Baby wont take bottle of ebm...any ideas?

[xxLeighxx]

Hi ladies, my ds is refusing to take a bottle of expressed breast milk. He has taken bottles in the past on occasion and was fine, but I went to hospital last week and he refused a bottle, it was 6 hours before I could feed him, he point blank refused a bottle. I have purchased some nuby rhythm liner system to try...if anyone has used these, personal thoughts would be great! Any tips? He rarely has one but I need to know he will take one if he needs too xx

 

[optimistic1]

My daughter is nearly 6 months old and hasn't had a bottle since 6-7 weeks. I have been offering her the bottle every day at the same time for about a week and a half at first id let her play with it (with bm in it) and then nurse her when she was hungry. That felt like it would take FOREVER before she'd finally drink from it so instead I just held her the same way I do when I nurse her and everytime she turned her head into my breast and opened her mouth I would rub her cheek with the bottle nipple, then put it in her mouth, and talk to her calmly... mostly telling her ''its okay nadia its yummy mommy milk yuuuummmmmm''. She refused/fought/cried for a few days but now (still hesitates a little) she will drink the bottle. She drank 3 oz yesterday with very little hesitation so I think shes getting the idea.

BTW I didn't change bottles or nipples or have anyone try to give the bottle (I need her to be able to take it from mostly myself) I just stuck to one bottle and one nipple. (I read somewhere that switching nipples and bottles a lot will just further frustrate LO)

 

[xxLeighxx]

Thanks He never really has them but he took them before perfectly, I shouldve kept it up but I hate expressing, its so time consuming lol! We was just letting him play with it first and he was putting in his mouth and took a few sips but I think hes over tired so a bad time to try! I just need to know he will take one in an emergency etc

 

[optimistic1]

Yes expressing is a HUGE pain...It takes me a half an hour to pump one oz and I end up hand expressing and practically ripping my nipple off trying to squeeze something out...

I think if you keep trying everyday at least once either let him play with it or when he first wakes up (on a day you don't mind hearing the screaming) try to persuade him to drink from the bottle (whenever my daughter would chew on the nipple id remove it and try again) before giving in and nursing him. I think the fact that I bugged her with it every day helped....it was like she just got tired of fighting me.

Hope it works for you!

I meant to add the first couple of days I started offering (when I was just letting her play with the bottle) she would also take a couple of sips of it and make these screwed faces. The fact that he sucked on it and has realized what's inside is progress even though it was only a few sips.

 

[new37]

I'm having a similar problem (just posted a thread also). My LO is 4 months old, ebf and occasionally takes the bottle. I keep a small supply in the freezer and sometimes will just pump some before I go out so my husband can feed her later. Last night and today she will not take it from either of the two bottles she liked previously OR some of the new ones we tried. We tried both thawed milk and fresh milk. Both husband and I tried. I don't know what happened! (Sorry to hijack your post Leigh!).

We're not going to try again for a couple days in case we've bottle-traumatized her in the last 24 hours, but if she rejects it again I might try what you've listed here optimistic1. Can I ask you, when you said you'd let her play with the bottle each day - was there always bm in it? So did you pump a little each day for the bottle? The idea of trying to nurse her and then slipping the bottle in somehow.... Seems like she might get the point easier. But I'm also worried that if I screw this up entirely - she could HATE the bottle experience and completely reject it...

I'm hoping to hear from other mommies too! Thanks for posting - I feel at least I'm not alone in this issue... Just seems so weird for it to happen all the sudden...

Good luck

 

[new37]

Sorry - can I also ask you all - have you changed the nipples to a different flow? The nipples we've used previously have all been slow flow. But now that she's four months old I'm wondering if I should try the medium or rapid flow? Like, how do know when to upgrade the flow?

 

[optimistic1]

I'm having a similar problem (just posted a thread also). My LO is 4 months old, ebf and occasionally takes the bottle. I keep a small supply in the freezer and sometimes will just pump some before I go out so my husband can feed her later. Last night and today she will not take it from either of the two bottles she liked previously OR some of the new ones we tried. We tried both thawed milk and fresh milk. Both husband and I tried. I don't know what happened! (Sorry to hijack your post Leigh!).

We're not going to try again for a couple days in case we've bottle-traumatized her in the last 24 hours, but if she rejects it again I might try what you've listed here optimistic1. Can I ask you, when you said you'd let her play with the bottle each day - was there always bm in it? So did you pump a little each day for the bottle? The idea of trying to nurse her and then slipping the bottle in somehow.... Seems like she might get the point easier. But I'm also worried that if I screw this up entirely - she could HATE the bottle experience and completely reject it...

I'm hoping to hear from other mommies too! Thanks for posting - I feel at least I'm not alone in this issue... Just seems so weird for it to happen all the sudden...

Good luck

Yeah I always put BM in it so if she did end up sucking on it she'd get a taste. I was only about to pump about 20 ml at first so whatever I could pump I let her play with. Now that im pumping pretty much every day at the same time after she goes to bed im able to get a couple oz and shes drinking that with no problem. You could try the whole nipple switch idea but idk how well it'll work my daughter hated that!

This is the site I found very usefull. I ended up going with the gradual method...I think its the last on the list but these are all methods that moms used that worked because what works for one mom may not work for another. https://www.babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64926.0

 

[xxLeighxx]

New37 -Haha no worries about the hijacking lol!! Its so weird that theyve just decided to stop taking a bottle :/ im getting myself wound up for when he goes nursery (even though its not for another 4 months) and if I couldnt feed him for whatever reason then he would starve, probably neurotic I know lol!

Thanks Nadia, im guna keep trying him! Im like a cow lol, big supply so I express about 7 oz in 10 mins! I might express and then only put 1-2oz in the bottle so im not wasting it if he doesnt take it xx