HELP! 3 Month Old Still Won't Take a Bottle!!

Have you tried a Nuby bottle? This is the only kind my daughter would take after a similar struggle. It's supposedly designed with a nipple that resembles the breast a bit more.

Hi S.,
Have you tried the Breastflow bottle by The First Years? This is the only bottle my baby would take...and it took awhile for us to get him to take one, but when we finally tried this he really liked it. I think it is suppose to be most like the breast. Good Luck!!!
E.

Yikes! Sounds like a really difficult situation, I'm sorry!

I agree with you, and wouldn't give her anything but breast milk for a few more months. I'd say just keep trying every day and eventually she will take the bottle if she is hungry/thirsty.

I remember meeting a Mommy a few years ago who worked full-time and the baby just reversed her eating schedule, like yours is doing. Breastfeeding at night while sleeping (I think it's called "dream feeding", or something like that), and not during the day. This might sound odd, but if you think of it, the baby is getting just as much nutrition, just at the opposite time of day. It's really amazing that a tinny baby of only 3 months would adapt like that so naturally!

Now, what about YOU and getting your sleep when you have to work full-time? I don't know if it is your style or not, but if you co-sleep then you can both get sleep and she can have her feedings at the same time. I just found this on the La Leche League site:
http://www.llli.org/NB/NBNovDec04p211a.html
Again, not sure if it is your style, but you might want to give it a try. We started out not co-sleeping (I was really against it) but our little one stopped sleeping through the night when she was 4 or 5 months, and after an exhausting year of trying to get her to sleep on her own again we just gave up. She's in our bed about 1/2 of the night most of the time now. It's really not a problem at all, and my husband and I both really enjoy cuddling up with her. It did take some time to get used to, but it's great now. (You might already co-sleep, but just wanted to offer some encouragement in case it helps with the feeding issue)

Good luck! And let us know how it works out.

H.

I went back to work when my daughter was 3 mos old. She too wouldn't take a bottle, and ate only at night. I had to be the one to give her the bottle when I got home, no matter how much by breasts hurt; I pumped my breasts at night, as well as during the day. Finally, when she was taking a bottle well from me and my husband, I was able to nurse again before and after work. Unfortunately, my daughter decided she liked the bottle better - it flowed so much more easily - so she weaned herself at 4 months - boo hoo hoo! I had planned to nurse for at least a year like I'd done with my son, but it was not to be. Good luck.

A little about me: A child psychiatrist, married 22 years to a great Dad/supportive husband, with a 19yo boy and 12yo girl

it will get better. it always does. it took mine about 2 weeks to start taking the bottle. my mom has to reheat the bottle every ounce or so. i think it is rediculous but my mom says at least he is happy and eating. the first couple of weeks he would not eat all day and then spent about 3 hours straight on the breast. cried everytime i took him off. but as always things changed and we got used to the bottle. good luck hang in there and remember, it always gets bettter. then there will be a new issue :)

Hi S.,

I went through the same with my daughter as well.
We used to keep trying the bottle once daily. My husband used to feed her the bottle instead of me, since she would never take it if I were around. It took us several weeks, but after trying every day consistently, we were able to make her take the bottle. I don't think it has anything to do with bottle/nipple, since I had also bought several varieties thinking that's the case. But once she started taking bottle, she was fine with anything!

Hope that helps!

try the vacuum. That's how we got my daughter to take the bottle. As soon as it turned on, she would start to suck. That and making sure to hold her so that she was facing out, instead of towards us. It worked like a charm and in no time at all, we didn't need to use the vacuum.

Have you tried different kinds of nipples as well as different kinds of bottles? It took us a few tries to find a nipple that my DD liked. I just went to Babies R Us and got three or four different kinds and kept trying them out until one stuck. Good luck, I know this is frustrating.

I can relate to your frustration and worry as I experienced the same with my daughter and my sister just went through this. Hers took trying a multitude of bottles and nippled types. One trick that worked for me was having my mother in law feed a bottle while my daughter was wrapped in my bathrobe. She would end up napping in it too.

It may seem odd and may not work but I think the smell of mom was a definite comfort for my little one. Try your robe or a blanket that you have slept with.

we had the same situation and my mom offered a cup -- lots of spilling but at least some got down. also faced him out sitting upright. kept giving the bottle every time i worked and eventually its no big deal. just keep with it. you are in a pinch b/c i would not dent her the boob at night if she is truly hungry so you may be reinforcing a habit you will have to break, but she is young and needs her nutrition any which way. she also is catching up on you time and this will ease up as she starts to enjoy the new routine more.

