We have been trying to get our breastfed ten-week-old boy to take a bottle ever since he was three weeks. Unfortunately, he will be starting daycare in two weeks and will need to be on a bottle by then. However, he doesn't take the bottle (with pumped breastmilk) well and will generally take only half an ounce before refusing it completely (and screaming). Any advice on how we can get him to start taking his bottle? We have tried three different bottles (Avent, Evenflo, and Soothie). Also, I have my husband give him the bottle while I go to another floor of the house. My mother has also tried while babysitting with no success.
My husband and I would like to thank everyone for all of your suggestions. We bought fast and medium flow nipples for the bottles we had, then bought some new bottles based on the suggestions given. We have been trying those, along with other suggestions about positioning, for the past week. The baby has been forced to take a bottle all day today because I had some minor surgery. He seems to be doing best with the fast flow on the Platex NaturaLatch. Thanks again for your help.
Hey there. Try Dr. Brown's bottles. They were the ONLY bottle I used, and I went from breast feeding to these as well. No spit up or acid reflux at all with these either.
Good luck!
Have you tried switching nipple types and not just bottles? Have you tried to give him the bottle, or has it been only family? I found that when it came time to take my daughter, we went through 3 different brands of nipples before finding one she likes, and that at first she would only take the bottle from me if I treated her like I was nursing but giving the bottle instead.
I say first let her get use to you offering him a bottle before u switch to someone else.And the position may also be a factor as well as the nipple type...try and get one that is the closest thing to a breast.If you run out of ideas and or the babys weight is going down due to her not eating then talk to your doctor or a lactation consultant.Either way, if she gets hungry enough and the bottle is her only option then she will eventually learn to accept it. But if you are breast feeding her after a few attempts at the bottle she will know the bottle isnt her only option. You'll have to exclusively try and bottle feed her for a few days unless she drops weight for her to accept it. If you give her the option of your breast or a bottle she's going to pick the breast.
There is a bottle that looks like a boob. I am not kidding. I think I have seen it in the one step ahead catalog. THey also have a website. onestepahead.com. It is a transparent boob looking bottle that is supposed to mimick a breast. I don't know the proper name for it. Maybe you could try it. Hope this helps.
Hi N., I had the same problem with my youngest child. I wanted to continue breastfeeding yet I had to go back to teaching. Grayson would not take the bottle well at all. He was so fussy and I knew it was because he was hungry. The bottle is much harder to get milk out of due to the small hole in the nipple. Therefore, my husband figured out by using a knife to make the whole bigger, Grayson could get milk easier. Babies are lazy about their eating. They just want to lay and let the milk flow. Once we did this, Grayson got use to the bottle and we weaned him away from having to have the bottle nipple slit. Good Luck!!! I nursed for a year and taught school. Just don't give up.
Have you tried various types of nipples? How about the flow of milk from the nipple - does he get too much at once, or not enough? If he gets too little, he will get frustrated. I used the Avent system with great success with both of my children (both breastfed). I simply changed to the faster flow nipples as they got older or used the adjustable flow type.
Is it the temperature of the breastmilk? (PLEASE don't microwave breastmilk... It destroys the antibodies in the breastmilk, which is one of the main reasons you may be breastfeeding to begin with! I used to microwave the water , then submerse the bag of stored milk in the warm water. Daycare should do the same.
He may handle it better if they face him away from them so he looks out a window or something while he's using a bottle. If he's distracted, he may not realize till it's too late that it's not such a bad thing!
You could also try having a small blanket or a "special" cloth diaper that you hold near him while he nurses. Keep it near you (or sleep with it for a few nights) so it will get your scent on it, and get him used to having it nearby while he nurses. Then, when your husband or mother (and eventually his daycare provider) feeds him, have them hold onto the cloth like you do. They may be more comfortable with a familiar scent. This also works well when you first bring them to daycare. Send a t-shirt that you wore the day before (I know it sounds weird!), so they will have a comforting familiar scent with them. I actually used a Baby Gundt "My First Puppy" with my son. I slept with it in my sleep-shirt for two nights before I had to go back to work, and it worked well for him.
Sometimes you have to try a LOT of different things until you find what works for your child. For some it may be playing music, others have to resort to spoon feeding the breastmilk. Good luck, I hope you find something that works for him!
If you would like to stay home with you child/children and not have to bring them to daycare, I can help with that too. I work full time outside the home, but found a business that is all my own - yet I don't have to sell anything, or deal with any inventory and it requires very little investment. I will be able to quit my job and stay home with my kids soon and not have to take them to daycare! Please check out www.4thedinkins.fourpointmoms.com for more information.
N....I had the exact same problem with my daughter at the same age...I tried so many of the new bottles,even spending 20.00 + shipping for one bottle that looked and felt like the breast..to no avail...then one day I tried the old playtex nursing bottle...and never had a problem after that at all...I think I found it at walmart and they were cheap,I used the ones with the liners and the soft dark nipple...Hope this works for you,I remember that being a tough situation...
My daughter was the same way until I tried the Playtex disposable bottles with a certain nipple. I just checked on Playtex website and they have one called NaturaLatch® nipple which features a raised, textured area that supports breastfeeding by encouraging proper latch-on. Available in slow, fast and variable flow; in latex or medical-grade silicone. Hope this helps!!
try different bottles. both of my kids liked the playtex? soft natural clear nipples that went on the baggie bottles. I loved the convenience of the baggies,too.
My oldest daughter did the same thing, she is now nine. She was ten weeks also, and I was also going back to work when she was 12 weeks. We finally figured out the reason she did not want the bottle was due to frustration. She would suck out of the newborn stage one nipple and the milk came out too slow for her compared to nursing. We solved the problem initially by heating a steralized needle and poking three more wholes in the nipples we had. I then went to the store and bought the six to twelve month nipples and those worked too. It makes sence since when nursing there are several streams of milk versus the one stream of the bottle. The suck, swallow breath rhythum is also a little different for nursing vs bottle feeding. My other two chidren now 8 and 2 1/2 took the bottle fine. The key was starting to offer it between 4 to 6 weeks of age.
Hope this is helpful. V. E
I had the same problem with my second son. The first time that he accepted the bottle was while I was sick with a virus and could not hold him. He screamed and fought it, but he finally accepted it that same day. Before that time we tried different nipples and bottles and with other people feeding him while I was not around and it didn't work. I don't know if he just finally accepted it because he was really hungry. You might want to have whoever tries to feed him to try different positions of holding him. He might love being held like you hold him, or he might get more upset in that position. You might want to experiment with a shirt that smells like you as well. It might help to get him in an eating mood, but it could make him want you more.
I breastfed my daughter and gave her a bottle of pumped breastmilk as well. She really likes the Nuk bottles and nipples. I tried others, and she didn't really care for them. My lactation consultant told me to pick a nipple with a wide base, not the "standard size" nipples b/c they are so different in shape from the breast.
N.,
Have you tried having dad/grandma feeding in a "football" hold position? Have them put the baby on their lab length-wise and facing them. Then give him the bottle. If they do the cradle hold like you do when breast-feeding, he'll want you. Changing the position may train him faster!
Good luck!
S.
