HELP 4 month old won't take bottle anymore (ebf)

[new37]

Hello all,

My LO has been exclusively bf and is now 4 mo. She has been a great bf from the start and since about 6 weeks old, I've also pumped and given her the occasional bottle (when i need to be away for a few hours). I had some pumped milk stored in the freezer, which we thawed last night. When my husband tried to give it to her she threw a fit and wouldn't take it. When I got home she was upset but I bf her no problem, plus I tasted the thawed milk he was trying to give her and it definitely tasted a bit sour - not very nice so I dumped it, but not sure exactly when it went sour. Could have gone off brown when he tried to give it to her and when I got home.

Today we thawed out another bottle and tried to give it to her again - this time both me and her dad tried. Milk tasted a little different than fresh but fine. Again, she would NOT take it. So I pumped some milk and put it in the bottle and tried to give it to her fresh. No go again. She was so upset with us this last time I said we aren't going to try any of this again for a couple days at least. Any ideas of what could have gone wrong here? Why would she stop all the sudden - would the sour milk turned her off so completely that she won't take it now? Where do I go from here? We also tried several types of bottles/nipples and she won't take any of them....

 

[bumpbear]

My daughter did the same at around 8 weeks old - she had been taking a daily bottle fine up until then, and suddenly out of nowhere she rejected the plastic. In our case, we tried every bottle going for months on end, with either me or DH offering it, me there or me out of the house, but she just wouldnt take it. So in the end I EBF'd her until 19 months when she self weaned. The kid decided she didnt want bottles and that was that.

To be fair though, we never took last resort steps along the lines of 'she'll take a bottle when she's hungry'. As I am a SAHM with no other kids or responsibilities, it wasnt essential that she drink from a bottle so we chose to indulge her rather than let her cry at length through hunger.

 

[J22]

I had this exact same problem. She took 1 bottle a day from week 2 for about 4 or 5 weeks then it became a huge crying session if my OH tried to give it to her (she's now 3.5 months old). Eventually we gave up after trying several times. I've been recommended to try using a sippy cup with soft spout but haven't tried yet x

 

[Rachel_C]

I'd give a cup or beaker a go, a 4 month old doesn't really need a bottle especially if it's not for all the time. Hopefully the difference will encourage her! You could try different temperatures too - she might like it at body temperature but she might prefer it warmer or colder so it's not supposed to be an imitation of milk from the boob.

 

[Kess]

Ro did the same. We eventually found he'd take a soft latex teat (the NUK one), but he wasn't 100% happy about it. We introduced the Doidy cup at about 4 months, and he much prefers that.

 

[Bunanie]

Have you tried a different bottle/different shape teat?

My lo was exactly like that, she suddenly refused the avent bottle completely. I had success with pegion and I hear close to nature bottles are good too for bf babies.

 

[youngy]

We had the same thing only a bit earlier on, he never has taken a bottle since but we have had small success with a doidy cup