Bottle refusal...help!

[Fluffypeach]

My DS is almost 10 weeks old and unfortunately I have to go back to work PT at the end of the week.

He is exclusively breastfed but has taken an oz or 2 once or twice from a bottle but over the last week is completely refusing the bottle.

My plan was to pump at work and for him to have bottles of expressed milk in my absence.

I've tried mam bottles, tommee tippee closer to nature bottles, slightly hotter milk, formula, someone else feeding him but nothing is working!

Im self employed and financially have no choice but to go back so I'm really, really stressed about this!

Any help or tips to get him to accept a bottle (and quickly!)

Anyone? :/

Does he use a dummy?

Sorry didn’t want to read and run .

My little girl was completely bottle fed but would often refuse. It was due to the size of teats and the speed of the flow so I had to keep changing to what suited her.

Sorry not got any advice on going from breastfeeding to bottle so hope someone comes along and helps! Does your baby take a dummy? It might help to introduce a dummy and then a bottle, just to get them used to the sensation.

Thanks for your replies.

No he doesn't take a dummy although i never really pushed one but yes maybe thats not a bad idea!

If you can afford it - this woman does courses, which include bottle refusal: https://www.feedeatspeak.co.uk/online-courses

I’ve followed her on instagram since having my first and her advice seems pretty good.

Mine was a bottle and dummy refuser, he just gagged if we tried. Luckily I was a SAHM at the time, but all I managed to do was get him on to a soft spouted sippy cup when he was big enough to sit in a high chair.

Both of my DC were EBF. They also refused a bottle. My HV suggested using a cup (yes, at only a couple of months old) and they both drank expressed milk that way when needed.

My daughter had a bottle aversion on and off and was almost exclusively breastfed
I managed to get her back to using the bottle by expressing fresh breastmilk and offering her just an ounce and after every feed. For the first day she went nowhere near the bottle. Day 2 she stopped trying to escape and on day 3 she started to suck. I had high lipase and she never like milk that was more than a 18h old. Offering it after a feed but with no pressure on drinking any I think was a big benefit for us. She then associated it with getting me.

She later had a worse bottle aversion for us and I couldn't even hold the bottle and her. She started at nursery 2 days a week and we were nervous about if she would take a bottle for them especially as it would be hypoallergenic formula and not breastmilk as I needed to stop breastfeeding but she wouldn't take the bottle. For nursery she had between 0-3 Oz in a bottle twice a day and never had 0oz on both bottles. A while later I had to stop breastfeeding cold turkey as I had to go into hospital. She went to nursery 26h her last feed having rejected all bottle feeds from dad and smashed 2 5oz and that was it she was a formula fed baby - nurseries have magic skills. With a good breastfeed before and after nursery the two 0-3oz bottles she had at nursery were enough to get through the day and got her nutrition through the evening

Before I went dairy free at 18 weeks my daughter fed for 1-2 minutes total during the day over 6 feeds and fed for 30minutes overnight so the preference to feed at night was already their for her. Try a tiny bottle after each feed that was our most successful method of getting her to have a bottle.

I've combi fed all 3 of mine and always used NUK bottles - might be worth a shot? The teat is supposed to be similar to a nipple. Also look at the latex teats for it as well. Good luck!