My 15 week daughter is an excellent nurser with a healthy appetite. I'm trying to introduce her to a bottle so I can give my breasts a break now and then, and her father would like to be able to help out with feedings. We've tried feeding her both breastmilk and formula from a bottle and we have tried every kind of bottle and a variety of nipples with no luck. Is there a special technique to this? Does anyone have any advice at all?
Thanks a million for all the helpful tips. Will keep everyone posted once I've had a chance to try them.
Hi L., Moms in my day would dip the nipple in something sweet so the baby would try it. No matter waht nipple it is it will never taste like mommy's breast but once she sees that milk does come out of it she should be OK. Good wishes, Grandma Mary
I agree with the daycare response... Your baby will take a bottle as long as you are patient and work at it.. and when they are hungry enough they will take it.
you can try having someone else besides you and your husband to give her the bottle. Sometimes babies won't take the bottle from their mom becuase they can smell the breast, and who wants a bottle when you can have the real thing??
Stick to breast milk in the bottle, as she knows and likes it. The bottom line is you have to be persistent; it may take weeks for her to get it, but eventually she will. It may help if you are not around when the bottle is given; there will be a lot of crying and she may even have to fall asleep hungry 1-2 times, but when she wakes up she will be more open to the idea of the bottle.
Hi Liz,
It's great that your daughter is nursing so well. My suggestions on introducing a bottle if you need to be away from your baby - have dad or caregiver offer the bottle, when the baby is not desperately hungry. Tempting as it may be to watch and see how she is doing, leave the house. She isn't likely to take the bottle if she can see/hear/smell you, and she should associate only breastfeeding with mom.
Have dad/caregiver warm the nipple and smear some of the pumped milk on it, so your baby can smell/taste right away that she is getting what she normally eats.
If you are giving bottles to "give my breasts a break" please remember that supplementing with formula can lower your milk production - giving breasts a break isn't actually good for them, it just tells them that you need to produce less milk.
Good luck!
The one thing that seemed to work for us was that mom cannot be around when trying to give a bottle. Baby's can smell if mommy is nearby and will hold out for the real thin rather than the bottle. Try to leave the house and have your husband give the bottle.
use a bottle shaped like the pacifier you use.
if you don't use a pacifier, try adn start, this will help the transition.
M
Dear L.,
This happens all of the time with the babies at my daycare. One thing we try to do is hold the baby almost in a nursing position so they are more comfortable. Put a receiving blanket partially over their face so they will feel like they are nursing. I also suggest making sure the nipple on the bottle matches the nipple on the pacifier. Have you tried a premmie nipple? They have a smaller nipple. One thing I noticed is that the babies would almost gag when you put a regular nipple into their mouth. You are just going to have to be diligent and keep trying, when she is hungry enough she will eat.
I had this problem with both of my babies and the only nipple they would take (we tried about 20 different ones) is the latex nuk nipple (the original nuk, not the new one for wide bottles). I think the latex is softer than the silicone, so maybe it feels better and the shape is much shorter than most other nipples. As soon as we switched to the nuk, they took the bottle with no problem. It fits any standard size bottle, which is convenient too.
