BF baby will not take a bottle now...

[Gidz]

I return to work in one week . My lo has been exclusively BF with maybe 4 bottles of pumped milk her entire life. The past week I've been slowly introducing a bottle a day then waiting 15 minutes and breastfeeding.

She cries and fights the bottle. She will gum the nipple, then suck on it and take some milk but overall takes maybe an ounce over a 30 minute period. We've tried playtex nursers and avent bottles. Tried having DH give her bottle and she freaked out. She will take from me a little better.

I'm getting nervous that she will lose weight, tho, because she won't eat as much as she does when breastfeeding and she gets so upset!

Any ideas or tips? Please?

 

[Dream.dream]

Try a different bottle or nipple , ( my son only liked the NuK wide mouth bottles ) , make sure the milk is warm enough, also helps some babies if you introduce the bottle before they are hungry as they are less likely to accept it if they are hungry and frustrated

 

[Gidz]

Thanks for response.

I went out and bought the nuk wide mouth bottle and thought we would have success since she loves the nuk pacis. Nope, horrible experience. 45 minutes to take one oz and she fought the whole time. I'm getting extremely frustrated and stressed out as I return to work this Monday. Will she starve?!?!? What if she refuses to eat all day??

 

[Dream.dream]

She won't starve herself . Did you try and give it to her or did someone else give her the bottle ? Sometimes they won't take it from you because they know your supposed to nurse them.

 

[Gidz]

We've tried both. I even let the house and she will wouldn't take it.

I tried cold milk, warm milk, three different bottles, two different people giving her bottle, distraction, various positions.....I don't know what to do?

Even worse, I'm a nurse and will be on day shift for a few weeks then on nights. So my DH will be taking over at night and lo still gets up to nurse at night. I feel like I screwed twelfth over by not introducing bottles earlier.

 

[Dream.dream]

My sons I unexpectedly had to give a bottle at 5 months and it was hard , it was about a week of fighting before he actually took the bottle but he eventually did ,

Baby's won't starve themselves try not to worry to much I'm sure she will adjust

 

[readynwilling]

i remember how frustrating it was when my LO wouldn't take a bottle - and i wasn't needing to do it to return to work or any reason other than for the odd bottle for convenience.

I would just keep trying

 

[Gidz]

I am. I've been at it daily for a week, now. Gonna keep going with it.

 

[Wildfire81]

My son had to eventually have his breast milk in a bottle at times. When he did, he only liked the Dr. Browns bottle. Good luck!

 

[SarahBear]

Just keep trying... and if it really doesn't work, there are other ways to feed a baby. There are droppers, syringes, cups, spoons, et cetera. I have a 7 and a half month old who will take a bottle, but much prefers the boob. While I'm at work, she only takes between 4 and 6 ounces most days. She makes up for it in the evening with cluster feeding. She also nurses at night. We co-sleep, so I'm able to latch her and then fall asleep. The down side is that she pees more so I end up changing a fair number of diapers at night. There was a while where she wasn't peeing too much at night, but she's back to peeing a lot at night. Even with the limited milk intake during the day, She's gaining great. She was in the 90th percentile for height at her 6 month appointment and has continued to grow since. She's also taking all the right developmental steps. Your baby will have some adjusting to do, but not taking a lot of milk from a bottle does not mean she will starve.

Edit: now that she's better at latching herself, I never quite know how much she's had at night...

 

[Bubsta]

A friend of mine has to use a sippy cup as her son also refuses to use a bottle. Might be worth trying that if all else fails. I like the tip mentioned above.... My son has had a couple of ebm bottles and has accepted them but he is normally on the boob. Tonight we tried to give him a bottle and he fussed and didn't want it and screamed and carried on.... It was longer in between feeds than normal. and he was hungrier than usual. That was the only thing that was different. We won't let him be that hungry next time we decide to give him a bottle. Good luck. Xx