Baby won’t take bottle!

[LKMH]

Hi, I’m looking for some advice.
My DD is 4 months old in a weeks time.
I have been trying to get her take a bottle since she was 6 weeks old with no luck.
We have tried the following bottles; MAM, NUK, Phillips Avent, Minbie and the cheap £1 bottles from supermarkets and a doidy cup. All without luck.
We’ve tried me giving her milk, someone else giving it her, me in and out the house, paced feeding etc. and she just protests to taking it.
I’ve even tried giving her formula to see if she wants something else in a bottle but nothing works.

We’ve also encountered a new issue and that’s that she doesn’t like spending time with grandparents! She will literally scream the place down whenever they go near her and stop whenever we hold her again. She’s clearly having a tantrum but this has come out of nowhere.
Any advice on how to get DD to overcome these issues??

I may be able to help 🤷🏼‍♀️ I had the same issue, when LO was younger and tbh still do now and again. I'm the only one that can feed her now, she has to be starving for someone else to do it, except my OH has wormed his way in to doing the dreamfeed 😂 which is great for me

How long between feeds?
Have you tried tommee tippee?
How do you feed LO? Eg hold? Bouncer? Etc.
What size teats do you use?
How do you prep the bottles?
Does LO have thrush? Or sore throat when you look inside? Or any temp?(thinking perhaps ear infection)

What's LO's average? Intake in 24hours? And weight? X

I had one like this and she was absolutely adamant milk came from mummy only and that was that. Bloody nightmare at the time (she also would only sleep with me, not in her own Moses basket/cot). My mother refused to babysit again after an evening of screaming that stopped as soon as I walked through the door and could feed her. Around 10 months it all changed and she would take formula and sleep in her cot. BF does get easier the longer you do it, but other than that I'm sorry I haven't any wise words that might help. I hope you find a solution, but in our case it was time that sorted it.

She's little for LO and may just want you and DH. My mum had to come round every few days or my LO would scream with her.... 🤔 Still does now and again now, she just loves you both very much I would say 🤷🏼‍♀️

How often does she see them?

She 4 months, only really little still. You’ve only got another 8 weeks before she will be starting solids and she may take to them really well so I wouldn’t worry about it now. At 6 months both mine were drinking from a soppy cup and they are happier to go to others when they are a bit older.

Oh are you BF?

My middle one never had any milk, from anyone, in any form other than straight from the breast. He did happily drink cows milk from a sippy cup when he was a year old but he never, ever, took any milk from anyone else.

My eldest and youngest happily had expressed milk.

I think some babies just don’t. And it’s a pain, but they just don’t.

My middle one didn’t drink at nursery when I went back to work and just reversed cycled so I spent a lot of the night feeding him

Try a Munckin Miracle 360 cup. Both my kids were bottle refusers no matter what we did. They both took fluid from this cup from around 4 months-ish. One only water. (she's still strong minded 4 years later) , the other would take EBM from it. I got ours from Tesco. Good luck.

My youngest wouldn't either we tried everything. I went back to work at 6 months and he didn't drink anything there just had liquid in his food. Eventually he had a few sips of water from a sippy cup but he would only ever have milk from me, he breastfed until he was 3.

Ahhh we had this. DH offered a bottle every single morning for a month and DS finally relented at 5mths. We actually saw a specialist for it and this was the advice we were given:

• Don’t bother trying loads of different bottles. They’ll take it or they won’t. Pick one and stick to it
• Offer at the same time each day when they’re not too tired or hungry
• As soon as they get upset and refuse then stop and try again the next day
• Offer a clean empty bottle to play with so they become more familiar and relaxed with it
• Don’t use Milton to sterilise, the smell is too strong. Boil instead
• Put the teat in your bra for a while before to give it your smell.

DS is now 14mths and we’re at the opposite end of the journey and trying to get him to give it up. After refusing for so long he isn’t giving it up easily!

My 2 DC both refused a bottle. I tried so many things and wasted a fortune on different bottle brands. Aged 6.months when we started weaning we introduced a sippy cup and then it was another couple of months before DC would drink from that but both still preferred to breastfeed if I was at home. Some DC just don't like bottles!

On the screaming with grandparents, how often does she see them? Every day? Once a week? Babies that young don't understand object permanence and don't have much memory from one day to the next so you'll need to spend a lot of time with grandparents to make her recognise them and feel relaxed.

Hi OP!
I have a 4mo. Exclusively breastfed also. Refuses to take a bottle or a dummy.

To be honest I'm trying to worry too much. She will be weaning in 2 months and hopefully will take a cup/ food so DH can feed her that way.

Your DC is still only very tiny. Babies are programmed to want to be with you because you are her food source and where she feels safest. It doesn't last forever. My baby will happily interact with grandparents while sat on my knee or laid on the playmat where she can see me but doesn't like to be held by anyone other than me or her dad. So maybe try letting family see her that way?

Honestly, you will pine for this tiny stage when she gets more independent. Try enjoy the nursing and cuddles while she's so little ❤️

She's not having a tantrum, she's a teeny baby.

DS doesn't take a bottle either, he's 10 months old and still BFing alongside food, I've given up trying now. It's fine. He takes water from a cup

Hi all! Thanks for your responses! Much appreciated.

Yeah DD is EBF and I know that I’ll miss this when this stage stops but the reluctance to not take a bottle or milk from another method is getting to me.
I have an older daughter ( 4 YO) and I feel my relationship with her is suffering as I have to spend so much time with LO on the boob.
I’d love nothing more then to spend quality time with her without fretting that LO is screaming her head off and refusing to feed.

She was born a big baby and weighs over 16lbs already.

I feel we’ve tried everything. Hopefully when it comes to weaning things will change.
I only planned on BF until 6 months or when the full on teething starts because I remember with my first the agonising pain in my nipples from her pulling and biting due to teething.
Plus it’s not ideal to continue breastfeeding when I return back to work.

We see both sets of grandparents twice a week. I’ll continue with this and just hope over time she overcomes the screaming around them.

@LKMH

Hi all! Thanks for your responses! Much appreciated.

Yeah DD is EBF and I know that I’ll miss this when this stage stops but the reluctance to not take a bottle or milk from another method is getting to me.
I have an older daughter ( 4 YO) and I feel my relationship with her is suffering as I have to spend so much time with LO on the boob.
I’d love nothing more then to spend quality time with her without fretting that LO is screaming her head off and refusing to feed.

She was born a big baby and weighs over 16lbs already.

I feel we’ve tried everything. Hopefully when it comes to weaning things will change.
I only planned on BF until 6 months or when the full on teething starts because I remember with my first the agonising pain in my nipples from her pulling and biting due to teething.
Plus it’s not ideal to continue breastfeeding when I return back to work.

We see both sets of grandparents twice a week. I’ll continue with this and just hope over time she overcomes the screaming around them.

I know it's tough! I also have a 4yo daughter and have felt so guilty not being able to spend as much time playing with her.

I try to play those orchard toy games with her while feeding because it's something I can do sat down.
I feel like BF is only just getting to the easier stage and my baby is 19 weeks.
If she fusses, just sit her up, do something else and try again when she shows hunger ques.
My baby was a very fussy feeder during month 3 but my friend is a breastfeeding support worker and she gave me the above advice and it's worked wonders.
I was so used to her feeding every 2hrs when she was tiny that I was trying to feed her when I thought she'd be hungry and she just wasn't so would fuss and cry.
Now she goes 3 hours between feeds and they're much calmer.

Hang in there OP. It gets easier

Thank you!☺️