Baby Won't Take a Bottle!

Hi L. -
Have you tried alternatives to bottles? You can use a small flexible cup (like a medicine cup) to cup feed babies - I see this a lot with breastfeeding newborns at the hospital, because we don't like to give breastfeeding babies a bottle. You can also spoon feed him milk or use a small syringe if he really doesn't want to take a bottle. One of the other mothers also posted about the breast bottle. The company that makes them has updated the design, so they look less like an actual breast, but they are still made of soft, flexible material that some babies prefer to traditional bottles. You can find the bottles here: http://www.adiri.com/
Good luck!

I found it was the nipple of the bottle that was the problem with my son preferring to breastfeed over bottle feed. I bought about 3 - 5 different kinds each time I went to the store and finally found my son like the Gerber orthopedic kind of nipple that was weird shaped. I also had to go up a few sizes so that it was free flowing vs infant nipples which usually have smaller holes and less of them. Once my son realized that it was easier to take a bottle than the breast, he had no problems. In fact, he started shying away from the breast later so I had to go back to infant nipples and make it harder for him to use a bottle just to keep him breastfeeding a little longer. From what I found, babies gravitate towrad whatever is easiest and most comfortable. Don't worry about bottle...change the nipples and see what happens.

Hi L.! I am currently going through the same exact thing with my 3 month old baby girl. She hates bottle feeding and I want to tranisiton her to formula so I can be done breastfeeding but it is not working out at all. She refuses to take the bottle from me whether it is breastmilk or formula in there. We also have the "breast flow" bottle which she will take over any of the other bottles but she still hates it:( The first day back to work she went 10 hours without eating. Any advice would help.

I was in the same situation with my daughter, and she never ended up taking a bottle. We spent over $50.00 on different kinds before giving up. If your son doesn't take a bottle, talk to your doctor about possibly starting baby food early, my doctor recommended it after 2 weeks of my daughter not eating for 9 hours straigh (my work was 20 mins from my day care and my breaks are shorter than 30 mins, so feeding on break wasn't an option.)

My son loved the NUK nipple - I got the extra wide one to simulate the breast. I don't know if these bottles are made of the kind of plastic that's safe for babies, but as long as it has a 2, 4, or 5 on the bottom then it's fine. Actually, we always had to use the wide nipples with him - he never took to the narrow ones. Keep trying and make sure he's hungry when the bottle's given. Also make sure you're heating it up enough. Little guys are very sensitive to the slightest temperature changes.

My first daughter would only drink from a natural latex nipple and it had to be the different shaped one. She couldn't get a good suction from the standard silicone nipple! We used these nipples with the playtex drop in system.

Give NUK or Advent bottles a try many L/C's recommend these bottles. Someone posted a suggestions to make the nipple bigger, I have heard that it is not a good idea to manipulate nipples like that due to possible choking issues. Good luck!

When you figure it out...please post. We are going through the same thing here. My daughter took a bottle one time, with breastmilk. The others we've tried were formula, breastmilk, and we've even mixed them. I just don't want to pump and "waste" the breast milk.

With my other children, we just started on the sippy cup, but it was like at 4 or 5 months old. I didn't want to have to change from the bottle to sippy cup. Both of my children used the Nuby soft nipple sippy cups from Walmart. I don't know if they still sell them or not, but they were the ones with the sippy cup spout, not the bottle spout. They worked great until they started biting on it and the milk would just dribble out. Then we moved onto the hard tops. I hope this helps.

i agree with the other respondents who say: your baby WILL take a bottle at daycare eventually, even if he's refusing now at home. of course, keep trying at home, and it is supposed to help to have someone else give baby the bottle (not the mom)... you should leave the house or go far far away. it always seemed like my baby could smell me if i were too close by, and she too preferred breastfeeding.

taking a bottle will work better if it is not from you and if you are not even in the room ( go out and get some groceries and let your husband feed him). Also, mixing breastmilk with formula instead of straight formula helps.

B. C

Make sure the milk in the bottle is quite warm (not too hot). My son was really picky on taking a bottle. We warmed it up a little more and he was fine. Breastmilk is quite warm and that is what their used to.

I don't remember the name, but your lactation consultant probably knows. It's a "bottle" but doesn't look like one but rather like an actual boob, lol!!! It's about 3-4" tall, and the whole nipple/boob part is the "bottle". They are super soft and extremely flexible. I used them when I was no longer able to nurse my daughter. The down side is they run about $15 each, but worth it, if she won't take anything else.

Whatever you choose, be sure to buy BPA free bottles. Our 2nd preferred the Born Free bottles over any other brand. They have silicon nipples that have a really wide base. There are several brands that make BPA free so you'll have a lot of options. Also, I read the post about the bottle that looks like a nipple: it is the Adiri Natural Nurser and I too thought it was a brilliant idea. But...it leaked like crazy from both ends so I had to return it. The girl at Babies-r-us said that several moms were returning the Adiri bottles for the same reason. Apparently they have to be 100% dry prior to using or all the milk leaks out. Really impractical. Good luck!

I had the same issue with my little girl (now 19 months) I breastfed and had to use a nipple sheild for the first 5 months, so I thought sh'd be used to the silicone feeling and take right to a bottle. We tried about 5 different types of bottles...FINALLY I found the Sassy/Mam Ultivent bottles online at Target, and at the Sassy website - I even got some off Ebay.

http://www.target.com/Sassy-MAM-9-oz-Bottles-Colors/dp/B0...#

http://www.sassybaby.com/category?cattype=category&ca...

