9 month old not taking bottle of expressed milk well - help!

[rwhite]

I have been back at work for a week now and the only times my daughter has needed to have a bottle is when I've occasionally been out for an hour or two - I can count the times on one hand.

We did a bit of practice with her leading up to me going back to work, but she has never fully had the hang of taking a bottle. She had a tongue tie and I don't know if this contributes to her finding a bottle hard to latch on to but I suspect it may. Otherwise, she is just completely not used to the bottle and prefers the breast (understandably so!).

My issue here is, I don't think she is drinking enough milk during the day. She will drink from the bottle for a bit then push it away and turn her head away and cry and not want to take it any more She has done this to me so I know what her caregiver is talking about. When I was at home with her she would happily feed every three to four hours, so I know she should be having a reasonable amount...

Here's an example:
I get up at 5 am and she must have heard my alarm and woken up at this time too, so I went in and gave her a feed and put her back down. She has breakfast around 7.30 after which she has her bottle at about 8 am when her caregiver arrives and DP goes to work.

Today she only drank 80ml (2.7oz) and it was a struggle to even get her to have that, apparently. The caregiver had to keep trying on and off and she would fuss as described above I got home at 4pm and have given her a feed straight from the tap so no worries there, but still feel it's a rather large gap with not enough milk...

We have Avent classic bottles as we are a bit broke at the moment and will be until my first pay when I am planning on getting a few different kinds to try and see which she will take best to.

I am just wondering how much your 8 or 9 month olds drink per feed of expressed milk and what kind of gap between feedings? 80ml all day between 5.30 am and 4 pm seems very little to me and it's got me worried...it's also summer here, so that just makes me more concerned.

Also, if your baby was like this with taking a bottle, what kind of bottles were you using and did you manage to switch to one that they took without issue?

Thanks

 

[RaquelDee]

I'm in a similar situation with my bub. I'm returning to work in a couple of weeks time, when she'll be almost six months. She has never successfully taken a bottle. This has been pretty stressful for me, but we're in a good place now having taken lots of advice from (variously) the maternal health service, the Australian Breastfeeding Association, and anyone who I could find who had experienced something similar.

First of all, we're not bothering at all with the bottle. We've been working on developing her skills with drinking from a sippy cup for around the last month, and she will now feed fairly successfully from one. We have had the most luck with a discovera cup top screwed onto a smaller-sized miomee bottle, and also found the first sips explora cup quite good. They only work for us if the non-spill valves are removed as she doesn't suck on the spout, but apparently the valves aren't great to use anyway, according to various dental associations. So we're essentially skipping the bottle phase altogether, which will save us from weaning her off them later on.

Secondly, I've been advised not to worry too much about getting the 'full' amount of the missed feeds into her, as she will make up for it later when we're back together. She generally will take 60-80ml max from a cup, which is a fair bit less than she would for a normal feed. I've been told as long as she is getting four full feeds a day, she should be fine (she'll be getting 5 including her dreamfeed).

Thirdly, we've tentatively started on some solids a tad early so that we can mix some milk in with her food. I've also come across the suggestion that you can make up breast milk ice cubes and give them in one of those little food net things to suck on - which could also be great in the hot weather.

As your girl is nine months and I'm guessing is on solids, perhaps via food would be a good solution. Does she drink from a cup with her meals? Maybe as she is older she doesn't need as much milk anyway?

Best of luck with it all. Clementine is a lovely name, by the way.

 

[sil]

Can you give her her milk in a cup? Try sipping from an open cup (my 6 month old loves this) or a straw cup. My DS won't take a bottle either but will drink from a cup.

Can the caregiver give her milk in other forms/ways? Maybe mix in some rice into the breastmilk and spoon feed?

 

[minties]

I never bottle fed Sophie but she was happily drinking water from a sippy cup by that age. I would try that,

 

[rwhite]

Thanks girls for your advice! Sippy cups are a good idea We currently only have the type with a hard plastic lid and quite big holes, and the last time she used it she gulped and spluttered (this was with water) and ended up vomiting up all her dinner that night so I've been a bit scared to use it again...we really should invest in some silicone ones or something like that. Or maybe a doidy? Can anyone confirm if they are ok for this age?

She does have four feeds including whatever milk she has during the day (had 80ml again today), so three are from me and just that one during the day, so maybe that is something...I dunno :\ but will definitely try sippy cups! She could also have it mixed in with her weetbix in the morning, as she has been having yoghurt with it as it is...

Thank you for the lovely compliment RaquelDee And Minties, a new bubba on the way!! Congratulations lovely!