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Original poster

Breastfed baby won't take bottles

15 replies

Morningmoon · 21/01/2023 15:26

I'm looking for recommendations for the best bottle for breastfed baby. My little one is 12 weeks old and is now completely refusing a bottle. I'm using freshly expressed milk and have tried MAM and Tommee Tippee bottles so far. He has taken them before although he has always protested a bit first. Now he's completely refusing and I really need him to take one, at least occasionally. Any recommendations on bottles or what I can do would be much appreciated.

OP posts:

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ChildsNoseIsATap · 21/01/2023 16:38

Ditch the bottle and try a cup

GirlInTheMirror27 · 21/01/2023 16:46

Try the nuk bottles those were the only ones my son son would take.

Reluctantadult · 21/01/2023 16:48

There's probably not a magic bottle. Unless things have changed since mine were this age. You'll probably need to keep trying more often and keep it up. Combination feeding seems to be a hard one to get right.

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urrrgh46 · 21/01/2023 16:49

As @ChildsNoseIsATap suggests try a cup but unfortunately it is the case that unless you're giving up breastfeeding and bottles/cup are the only choice some babies will not take a bottle - just as some won't take a dummy.

Flowersonthewall123 · 21/01/2023 16:50

HV recommended to do a breastfed then do a top with 1oz in a bottle once more settled and less hungry annoyed. Worked for us to get them use to bottles.

DelurkingAJ · 21/01/2023 16:52

Neither of mine were willing and we tried what felt like every bottle on the market with DS1. Frustratingly he’d been fine with a bottle of expressed milk at 2 months so we stopped bothering and then at 5 months no way…good luck!

tealandteal · 21/01/2023 16:53

Mine started refusing them around that age for a month or two, I just kept offering and he did take it again and now at 7 months has 3 bottles a day. I found it helped to offer when he wasn’t upset or very hungry so bf a little and then offer. I use the tommee tippee bottles as well.

Writeandroll · 21/01/2023 16:58

I had this problem recently when DS was 5m. The best advice I read that finally worked was this:-

Do the same bottle at the same time every day. Just be really consistent and keep trying

scrivette · 21/01/2023 17:02

The only bottles my bf babies would take were the very cheap (about £1) ones in Tesco. The teats are really really soft. They were recommended to me by friends who had bottle refusers.

BeautifulDragon · 21/01/2023 17:07

One of mine was a bf bottle refuser.

He wouldn't drink anything from a bottle (expressed or formula), but later found out he had a cows milk allergy, so that may have had something to do with it.

I just ploughed on until 6 months when he started solids. He went to nursery at 9 months and just fed him before/ after. If I wanted to leave him before that I just had to time it around feeds.

It's a pain, but it's only a few months really and flies by.

SLACK124 · 21/01/2023 18:05

I posted near enough the exact same thing last night - how strange!

breastfed baby who was introduced to the bottle at about 10 days, took one every couple of days since then (sometimes a small protest when latching). Turned 12 weeks on Monday and bam - point blank refuses to latch anymore.

we we’re using MAM bottles and giving HiPP organic formula. HV’s advice was don’t change any bottles/formula from what he has been taking and keep trying daily.

However…

for us we have decided to stop trying to give the bottle and just wait it out until he is on solids and can take milk from a cup. The main reason I needed him to take the bottle was I had plans coming up to go to the theatre with my 6 year old daughter and I’d need to be away from him for a whole evening. We have decide to rejig this so I won’t need to be away for so long. Thankfully we have a very understanding little girl who accepts her brother needs me a lot just now and that the plans need to change. I don’t feel it’s worth the stress it puts on my partner to get him to take the bottle or the endless upset my son goes through to refuse the bottle.

The way I see it is it’s only a couple of months, and my breastfeeding journey will be over before we know it 😭 not sure any of this will help you - just thought I’d let you know your not alone!! Sending positive vibes to you in the hope you’ll find a solution. 💖

SamanthaVimes · 21/01/2023 18:22

BeautifulDragon · 21/01/2023 17:07

One of mine was a bf bottle refuser.

He wouldn't drink anything from a bottle (expressed or formula), but later found out he had a cows milk allergy, so that may have had something to do with it.

I just ploughed on until 6 months when he started solids. He went to nursery at 9 months and just fed him before/ after. If I wanted to leave him before that I just had to time it around feeds.

It's a pain, but it's only a few months really and flies by.

Same, I just decided it wasn’t worth the aggro. I kept feeding when I went back to work (about 11mo) and she just had me before and after and ate more solids.
I didn’t really need to leave her for more than 5/6 hours before that and she could manage that gap if I fed just before I left and as soon as I came back. It was only a handful of times though!

Kimchikezzles · 21/01/2023 18:28

We had exactly the same issue and bought alllll the bottles and different formulas. Waste of money..they know what they want! We just kept offering and when we started weaning it clicked into place. I was really panicked for a long while he would never take a bottle but offering alongside food in the highchair seemed to worm for us x

Original poster

Morningmoon · 01/02/2023 10:02

Thanks for all the replies, I'm going to keep persevering and hope he eventually takes one. I know it's totally hit and miss with breastfed babies. I'm not going to keep buying loads of different bottles as it seems a total waste 😩

OP posts:

MumOfOneInTown123 · 07/11/2023 06:42

Hi @Morningmoon just wondering how did you get on in the end? My breastfed baby took 1 bottle a day from 4-9/10 weeks and has now been refusing for a week! He did randomly take 100ml one evening this week though when DH took him upstairs to feed him but the next day he wouldn’t again. He will only drink barely 20ml max on and off then he starts crying after this and turning away so we stop and try again the next evening and the same thing happens.

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