Help on breastfed baby taking a bottle please!

[Tal12]

Hi! This is my first post though I regularly scroll and search on here for advise. I am trying to introduce a bottle a day to my 7 week old breastfed baby, so dad can give this, and baby is having none of it!!

I wondered if anyone had any suggestions on any formulas that taste most like breast milk, or would be accepted by a breastfed baby? I am using MAM bottles, which have been accepted previously but not anymore!! Baby has taken expressed milk once or twice but has now started even refusing this.

Any tips would be gratefully received!! Should I change bottle / introduce a ready made formula? Try a different brand? Have only tried Kendamil currently.

Thank you in advance!

*advice

Some babies will refuse a bottle and expect a breastfeed if they can smell mum nearby. So try letting someone else give the feeds. If someone else isn’t available to give, you could try holding baby in a different position, such as facing away from you.
Introduce the bottle when baby is not fully awake: try when they’re falling asleep or just waking up, while dozy and disoriented. You may have to attempt this for several days.
Offer different teats. Your baby may prefer one material (rubber, silicone etc.) over another. Generally speaking, a slow flow teat is good to start with, since they might get overwhelmed by the volume let through by a fast flow teat.
Check the temperature of the milk. Milk from the breast is 37ºC. Try different temperatures. Some babies may prefer a bottle cold or at room temperature.
Dip the teat in breast milk to give it a familiar flavour and to encourage him to suck.
Star with 50/50 expressed and formula milk to begin with and gradually increase the % of formula.

I'm in the same situation but with a slightly older baby. I've tried all of the suggestions above with limited success, but if course they may work for you (fingers crossed). The only things that seem to make a difference so far are using latex teats instead of silicone (they're much softer) and going to a room in the house where I normally never feed. We've been battling bottle refusal for weeks now, but it looks like DS is finally at least considering that bottles are not the enemy. Good luck!

Thank you so much @Ricekrispie22 and @DoubleHelix79 for your advice / replies. Great tips I shall try all of the above!! There are just so many different bottles / teats / formulas it’s hard to know where to start, so really appreciate the help.

@DoubleHelix79 I hope your little one takes his bottle soon!! Sounds like he may be giving in so fingers crossed for you!

Thank you @Tal12! I'm going backbto work end of the month, so I'm really hoping we'll get it sorted before then. Keep us posted please.