2 Month Old Refusing Bottle

I definitely concur that you should take her to the doctor first and make sure nothing is wrong. When my little girl was 8 months old, she suddenly stopped taking milk in the bottle at daycare. Daycare had to transition her to sippy cups ASAP. I know that's a bit older than your little one, but she learned to drink from the Take-N-Toss sippy cups (they have no valve, and just two little holes for the milk to come through so it was easier to learn). Good luck!

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I unfortunately went through this as well and ended up doing more harm than good to our little girl by forcing her to take a bottle (She got a feeding tube placed at 7 months old because she stopped drinking all together). Some babies just don't want a bottle and can partly be due to sensory disorder. So, I would look into finding a good occupational therapist to help you out with feeding as soon as possible. You can also try feeding her with a syringe, spoon, cup and even try a sippy cup (all things I wish I would have tried but found out about these too late). Have you tried Tommee Tippee bottles? Good luck, I know it is VERY frustrating because you just worry that your baby isn't getting what she needs. Hang in there.

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your child could have mouth sores and they can hurt and be painful to take a bottle and suck on it. It can happen as it did to my son many years ago. They may not be visible to the eye or on the roof of their mouth. Should bring baby to pediatrician. I can't remember what they are called, but often happens at playgrounds or day care where many babies are toyching the same thing and putting their hands and fingers in their mouth. It is not serious and easily treated. I think we put Maalox on our finger and rubbed it genrlt in our son's mouth This was a direction given to us by our pediatrician who checked him out. Call your doctor.

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I agree with trying the different kinds of feeding techniques like the spoon, cup, or syringe. When I was relactating and needed a break during the middle of the night (I was feeding every 2 hours at 2 months for this) I would use my nursing supplementer on my finger. Tape the tube to your finger and the baby will suck it to get the formula or breast milk. If you are feeding formula in a bottle (although it sounds like it is breastmilk), maybe she doesn't like the taste, that stuff is pretty nasty.

If that doesn't work for you, or just in the short term, I would feed her more often (straight from the breast), at least on those days. See if you can work in 2 feedings during the morning before you take her, and more in the evening. Maybe more at night as well, if she is sleeping longer and wants it. Also, if you feed more on the days she isn't there, that should help level out her not getting as much milk the other days. This is obviously something you need to figure out, since she needs to eat during the daycare time too, but more milk at other times can't hurt.

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It seems normal to me for a two month old to refuse a bottle. Both of my daughters refused when I tried to introduce a bottle around that age. However, the screaming until purple seems a little extreme, so eliminating any physical issues with a visit to the pediatrician might be wise.

My second was/is headstrong and it took patience and diligence to make the transition. I was lucky to have a great caretaker for her when I went back to work. She fed her breastmilk in a syringe from the drugstore and just kept offering the bottle at every feeding. Eventually she just accepted the bottle and we never had an issue again. (And potty training her recently was the same...no interest and them BAM in one day she decided to do it!)

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I didn't have that specific problem, but I know a lot of moms do. Here's a great link that I understand has helped a lot of moms in your situation:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alternative-feeding.html

The second bullet point lists several articles on encouraging a baby to accept a bottle.

For good measure, here's some info on how to bottle-feed a breastfed baby:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

And how much milk a BF baby needs:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

Hopefully this helps...

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It took a solid month, but I finally just got my 4-mo old baby to take a bottle (also breast milk) after diligently offering a bottle every day, stopping each time she started to cry, to try again later/the next day. I tried Avent, Adiri and Nuk bottles and she finally took the Breast Flow bottle that has the double nipple in it that is supposed to mimic breastfeeding (they have them at Target). And, I discovered I had to sing to her the whole time. For us, it was itsy-bitsy spider that finally distracted her enough to take the bottle. I tried the bottle before she was too hungry, so I didn't have to offer the breast right after failing with a bottle feed - instead we would play with her as if the bottle was no big deal. Finally one day, she took it, and then we were able to work up to 3 bottles a day since I had to go back to work. My husband feeds her in a baby-sitter/bouncy chair (he supports so it doesn't bounce while she is drinking) and sings to her and also distracts her with a toy, but her caregiver and I will hold her to give her the bottle now (the chair worked better for us in the beginning). On the weekends, I breastfeed but still give her one bottle each day so she doesn't get out of the habit. It was really harrowing trying to get her to take it, but we tried to approach it each time with happy faces and sing song voices and tried not to get too discouraged when she refused it. I wish you the best of luck.