We also used that same brand/shape of pacifier, and she still loves those. They have a specially shaped orthodontic nipple - it is slightly flattened and bigger at the tip than it is closer to the bottle, rather than a perfect cylinder like most bottle nipples are. She did so great with those, I think because a real nipple flattens in the mouth, just like those. Another plus is they are easy to get clean, since they come apart in 5 pieces, and they have a vent in the bottom to prevent bubbles/gassiness....we rarely even had to burp her, after we switched to these! In the reviews, lots of people complained about them leaking, but I only ever had leaks, if I didn't take the time to put them together right....and by time, I only mean a few seconds, to make sure the nipple and the silicone seal in the bottom were in straight, and the top and bottom were screwed on tightly. They also have no BPA, and are dishwasher safe! The one and only drawback is that they don't fit in most average bottle warmers....we just used the old fashioned bowl of hot water under the faucet to warm breastmilk, and just made formula with warm water in the first place.

I will start with these bottles for this baby - I am 10 weeks pregnant!

L.,

I had a similar problem with my son. My husband and I ended up using the Platex Drop-ins. My son would not take a bottle from me at all and wouldn't take one from my husband if I was in the room. We finally got him to take one by having me leave the house to run a few errands and having my husband give him the bottle. So you may want to try letting someone else give him a bottle.

Hope this helps!

Just relax! I promise he won't starve himself at daycare, and it may be hard the first day or two, but he'll soon realize you aren't there and he'll take a bottle.

try making the hole in the nipple bigger. Breastmilk comes out pretty quickly once you letdown.

Okay, tried to post a past link, but it did not work, so I will just respond. The boards said that the thread was too old. So here is my advice for you....
First off do not beat yourself for waiting until now to introduce the bottle. It is a special time between you and your baby and this is what you have enjoyed. Since you are returning to work outside of the home, it is necessary for him to take the bottle so let's try this. First off, try to pump a bottle in the morning rather than evening. These pumpings have a lot of sweet stuff in it; more fat. If your husband is working day hours, try to wait until the weekend for him to give it to him during the day. The baby's hormones and the evening milk hormones are differnet during the evening hours. So try a time of the day on the weekend when he is usually happy and very content. Sleep in a tee shirt the night prior to doing this bottle feeding and give the shirt to your husband to either wear or drape across him during the feeding. Catch him before it is time for him to eat. Stick to CLEAR SILICONE DOME SHAPPED nipples (ie Advent, Playtex AirVent Advance), make sure the breast milk is freshly exspressed and let your husband try this while you are OUT of the house. Even it means to sit in the back yard for a while. Be sure to grab him before he wants to eat. Crying is too late. Offer the bottle before a regular feeding time, with the tee shirt on or between your husband and the baby, during the day with you out of the house. It may take two or three times, but it should work. Good Luck.

My youngest was "nipple confused" the other way around. She breastfeed solely until about 8 weeks when I tried a bottle and she wouldn't take it. I too tried multiple bottles and nipples. I let my husband feed, I left the house while he tried to feed and I even walked around trying to give her the bottle. Nothing worked. I went back to work at 12 weeks and the lactation lady told me that I should have introduced the bottle around 6 weeks old.

In the end....the daycare had a hard first day but by the second day she ended up taking the bottle. I won't worry about it but I'd keep trying the bottle before each feeding.

I had the same problem with my second child. With my first one I made sure we gave him a bottle once a day, but since it went so well with him I didn't work so hard the next time around. I tried a bottle with her once and since she took it I didn't think about it again until I was almost ready to go back to work. She never did take the bottle from 2 months to 7 months no matter what we tried. I worked evenings/nights and wouldn't get home until 2 AM. When she was exclusively nursing she would just refuse to eat that whole time. The good thing was that she wouldn't cry about it unless you tried to give her a bottle. I just kept pumping to keep up the milk production, and we did eventually use most of it that was in the deep freeze...sometimes only mixing it with cereal but at least she was getting some sort of nourishment. Stick it out the best way you can and soon it will be a distant memory.

I use plain old gerber bottles and they work great.

I had the same problem with my daughter. I talked to my employer and they let me take my lunch and brake during her feeding times. The daycare called me when she was getting hungry. She never did end up taking a bottle and things worked out really well, we got to bond a lot more than we would have. Also the doctors are very good about giving you a letter for your employer letting them know that your child is strictly breastfed and refuses to take the bottle. They have no choice but to allow you to feed your baby. Good Luck!

My first baby was happy to take a bottle when my breasts couldn't do the job....but my second baby totally refused to take a bottle or a pacifier and believe me, I spent tons of money on anything I could try and it never, ever worked.

Can you take the baby to work with you? This option is the sign of a truly family-friendly company/organization.

As far as getting an extension on going back to work, I have read that Dr. Sears recommends getting it in writing from your infant's doctor that you are his one and only food source and you going to work and being away from him all day would cause him to not be able to eat and that eating is important especially for a 2 month-old. Basically, the baby's got to eat and you are his only food source...and this is the line of reasoning to give your boss at work. You can have your doctor state the consequences of your being back to "work" and not being there to provide your baby with what he must have in order to survive. I have read that this is a legitimate claim; it was the only way I was able to get out of jury duty as well.

I could not go back to "work" with my second baby because I was very busy with enough at home just getting through the days and it was in fact a couple years until I could be away from my baby for more than a couple hours at a time. She simply would never ever take a bottle. It drove me bonkers, because I was able to pump that time unlike with my first baby.

I hope that you are able to bring your baby to work with you, or at least get an extension on your parental leave time. Good luck, I feel your pain!