Baby Won't Take Bottle (Or Cup)

Go straight to a cup - skip the bottle altogether. I pulled the plug out the first week or so until my boys got the hang of it (it's a different sucking motion for the cup vs. breast feeding), and then put the plug back in (once they had the hang of it). I also started at lunchtime - in the morning, they are too thirsty/hungry to work at a "new" thing (like the cup) and by dinner time, they are too tired. Lunch time (even with a nap coming...) is one of the best times to introduce something new.

HTH
L.

we added some vanilla flavoring and some karo syrup to the bottle, of course now you could use truvia/stevia for no caloric sweetner. the kids love thier vanilla milk. this makes the bottle special and more desireable, plus we warmed it before bed.

My son was 8mons old when we found out that we were pregnant with number two. He also had never had a bottle. I was uninterested in formula...I was actually entertaining the idea of possibly tandem nursing. (I'm glad though that that didn't happen in the long run.) Anyway...my son self weaned at about 14 months when I was about 5 months pregnant. I've read that as the milk decreases and changes that a lot of toddlers just wean themselves. Also, my son was very active and loved cows milk. We started giving him the cows milk at about 13months. But as soon as he's a year old I'd introduce it. We never gave the bottle only sippy cups. He wasn't even very good at the sippy until he weaned. Before that he was only getting a little water here and there. Also once he was a year he was only really nursing in the morning upon waking, at nap time, and then before bed. I was really nervous about weaning because that's how I had always gotten him to sleep, but it worked itself out eventually. Good luck and if you have any specific questions I'll try and answer them as specific as possible. Good luck and Congrats!!!

My daughter never took to the bottle either. The only cup I could get her to drink from was the straw cups. I use the no-spill straw cups from Munchkin (they have at Babies r us). I just weaned her at 19 months and after a few cranky days she started drinking her milk, but she's a little farther on developmentally than your son. She eats well now but for the longest time only ate small amounts. The doctor said as long as she's gaining some weight and developing normally, not to worry about it too much.
Perhaps the straw cups will help.

Cut out a nursing session or two so that he is actually thirsty when you offer the cup or bottle.

Hi J.,
I would have to suggest a sippy cup with a soft straw. Skip the whole bottle thing, and find a cuppy he'll drink from. Start cheap and hope they work for him.

Babies don't usually take change well the first time you try something new, you just have to keep trying.

I breastfed all of my children, but with my last, she was mostly bf, but due to travel and lots of public places, we did alot of bottle feeding.

When I decided to do the switch, I did find a bottle that had a sippy top instead of a nipple, and was interchangable with the nipple. But it leaked.

I found cuppies from Walmart, cheap, and never had much problem with them leaking. Nubi, I think they are and they work great. They have a soft rubber/plastic straw that seems comfortable to my little one. My youngest is now 2 1/2 years old and still uses these cuppies. One milk cuppy with about a tsp of flavored coffee creamer, warmed, for nap time, and one plain water cuppy at bedtime. And she uses big girl cuppies throughout the day.

Good luck with the switch.

I just weaned my 15 month old daughter and I am due in 3 weeks with my 2nd. It seemed easy to wean because she was already drinking cow's milk. We would just give her a cup of milk at bedtime and then I would nurse her. Then when we were ready to stop my husband would put her to bed and I would just read her a story, no nursing just a cup of milk. It seemed to go really well, but I don't know if you feel like nursing for 2 more months. We skipped a bottle with my daughter. She just was never interested and so we went straight to a sippy cup. She also really wanted to drink out of our cups before she really got into a sippy cup. So we would let her drink water from our cup or glasses and then also have water in her sippy sup. She eventually caught on and is now an old pro with the sippy cup. Good luck with everything and I hope it goes well for you! If you have any other questions feel free to send me a message! :)

I would call la leche league or a doula for help.

when he's thirsty and the only thing available is a bottle of a cup, he will take it.

J.-

Believe it or not, the first time my daughter drank anything was using a straw. I guess the action was similar to suckling. We purchased some insulated cups made by Playtex from Walmart or BJs and have been using them ever since. Once we got the straw down, then we tried no spill cups (also from Playtex, I think) that have one way valves in them. Now we are up to the "old fashion" no-spill cups that have no valves and still can spill but prevent a full blown puddle.

I found with a cup, that you need to model the behavior. The straw drinking incident happened when we were out at dinner and she saw Mama using the straw. She took it out of my hands and I expected her to play with it, but instead she took a giant slurp of my water!! I was stunned and so was she. lol. It was a bit quick for her and made her cough, but she caught on quick.

As for weaning, you may need to just go it cold turkey. At 10 months, if your little boy has never experienced a bottle, now may not be the time to start. We finished nursing at about 14 months and eliminated the bottle around 18 months. I know 8 months seems far away, but giving him that new crutch may not be the best move for you and the family. I would focus on the cup and straw use. Be sure to offer it with every meal, every drink, every snack and eventually he will catch on.

Best of luck.
~C.

Hi mom,

why not take im to Mc Donalds,

and let him sip out of a straw.

this usually works,

buy some straws at the store,
and only nurse at nap time and before bed.
even if he is thirsty.LOL

once thats done
get him a straw sippy cup.

And then try and lose the nap nursing.

last to go is the night time nursing.

M

My daughter also refused bottles starting around 6 weeks old, but since I was returning to work at 4 mos, I was desperate to get her to take a bottle. My lactation consultant told me to only offer bottles (of expressed milk) for 24 hours. She might only take a few sips during the first couple of feedings, but she'll eventually give in because babies won't starve themselves. It kind of worked for us. My daughter accepted bottles, but only drank on average 3 ounces per feeding during the hours she was in daycare. On days when she really refused the bottles, I would have her daycare pour the breastmilk into a couple tablespoons of cereal, and she would have the soupy cereal spoonfed to her. (You can try that as you are transitioning off the breast.) Since my daughter really never liked bottles, we introduced sippy cups (for water, no pressure to drink) around 5.5 months, and by 10 months she was totally on sippy cups. She liked the Born Free Trainer cup (not to be confused with their harder spout "drinking cup") best. But, by 15 months, she was totally off sippy cups and on to straw cups. If possible, perhaps you can totally skip the sippy cups and go straight to straw cups. I heard it's not necessary to transition to sippy cups, and that even young infants can learn to drink from straws. You may have to try several brands before you find ones that work for you. My daughter hated the ones with valves (most of them have valves). (By the way, my daughter was completely on breastmilk as her milk until 15 mos because of her allergies. When we wanted her to switch to another milk, we started by putting a few drops in her cup, each week slowly adding more, and it took months before she was fully on 100% goat milk in her cups. This way, she didn't seem to mind the slow change in taste at all.)

Dear J.,

How often are you b/f? If you are looking to stop soon, I would just take away 1 feeding time a week and offer the bottle at that missed feeding. I would start by letting someone else do it and maybe you could go to the store. This way you aren't there as an option. The following week, I would take away another nursing session and repeat. I weaned my son this way, but he was only 7 months old. I hope this helps.

I would also pump and put it into the formula so the taste isn't too drastic. You didn't mention if he's had formula before, but it's all new for him and it's going to take some time for him to get acclimated. Let me know how he does.

Hi J.,

Try a straw cup sometimes when children refuse a sippy cup they take well to the straw. I know it's hard, we go through this at my daycare all of the time. It takes time but after a week or so they give in and take the bottle. In the meantime give him more yogurt, cheese, etc to keep up his dairy intake. Also have someone else give the bottle when you are not around he may take it better when he knows there is no other option. Good luck!!