Three month old completely refusing the bottle!

[reimah]

Hi!
My 3 month old is on formula (since birth) and had issues with wind/reflux which got better after changing to teat 2 and comfort milk, however since Sat she’s been completely refusing the bottle but using her dummy very well.
I can’t get her to suck at all, we’ve tried everything and she’ll only drink in her sleep!
I’m so worried that this is the end of her milk drinking and I have to wait until she’s asleep to feed her 😟
Any advice or experience shared would be great!

Hi,

It could be that she needs medication for the reflux or it could even be a bottle aversion - check out a Facebook group, I'll link it here.

I think the bottle aversion usually starts around this age. My daughter had it and it was a very stressful period in our lives (she ended up with a feeding tube but they should've treated her bottle aversion instead!) we did lots of reading and found this group and book a life saver.

See if it resonates:

www.facebook.com/groups/babycarefeedingaversionsupportgroup/?ref=share

We didn't realise that we were pressuring her to feed, she would only take 60ml per feed every 4 hours and after that she would stop. She was basically taking enough to stop her hunger and then no more. Then she stopped taking the milk when she was awake and we also had to dreamfeed her, eventually she started waking up as soon as she tasted the milk.

We didn't realise it was a bottle aversion, and the subtle ways that we can cause pressure when feeding - it's really so easy to do!

If there is nothing medically wrong, nothing wrong with the bottles or the flavour of milk etc then you just need to learn to trust her, wait for her hunger cues, only offer bottle once and don't offer again until she cries for it, try not to pressure. Trust in your little one.

But check out the group and see what they say,
Rowena's book is great too. I swear I don't work for her! X

I am going through the exact same thing right now, and as @noonetoblamebutmyselfandpizza said, it’s very likely boggle aversion. We tried so many different medication and have been told countless times to keep doing whatever we are doing…which was the worst advice unbeknownst to us, as I realised we have been pressuring our DS to eat as well (not intentionally of course!)

If you check I have a thread from a few days ago where a lovely mum suggested bottle aversion to me, and recommended a book by Rowena Bennett. Her story was identical to mine, so I ordered the book straight away - it explains what bottle aversion is and how to overcome it- and we have started implementing the plan a few days ago. We are in day 3 only, but I think I might be seeing some small changes already…

Do have a look, reading it was such an eye opener to me (although it did make me lose my trust in healthcare professionals a little bit). I will be forever grateful to that mumma, it’s very likely she had just changed our lives as we have been miserable and unable to leave the house for so long now…(DS is 4.5 months and we’ve been battling with this from when he was around 3 months)

If you would like to know a bit more about the book before buying it (if you are planning to do so) let me know ☺️

Hi! This is an old thread now but wondering if my Lg has a slight bottle adversion. It seems she isn’t really ever hungry .. even if she’s not eaten in hours I don’t see the lip smacking / rooting I used to. I am now offering her rather than her asking for it (unless she’s crying or at night when I know she wakes for it). She also can sometimes take a couple of gulps and push it out. She is still taking good amounts on some bottles but it’s very stop and start and can sometimes take an hour feed, burp, play or soothe etc then offer again a little later on. Could someone please Pm about the book? I am already worried she doesn’t take enough oz / day so worried about that dropping still from comments above in the first few days. So perhaps just some tips on how to make a more positive feeding experience? And I’d love to have her feeding cues come back!! Thank you

@Mummyhowks Hey, I'm sorry you're going through this. I am about to head to bed, but this is the book you need to buy- read it in a day and you will know what to do!

Your baby's bottle feeding aversion by Rowena Bennet. You can get it on Amazon.

(I'm one of the posters above).