Bottle refuse now refusing a cup.

[Mc3209]

I've got a 5 months old exclusively breastfed baby who is a staunch bottle and dummy refuser. I have given up on the bottles, that ship has sailed. I've been trying since he was 6 weeks old, spent a small fortune on different bottles/teats, no luck. I've been looking forward to introducing an open cup as I've heard good things, that stubborn bottle refusing babies transition to it well.

Well, it has been 2 days (I realise it's not long enough, I guess I was hoping for a miracle) and not really making any progress with a Doidy cup. At the first sip his little face was picture of disbelief and disgust, and since then I struggle to get near him with a cup - twisting away, back arching, the works. I've tried formula and ebm in the cup so far. I am doing a lot of happy modelling using the cup in front of him, letting him play with the empty cup, tried various time of the day - so far no luck. Please tell me it will come. I would love for DH to be able to given him at least 1 feed a day, to give me a small break.

Will be starting weaning him in a month, and I hope he will be able to take water in a cup too.

What else can I do? All tips/tricks/advice welcome.

What about a very basic sippy cup- without the valve. I believe Tommy tippee do one.

Second the Tommy Tippee sippy cup. We tried the Doidy cup at 5.5 months and tbh I don't know anyone who had success with it at such an early age (I'm sure there will be some babies who took to it easily at an early age, but just my experience.) Only now at 8 months are we transitioning to the Doidy cup with some success.

My daughter was like this. Would take nothing but the breast until she was old enough to use a normal (plastic) cup. No milk, no formula.

Neither of mine would drink out of a bottle, by the time they went to nursery at 11 months they would both drink out of a sippy cup if they were thirsty. It was much easier just to keep on feeding them myself, the struggles with a bottle were so stressful for everyone! They feed less over time, I know a few months sounds ages now, but it really is a very short period of time, you will get a break eventually!

Thank you for your replies, they make me feel less alone! I keep hearing about these wonder babies who take well to doidy cup (as well as it being marked as 3m+), it makes me feel I am doing something wrong. It's very reassuring to know I am not the only one going/have gone through these bottle/cup battles.

I will get that Tommee Tippee sippy cup too.

I keep telling myself that no child goes to university with a boob in their mouth, so he will have to drink out of a cup at some point!

Some people collect stamps, I seem to collect baby feeding paraphernalia 😂

Has your DH tried, without you in the room? My baby wont take a bottle if he knows I'm there, I think he can smell my milk! But he will from DH - get him to have a go

We've tried that with bottles. DS will just chew the teat but wouldn't actually take any milk. Then he would start crying once he gets fed up of chewing the teat. Then DH will feel like crying too and hand me the baby.

Mine happily used a munchkin 360 cup from 5 months or so and also the tommee tippee cup as it just pours out.

I know it feels relentless but baby will be weaning soon and able to go longer in between feeds.

Personally I went out and left DH to it for a while so he couldn't hand baby back after a few minutes of trying. They both survived!

Sounds exactly like how my DS was.

Point blank refused a bottle (spent a small fortune on them!). The tommee tippy cup really helped, he had water in it, milk at breakfast. He was very happy! Still refused anything other than the boob at night, finally weaned him off it at Christmas at 19 months 😂

I would just let go of the idea of your DH giving your baby a feed, honestly. It really doesn’t give you the break you might think it does. Particularly once you start weaning, feeding a breastfed baby becomes less about the ‘feed’ and more about the boob which your DH will never be able to replace.

My DS1 was like yours. Refused liquid in any form apart from breastfeeding. He started nursery full time when he was eight months old when I had to go back to work and I was absolutely frantic. But at nursery, he consumed just enough water from a sippy cup to stave off dehydration and would eat porridge with EBM mixed in (which, in hindsight, was more for me than for him) then make up for it with lots of feeds when we got home. He’s now a strapping eight year old who is very partial to tea in his Harry Potter mug.

DS2 did take a bottle and was better with cups from an early age, but did I really feel anymore ‘rested’ or ‘free’? Not in the slightest. Made me wish I’d not given myself that stress (and all the rejected plastic bottles and cups going into landfill) with DS1.

My boy just turns the cup upside down & pours it all over himself... He chews the top / sippy bit or licks it like a toy. Am I doing it wrong? What is the valve for? (I thought it was to stop spilling when our & about)
My son will take a bottle, after much teat testing, still BF at night. 9 months old, I really want to stop BF at this stage!

How easily/quickly do you give in? I know it's upsetting and you feel mean but if he refuses and you give in straight away there is no incentive for him to use the bottle is there? When weaning DD after a missed/delayed feed she soon gave in when she realised the option was bottle only?

Thank you for your reassuring stories!

@ElphabaTheGreen that's another reason why I am a bit uptight about getting him to take something other than my boob. He will be going to nursery full time at 12 months when I return to work FT. After seeing how "well" the bottles went, I decided to try early with cups. My work also means I will have to miss 1-2 bedtimes/week, so I don't want him to be reliant on a boob for comfort before bed by then. I am glad to read things work out in the end with nursery and drinking.

@ivfbeenbusy I tend to give up once he gets properly upset and I feel we won't really get anywhere, as well as trying not to create any negative association with food (I am a FTM with PFB, so really just playing it by ear..) I've been offering him bottles once or twice per day since he was 6 weeks old until about 4 months old.

Sounds like I need to relax a bit, ride it out, and take it as it comes. It sounds like things tend to work out one way or another.

Doidy cups are rubbish! We had the most success with tommee tippee cups and 360 ones.

Tbh, don't stress though. The 6 month old baby is nothing like the 12 month one. At that age, they are fine without milk and can even cope very well with a different bedtime routine.

Concentrate on food and naturally reducing milk feeds. Keep the cup for water and don't stress about having milk in there for a few months yet. It will come.

DH giving a feed isn't that much of a break for you really. Likely it's still you making the bottle abs clearing it up after. All they are doing is sitting down feeding baby. When you start weaning daddy can take over some more meal prep and food times etc. A break now is daddy taking baby for an hour or two and you having a good nap.