bottle refuser

[popsy]

I know this has probably been done to death, but my 3 month old will refuse to take a bottle. Ive tried on and off since he was 4 weeks. He initially took a small amount of expressed milk from a bottle but then just stopped. I gave it a break and started trying again and have been trying pretty much everyday for last few weeks.

Ive tried avent, nuk, mam and today dr brown bottles. I was just trying the mam ones recently as thought persevering with one may work.

Thanks

My husband has also tried when im not in the room (albeit not for very long).

Don't really want to try cold turkey but im going away for the night next month (hopefully) so need him to take a bottle. Any tips...?

[sb]

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[HLB]

The bottle which worked for us after months of trying various bottles/techniques was the Playtex bottle - the teat is super soft and it uses these odd looking 'liners' but it miraculously worked! We bought ours online as they are difficult to find - but you are welcome to have ours if you want it and we have heaps of spare liners as well.

The other thing we did which (maybe???) helped was that when feeding from a bottle we sat him in his bouncy chair so he had no expectations that he would get a boob.

Good luck!

[sb]

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[SLad]

O my goodness, I feel your pain.

We had months of worry which didn't even fully resolve until about 2 weeks after I returned to work full time when our daughter was 6 months old. Mostly because I was intent on not letting formula pass her lips until she'd been exclusively breastfed for 6 months. If I had my time again I would probably be a bit less rigid on that as it made for an uncomfortable transition from boob to bottle in a way others who introduced formula earlier didn't seem to experience.

In the end we went for Dr Brown bottles with Aptamil at a temperature which was far hotter than i was comfortable giving her as our daughter refused everything else (including, contrarily, breastmilk and anything at the tepid temperature recommended by one and all). She absolutely loathed Hipp Organic much to my chagrin as I wanted to keep it all organic. You do just need to have a bit of a hunt round and try lots of different options, particularly around temperature if you have enough expressed milk to do it.

I 100% agree with the other posters that you're on a hiding to nothing trying to give your little one a bottle whilst there are juicy boobies so close at hand. And that you need to use as many tricks in your armoury to make it not the poor sister to breastfeeding e.g. do it in a totally different context, have others give the bottle, make it a bit of a game.

Most of all, it really helps if you and anyone who is helping to give the bottles can try to be as totally relaxed about the process as possible and not invest in the outcome too much. We certainly found, even in those early weeks, that when our daughter was hungry enough she would drink from the bottle. No one wants their child to end up in that situation but I promise you she will be no worse off for the process and you will probably be a lot more sane for having a night away.

Good luck and all the best,

S

[popsy]

Thanks everyone, it has mostly been me trying because husband isnt patient and gives it about 2 mins before declaring its not working and giving up. Will get someone else to give it a proper go and i'll go out (yay!).

Had been using expressed as thought that would be easiest to get baby to take, but will give formula a go, as expressing is such a hassle!

Had been using bouncy chair, but will persevere with that option.

so annoying. First son took to bottle great for evening top up feeds, so totally unprepared for a refuser!!

thanks for all the tips. Will let you know how we get on.

[Zedd]

All of the above are excellent ideas but one thing that hasn't been mentioned is considering whether you have a particularly fast let-down. Looking back, I think I did. My daughter never coughed/ spluttered when bf but there was an audible fast gulping noise for the first few weeks whenever she was feeding so I imagine the milk must have been gushing (relatively) out of me (this also caused terrible problems with wind and colic grrrr)! As a result my daughter would take a few sucks at a bottle then get incredibly angry at the bottle as she would not get the milk fast enough. As total novices it took us a few screamy weeks to figure it out but once we upped the teat number well past the recommended one for her age (I think she was on no3 at 6 weeks old) she was much happier taking her evening feed from a bottle.

[Convex]

Hm, maybe the wrong teat size is our issue... Anyone with a mix fed 8month old can tell me what number teats they are on? I'm still using size 2.

[hellosailor]

It's size 3 from 6 months +

xx

[Convex]

Oh dear, I better change that! I thought if they were still bf at all it was size 2.

[edanna]

Not much help right now, but from 4 months you could also try one of those basic Tommy Tippee cups - if you get your child used to using both cup and bottle early on, then it's easier to get them off the bottle later, which is better for teeth once they come through, and I always found them much less hassle than bottles.

[miss]

You could also try a Nuk soft spout cup - the Lloyds chemist on north cross road sells the spouts and they would fit your existing Nuk bottles. Don't know if you can buy the handles separately but this element of control made a big difference for my bottle refuser.

[maritap]

Try closer to nature bottles... They've always worked for me