Four Month Old Will Not Take a Bottle

HI D., I personally have not had this problem, but a good friend of mine did. She was faced with going back to work and had to pump. The approach she used with her 2 month old was kind of harsh, but it worked. She stopped nursing cold turkey one morning and only offered her daughter pumped milk in the bottle during the day. I think she still nursed one time a day before bed. It took them a good day and a half of crying for her to finally give in and take the bottle. I know that her mom had to come over that night to help as well. Like I said, kind of a harsh day or two, but in her situation she felt it was the only option as she didn't want to wait until the first day of daycare for it to happen. Good luck with whatever you do.

i answered some of this on your other post!

go to www.askdrsears.com or search for books by william and martha sears on amazon - their books are fantastic and though they do support and encourage breastfeeding and pumping when working, they will have advice and information, whole chapters, on bottlefeeding as well. if you cant afford a breastpump, check with your insurance company, i got the medela pump in style electric breastpump system for FREE as long as my doctor wrote a prescription.
beware of doctors pushing formula. formula companies pay hospitols millions to push their products, even knowing that formula does NOT compare to breastmilk. dont get discouraged, if you want your baby to breastfeed, just do it! :D find a local or nearby la leche league. ! :D formula and breastfeed when you are home, whatever works for your family!

good luck!

How many kinds of bottles have you tried? I've read testimonies from moms who say that their baby took the Breast-flow bottle (I think you can get them at Target) when it would not take any other. Also, my La Leche leader gave me an Avent bottle--I assume that it must have some sort of benefit. Then, the lactation consultant at the U of I hospitals told me about some really goofy-looking feeder that (I kid you not) really looked like a big boob. I wish I could remember what it was called. It wasn't even really a bottle. If it isn't the answer, it would still be good for a laugh if you found it. Good luck!

D.,

My experience has been that four months is generally too old to teach a baby to use a bottle. It has to be done within the first 4-6 weeks and then done consistently. With my second baby, I wasn't giving him bottles regularly, then found out he wouldn't take one at all when I had an MRI and they told me I couldn't breastfeed for 24 hours. We tried for 6 hours while he screamed giving him every kind of bottles, nipples, temperatures, different holds, different people holding him, formula vs. breastmilk etc. We even tried medicine droppers. It was a lost cause. The pediatrician told me to go ahead and breastfeed him because the risk of dehydration was bigger than the risk of the breastmilk that had been exposed to MRI dye.

Anyway, we just had to move on to a sippy cup when he was about 5 months old. You may want to try that now. Get one with a soft spout and don't expect it to work the first time, or the first 10 times. Just let him play with it and eventually he will want to explore it with his mouth. He will catch on that he can get liquid out of it and eventually begin to use it. I wouldn't try when he is very hungry because his patience level will be low and he will probably get frustrated and quit before he learns to use it.

Good luck,
S.

The Sassy Mam Ultivent Bottles are the best for breastfed babies in my opinion - the nipple is flatter, like the breast's nipple gets in their mouths, and they have an anti-gassiness vent in the bottom - you can find them at Walmart.com http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1020... , and eBay. My two mainly breastfed babies just messed around with regular cylindrical nipples, biting them, droolng their meal all over themselves, sticking them in the corner of their mouth like a stogie LOL! These nipples they don't miss a drop, and usually only have to burp once per feeding!

Also, although they don't "seat" or snap in to the ring of a playtex "bag" nurser, these nipples will work with that system, (I do like those bottles for the non-washing convenience) you just sit the nipple on top of the bag/bottle assembly, and then screw the ring down tightly on top. If you are going to pump, "the first years" make a breastmilk storage bag that will go right in the playtex bottles, and playtex itself has a system (if you have their pump) that goes straight from pump to freezer to the bottle itself.

Also, have someone other than you teach them to bottle feed, you may have to be totally out of the house for it to work at first, especailly starting this late, they will usually not eat a bottle for mommy at the beginning, since they prefer the real thing if it is available. Probably best to start withthe bottle with breastmilk only if that is all she has ever had, formula is going to taste yucky to her - use breastmilk to teach her to use the bottle, then gradually mix it with formula, first a little formula with lots of breasmilk, and then up the formula and lower the breastmilk, every few days, until you get to where it is all formula. Pumping would be much less expensive, though, and must be allowed by law BTW, just FYI, it can cost between $1800-$4000 for a year's worth of formula (depending on how much the baby eats and what brand you go with).

Whatever you decide, good luck - and those Mam bottles are wonderful!

Jessie

Have you tried different kinds of bottles or are you just pushing one? I've heard Adiri bottles are the most like the breast, maybe try those. My youngest is breastfed and taken a bottle a handful of times. He's taken the Playtex Nurser without any problems.