Baby refusing bottle. Help!

[byngo]

Hi. We have an almost 5 month old and for the past 2 weeks she has been refusing her bottle or only taking very small amounts after lots of screaming. She has never liked taking it and it's always been a bit difficult usually involving boob then bottle. I would happily continue to breastfeed exclusively but she us a big baby and I don't have enuf milk for her and she is waking 3-5 times in the night. Some of it teething related I am sure but I can hear her tummy rumbling. I should prob mention she has had silent reflux so not sure if that's affecting her. Obviously the more she wakes the more tired I am and the less milk I have. I've tried about 10 different bottles and beakers but no success. Any tips? Thanks

[Debstar7]

Hey Byngo...I really do feel for you. Tiredness is the worst.

Some mothers would probably not agree with me but from previous experience (I have 3 children)at around 5 to 6 months, especially bigger babies, milk just isn't enough. I would introduce some baby rice. Only a small amount, 1 or 2 teaspoons around tea time. This should hopefully fill her up till her bedtime bottle. Make sure she is in a happy mood when you try to introduce it as she may choke if she's crying etc.

I hope this helps & I hope you get some sleep soon.

Debstar

[hpsaucey]

HI there. I did the same as Debstar. My first was happy to wait until 6 months for solids. Again, you won't find any health visitor recommending this, but with my second he was a big baby and obviously desperate to try food from 5 months so I did the same and introduced very small amounts of baby rice to start with. He was pretty keen to eat it LOL!!!

Sorry - don't know much about how reflux would have an effect.

Good luck.

H

[randomv]

Hi

Sounds to me like it may be the reflux that is causing the problem - if she's in pain she's not going to want to feed. do you have medication to control the reflux? If so, maybe you need to look at increasing the amount?

I'm another believer in early weaning for bigger babies (my HV was actually supportive!) and solids can help reflux but it doesn't make sense to introduce them if she's not ready so IMHO it's worth ruling out the reflux first and foremost.

[sledge]

Hi

I have a baby who is 6 months old and also has silent reflux. I weened her at 5 months following our consultants advice / insistence! She totally refuses a bottle so I am exclusively breast feeding (of which she recently became very fussy about and screams a lot during feeds).

Personally I would:

1) check medication as the dosage may need adjusting according to your baby's weight.

2) start weaning (even if it is only baby rice)

Teething is probably an issue too!

Good luck

xxx

[new mother]

baby rice?

I started my baby far too late on it, following guidelines slavishly. THe poor child grabbed the spoon immediately, shoved it straight in her mouth and gobbled the rest of the JAR in seconds. I felt like I had been under nourishing her for weeks by following generic health dept guidelines that some fool has written.

[Ko]

my baby has always been bottle fed and always refuses the bottle when he has teething pain, so i give calpol or something to numb the gums (eg ambesol gel) and then he always take the bottle afterwards. i give the calpol if he's been refusing milk all day and then he gobbles it down after he's had the calpol, showing he was refusing because his gums were hurting.

my little one had also had reflux and is very unsettled after feeds as that is when he has the pain. he has gaviscon for it and had also tried other things which haven't helped but at 7 months it is settling down of its own accord. however the dietician did say that getting him onto solids would help with reflux as the food is heavier than milk.

if your baby is hungry then try solids - try baby rice. i know lots of people who have started at 5 months. if the reflux is bothering him then the gp should be able to make some suggestions. good luck xxx

[byngo]

Thanks all. Tried NUK bottle today and that went down better. Also tried different formula so who knows. Thanks again

[fairylamb]

MAM teats are also very good for bottle refuseniks. They are the only teats my son would take. I heard about them here on this very forum:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,365822,373966#msg-373966

[canadianlisa]

We've had good luck with the MAM ones as well and are still using them. I think it is due to the shape of them that the baby's whole mouth goes around the nipple if that makes sense. I also found that giving our little girl the bottle when we were out helped her to get used to it in a less stressful way. Maybe as she had lots to look at and was not concentrating as much on refusing it. It took a long time though for her to take more than an ounce but she did get there in the end. She is 8 months now and is still mainly breast feed but will take the bottle when I need to be away from her or on the odd afternoon out which is good.

Good luck- perservere and it will come.

[ClareC]

Where in ED sells the MAM teats? My 5 1/2 mth daughter is now refusing a bottle :-( Very stressful, makes me want to B/F her but I guess that wouldn't solve the problem to give in every time. :-(