Just keep trying! My son was the same way. I started back to work at 3 months and the first week or so he drank 1-2 ounces a day and then attacked me when I came home! Same thing...stopped sleeping well and wanted to eat all night. He started drinking more little by little and by the end of week two, he was doing fine. It was a rough 2 weeks, especially for my husband who is home with him during the day. Hungry babies are cranky! But, like I said, by week two, he was eating a lot more. He is 5 months now and he still doesn't eat a ton during the day. But enough to keep him happy. He does nurse several times when I get home. but is sleeping better. Good luck!

i am so sorry you are having this problem!

it is better for your baby that you are not starting solids or formula. you are a good mama!

try cup feeding - this works for some babies.

good luck!

I was in the same situation my daughter took one bottle out of an entire year. My husband was home with her to deal with it and she just got accustomed to waiting for me to get home. Do not start the solids early but what I would do that I wish we had thought of. They have the droppers for medicine so I would get one and fill with breastmilk and see if by getting some in she will want more from a bottle. Good luck, I know how your feeling.

this is a hard one, and an issue that generates a lot of posts and advice. I recently responded to another one, so you might want to see my answer(and others)at the following link (i had the same issue when I returned to work and tried to summarize all the advice and ideas that helped me during that time) http://www.mamasource.com/request/10715809630237294593

However, your child is still very young -- at 3 months you still have some hope of getting her to successfully take the bottle so I wouldn't try to switch to a straw or spoon just yet (however if you need to, the straw is great because they still kind of suck and if you teach them early enough they take to it really fast)- and hold off on the solids- 3 months really is a little young. I am generally an advocate of starting solids fairly early as the child is ready, but 3 months is kind of pushing it.

My son never used a bottle. I was going back to work when was 3 months and though several attempts had been made he refused all bottles.
Out nanny ended up using a combination of a medicine dropper, a deep spoon and a regular cup. Buy the time he was old enough to want to hold the cup on his own, we gave him a sippy cup and he's been good to go ever since. He's 15 months now and started using a sippy cup when he was 6 months.

Through all of my searching I found out that plenty of cultures never use a bottle - babies got mom or someone holds a cup for them. No need to force it on her. My son still hate anything he perceives as a fake nipple (never taken a pacifier either).
good luck!

I wish I could remember the name of the book I read about working and pumping....

Okay, so what are you putting in the bottle? Is it formula? (I had no supply so my daughter had to drink it between deliveries from her wet nurse) It tastes TERRIBLE. My husband and I opened 4 cans and called an nurse advice line. Was ours bad? or is it supposed to taste like salty draino?
Breastmilk tastes better than cows milk!

The other issue I have seen in my circle of moms is one clever little boy who wouldn't take a bottle if mommy was home - or daddy. He had already figured out that if Daddy was home so would mommy. Yet at his grandparents house, after his parents left? Yeah, then he would be hungry enough to decide not to hold out for the better milk bar (and really! It wasn't even formula! She was pumping)

Bottles are all really different. My daughter was so used to the Dr. Browns with the vent that when she was a year old we had a new problem - our fantastic day care center hated taking the vent out to warm them. They wanted to use traditional bottles. Well she didn't know how to sip, pause, vent the bottle, sip, pause... and would get all this negative pressure going and stop the flow. I could see why a breast baby would hate to learn a new nursing pattern. With the Dr. Browns bottles she could just CHUG and get back to her baby business.
Looking back we should have just moved her to a cup then, while she hated the new bottles but she was on the slim side and seeing her ribs made us nervous.

I had to supplement from day 2 with both kids so they were used to it but I used the Playtex drop ins w/ silicon nipples for both kids, they took to them very well. Our friends were luckier and able to breastfeed full time. Unfortunately it took them over 12 hours of mom torture of not giving in before their daughter took to the bottle from dad. Mom was not around to be seen for the whole time but was in the house. Once she drank a full serving from the bottle each day it got easier. As for me when I was a kid, my mom added rice cereal to my last bottle of the day and cut a slit in the nipple bigger than the hole around 3 months because I wasn't satisfied no matter how much she fed me breastmilk/formula. Mixing the 2 so it was still drinkable gave me the substance I needed so I could be satisfied and sleep longer. Good luck.