Bottle failure

[WantsALittle1]

Our Ped gave us a very strong suggestion (she used the words 'I want you to...') to try one bottle a day with Little Man to see if we can get him to accept it. He is completely boob addicted, which I love because his big sister never wanted to breastfeed and I ended up pumping exclusively for 6 months with her!

The doc says at some point we'll want to go to a movie and won't be able to leave DS with anyone if he will only accept the boob. He used to take bottles, but at around 2 months began rejecting them completely.

Okay, point well taken by the Ped, but seriously my son thinks bottles are torture. He HATES them. We have tried many kinds.

I am thinking of just giving up. There's always plenty of time after he self-weans for hubby and I to go on dates again, right?

 

[Mapleroo]

I'm certainly no expert (only 2 weeks into this BF thing myself), but surely if your happy and LO is happy...why do anything different?? I agree, plenty of time for dates later, they are only little for a short time

 

[HBGirl]

If you don't want to then don't.

 

[Brieanna]

If everything is working out for you then why change anything? My dd NEVER took a bottle and we never minded. DS looks like he will be the same way. Our "date nights" are actually family times but that is what works for us. We still manage alone times, of course, but not necessarily by having specifically planned "dates".

 

[WantsALittle1]

Brieanna, it is working but frankly it would be nice to get a 2-3 hour chunk of time with my husband. We TTCed our kids back to back because of my health problems with pregnancy (needed to have them sooner rather than later), and no joke we have had maybe 5 dates in the last two years

That's why we really wanted to give bottle feeding a good try. I take a hand pump with me when I go out, so getting engorged is not a concern. The concern is that my son will NOT eat from a bottle. He had to be hospitalized a couple of weeks ago and I needed to leave the hospital to take care of my daughter, and the nurses (three different ones) could not feed him. They had to call me back to the hospital just to breastfeed him.

It's stuff like that that make me think his feeding method should be more versatile.

 

[hans2009]

Do what's best for your family! I love my son more than anything, but my husband and I are determined to get date nights in! Luckily my son couldn't care less about the source as long as he gets his milk however, if he didn't want the bottle, I wouldn't give him anything else just to have some time away!

Doctors are a good source but they don't know everything!

 

[Julesillini8]

Been there! My first daughter was fine, bf when I didn't work, and drank expressed milk from bottles the two days I worked. No big deal. This second daughter of mine, no way. For 3 months we did one bottle a day. We tried over 6 different brands of bottles..... Room temp milk, warm milk..... Finally I said forget it. I picked one bottle and stuck with it, for consistency. She was NOT having it. Every once in awhile she took down maybe 1 ounce, but all the other times were a screaming battle. ( and yes, other people gave her bottles.... While I was not around, nothing mattered) anyhow, finally gave up, and she is now 10 months old and doesn't drink froma bottle. Honestly, now that she only nurses a few times a day, it's not really that hard to work around those times. I've gone to a few weddings in the past 2 months with grandparents babysitting, went to a comedy club date night with my husband, etc.
I guess if YOU are the one who is hell bent on the bottle, then keep up with it and hope for the best. If its just the doctor strongly recommending it, don't kill yourself. Some babies just do not take a bottle.
Anyhow, good luck, hope things work out for you.

 

[Brieanna]

Brieanna, it is working but frankly it would be nice to get a 2-3 hour chunk of time with my husband. We TTCed our kids back to back because of my health problems with pregnancy (needed to have them sooner rather than later), and no joke we have had maybe 5 dates in the last two years

That's why we really wanted to give bottle feeding a good try. I take a hand pump with me when I go out, so getting engorged is not a concern. The concern is that my son will NOT eat from a bottle. He had to be hospitalized a couple of weeks ago and I needed to leave the hospital to take care of my daughter, and the nurses (three different ones) could not feed him. They had to call me back to the hospital just to breastfeed him.

It's stuff like that that make me think his feeding method should be more versatile.

Sorry if I sounded wrong and I actually do understand, I also have a "time limit" for ttc (medical issues mean I have to try to have babies before a certain time) and it is very hard when you are the only one who can "fix" it, lol. I tried to bottle feed dd with expressed milk and it never worked.

Breastfeeding can be a wonderful, beautiful thing, but it can also be VERY limiting. We actually never had a need to bottlefeed dd so it worked out ok.

I am sorry I don't have more to offer, but do know you aren't alone.

 

[Elmo5]

If your happy dont bother. Remember when they are older and venturing on to solids they can have a cup and will also last longer between feeds.

 

[ttc bubby no2]

As the others have said, I would only do it if it something you want, not if it is just because the Dr says so.

Mine both were never interested much in bottles. DS2 more so as I didn't try very hard to get him to use one. Yes at times it was a pain the when I wanted to go out without him but it is only a short about of time (well 2+ years in his case) that they feed so it does go fast.

We also found going out in the day and leaving him with someone else was a bit easier once he was on solids and could be distracted with food. Night time he would just want boob if he woke so we would just have to have 'dates' during the day on weekends if we needed some kid free time.

 

[WantsALittle1]

OP here and thanks everyone. You all have made the very good point that they are only this age for a short amount of time (year or two) and frankly, I love the bonding that I get with my son when he nurses and I am in NO rush to lose a second of that. I do think things'll get better as he transitions onto solids and starts to nurse for comfort rather than sustenance!

 

[Itsychik]

I'm struggling with this right now. My DD is 11 weeks old and we've been trying to get her to drink from a bottle everyday for the past 2 weeks. She just absolutely refuses! The second the bottle touches her lips she starts crying. We've tried 5 different bottle types: I've tried, DH has tried, tried when I was/was not home, before, during, and after breast feeding her, etc. Thursday I'm going to visit a friend who will try giving her a bottles as well. My MIL was supposed to babysit on Saturday but at this rate that's not going to happen.

I will be returning to work when DD is 5 months old so she really needs to drink out of a bottle by then! I'm not sure what we'll do otherwise...

 

[patch2006uk]

At 4 months, I would use a free flow cup or a doidy cup rather than a bottle. Also, in a couple of months baby will be eating solids and you won't be the sole source of nutrition any more. My eldest fed incredibly frequently, but I went to see a 3 hour movie when he was 7months, as he could be held off with food and water.

I think your doctor has worried you for no reason. Babies should be off bottles by 12 months anyway, and are capable of using cups from around 3 or 4 months, and they do need to know how to drink from a cup at some point. Why teach how to use a bottle, when you could teach the life skill of how to use a cup?

 

[Mrs_T]

Not sure you are wanting to crack the not taking bottles 'issue' (for want of a better word!), but for anyone who is, I created a thread on this full of advice when my dd was a bottle refused, here's the link...

https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...s-help-tips-success-stories.html#post25354849