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My baby did the same thing. The only way she would take the bottle initially was if I put her in her bouncer seat or car seat and sat behind her. I reached around her and gave her the bottle without her seeing me. After a while I was able to feed her in my lap with her facing away and then finally she was able to take the bottle in a more normal fashion. Good luck.

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Welcome to my world..my 4 month old took a bottle and then refused it at 3 months. We've tried everything! My parent's will drive him to my work when I go back in a few weeks. Some babies just won't take a bottle.

1. Try different nipples.

2. Try different temps of milk

3. Rule out any medical reason

4. Wrap baby in your clothes when nursing.

5, Spoon feed (tiny amounts) just to get it in her mouth.

It is not necessarily true that they will eat when hungry! Once they are totally worked up, they won't be able to suck and swallow.

Talk to your work...you aren't the first mama to deal with this. Are you close enough to the daycare to go feed your baby/nurse her? In the state of californi your employer must make reasonable accomodations for you to pump/nurse your baby.

Is there a family member that can drive the baby to your work to nurse or for you to feed her or can you switch daycares to be closer?

It may be that you just need a bit of time. My friend went through this for 6 weeks upon returning to work and then her baby just decided to take a bottle.

Your munchkin may just do it or not...

Good luck! I am so sorry! This sucks! It keeps me awake at night knowing I have to deal with this when I go back and knowing that my son is upset when I am not there. We are very hands on parents and this just makes me miserable!

Take care,

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

W.

HI! I worked as a medical assistant for 14 yrs. I'm wondering what has your pediatrician said or done about this situation. This does not sound normal to me. The best advise would be to have the doctor examine him/her and try to figure out what the cause of the problem might be.
You are right. How are you going to make sure that he takes all the nourishment, calories, vitamins, etc... that are needed for him to grow?.

Definitely call your doctor. Maybe the baby has reflux and its painful when she eats. Also, it may be the formula. My baby stop taking her formula at 3 mo, and when she would, she would spit most of it up. We ended up switching to soy formula and haven't had any problems since.

Talkto her dr maybe there is something wwrong in her mouth worth a try good luck A. no hills

Please take her in to her doctor. She might have thrush - yeast infection in the mouth which can make it painful to suck on the bottle or breast. My son had this at about the same age.

Hi you have some great answers. I was the mama who wrote about this. My daughter started on a bottle at the hospital, started nursing at 4 days and took bottles of pumped breast milk and formula, and nursed until she was 3 months. At 3 months she stopped taking a bottle all together and only wanted to nurse. She was soo strong willed, cried and out right refused a bottle. I tried to work with her, my husband tried to work with her, as well as my mom. I do hope you can get her to drink. I have found that NO.. babies will NOT simply drink when they are hungry and it could lead to something more serious like dehydration. Have your caregiver feed her by spoon, syringe, anything! I eventually found the Breast flow bottle at Target which worked later down the road. I was lucky since I stayed home with her but it was still a struggle. She did NOT drink a bottle until she was 10 1/2 months old (a month ago) and YES I worked with her and ruled out anything medical, other than she was just a boob girl! She nursed exclusively (in addition to solids and even a sippy cup with breast milk in it she didn't like) until 10 months we got her on the Breast flow bottle and it took a few days but she took a bottle. I slowly weaned her so she wouldn't get confused again and her teeth were daggers LOL! I hope you can get your little angel on the bottle for her well being!

Do you put breast milk in the bottle? Or is it she won't take a bottle from anyone but you? Without knowing these two things can't make suggestions about that.

In general babies will eat when they get hungry enough. If she's not losing weight I'd try to have everyone relax and try in a calm way. Offer the bottle. If she doesn't take it, don't push. Say in a singing voice, well try again later. Having a relaxed attitude may help her to relax. I'm guessing this has become a very tense situation for everyone including your baby.