for us after our DD refused to take bottles from 3 months on. One day she just got it so perseverance and patience is key but definitely don’t force it as soon as she resists just take it away and give it a go another time- you’ll get there!