Baby Won't Take Bottle-getting Desperate!

My granddaughter had difficulty transitioning to a bottle. Her mother tried several different nipplies too. I decided to just stick with one and in a couple of days she was OK with it. (I took care of her every day while Mom worked.) I put a couple of drops of breast milk on her lips. When she licked at it I gently rest the nipple on her lower lip. She'd suck for a bit, maybe a half minute, fuss and spit it out. I'd repeat the process. She didn't drink as much but I think she made up for it when Mama got home. Then, she just accepted the bottle.

Try some of your 2 yr olds no-spill sippy cups. Three months might be a little young, but what have you got to lose?

I don't have personal experience, but am a volunteer for NMC here's some ideas. Also, for breastmilk 2-4 oz for a feeding is normal. Some babies just take the minimum until they are back with mommy and that's ok.

wrap baby in mom's clothing that has her smell

tickle baby's lip with bottle, let her find it like the breast

run warm water over nipple

try different feeding positions: sitting propped against legs, maybe facing out

feeding while rocking or swaying

use cup or eye dropper(it doesn't need to be a bottle)

I also found this site, it looks good.
http://www.workandpump.com/
www.nursingmotherscounsel.org

My sweet baby took some time learning to suckle. For several days after birth, he would just lick. It also took some time for my milk to come in and so I had to supplement a non-suckling baby for a few days. I used a small plastic cup, the kind used to dispense medicine. He would suck from the little cup, which I bent with my fingers into a U shape as much as I could to fit his lips. He wouldn't take a bottle at all until about 4.5 months. Its worth a try.

had big problems too! I couldn't work more than 2 hours because she refused and screamed until I came home. What we found out is that she would take formula from the bottle but not breastmilk. Guess she knew that breastmilk shouldn't come out of a fake nipple!

Are you the one giving the bottle? I think it works best for us (I also have a 3 mo. old) when I am nowhere near him. I have my husband or mother give the bottle to him. We use Dr. Brown's. I think he has a hard time adjusting because the flow is so much faster with a nipple than with the breast. We gave one bottle a day and I just went back to work last week. He was able to eat 3 bottles for my mom while I was gone.

Stick with it! Go for a walk and have your husband give her the bottle. Make sure she's hungry. She'll get used to it. Oh, and my LO didn't like it as much if it was cold. I had to make sure it was at least room temp.

Hi A.,
My daughter did the same thing - hated bottles. That was fine until I went back to work! My mom was caring for her and she started using a spoon (at 3 months old) and Kacie preferred that to a bottle. Then she started using a sippie cup. She just did not want the bottle - I guess some babies just feel it's a poor substitution for the real thing.

Good luck and hope this helps!

R.
(Life and parent coach and mom of 4)

Have you tried the playtex "orthodontic" nipple? It is latex. It was the only one that worked for my daughter when she was refusing bottles. I gave this advise to a couple of friends who were going throught the same thing and the "orthodontic" nipple was the winner for both of them as well.
Another friend of mine, her baby didn't eat while she was gone and then breast fed most of the night. They survived it.
Mama-guilt is the worst! Try not to feel to guilty - easier said than done.

I have to say we have had a hard time with the bottle too. Even though you say you have tired everything, Have you tried latex nipples yet? They are a little more difficult to find, but they feel "warmer" and are more flexible thank silicone.

My daughter never drank much from the bottle during the entire time that I pumped, never more than 3 oz in a sitting... not even when she was older. But I was ok with nursing her at least once a night (sometimes twice) until she was about 15 mo old - she grew (and is growing) just fine!

Good luck!

Wow, some good ideas here. I hope some of them work.

One of the things that i have heard that wasn't mentioned, was the possibility that your milk my 'go sour' quickly. It sounds like some women have this problem, where tasting their milk within an hour (even if it has been refridgerated), reveals that it tastes sour. Sounds like scalding your milk before storing it can prevent this, and can solve some bottle feeding issues. Might be a long shot, but worth investigating?

http://breastfeeding.hypermart.net/storagehandling.html
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/nursing/lipase.html

My daughter never took to the bottle (and was really slow getting into solid food), and when i went back to work she ended up having her long non-feeding period during those hours. It seemed to work out, in that she stayed healthy and happy, but it did mean that we retained our middle of the night feedings longer than we probably should have. (At least, i believe that was the cause and effect.) Of course, my daughter was also much older (10 months) so she could have a long break.

She drinks milk well now, but never expressed breast milk - only goats or cows milk, and never from a bottle - only from a cup.

Good luck!!

Hi A....

Harmony's comment is exactly what I would suggest too. Don't do a breast feeding strike, PLEASE, that will be more like torture for both of you. She needs that time with you when you return from work...like a security blanket.
My daughter litterally would starve herself all day until I came home from work and then feast all night (I was away from the house for 10-12 a day). My husband was the one at home with her and my son (who was 3 at the time) and would call me so frusterated and burnt out that I would just cry because I was so helpless at work. He would drive up to my work on days that he couldn't handle it just to get her to stop crying (and we lived an hour away from where I worked). After a month of this, my husband found out that if he didn't hold her in his arms, but instead put her in a bouncy chair with my night shirt (because it smelled like me) facing him and feed her a bottle, she would eat. It had to be SO completely different than breastfeeding that it worked! We went through probably 9 different types of bottles and nipple shapes, we tried spoon feeding, dropper feeding, and sippy cups, and nothing worked until this (she finally took a Nuk bottle).
I hate saying to keep trying because it is so heart wrenching, but eventually she'll probably take a bottle. My youngest daughter would only take the Playtex drop-ins bottle and nipples, but luckily we didn't have as hard of a time with the transition with her (she'd at least eat a few ounces while I was gone). It still took a good two-three weeks to get her used to take a bottle though.
I wish you the best of luck...being a working mama is SO h*** o* so many levels. But, if your daughter is anything like mine was, she will come around.

My older son went on a bottle strike at 3 months and never looked back. So I never left him for more than a couple hours. Not a great solution for you. My younger guy doesn't like bottles either, but he does like the Nuby Sport sippy cup. The top is supposed to look like a straw, but he treats it like a nipple. The other thing that he will suck like crazy on is the medicine dropper from the baby Tylenol. Your hubby might try using either a dropper or a syringe to get some milk into the baby.

Baby associates you and breastfeeding has your husband or somebody else tried to give her a bottle. are you giving her breast milk or formula in the bottle. There are different kinds of nipples have you tried different ones. Good Luck,
Paula

Oh, dear - yes I HAVE heard of this happening - and the good news is that you likely have a very bright- and type -A personality who will be President one day. But for now:

Try
( oh;, you will think I've lost my mind) the most-like-a-bottle sippy cup you can find - even an open cup that Hubby holds for her.

Any chance she can go to work with you??? --- I know that doubles up your child care quilt- but she may not be ready to make this transition

It's so hard, dear heart-- babies don't always agree with our plans --- and they have their little ways to say ''' I said '''' NO!'''' ---- and sometimes we have to allow them to know their own bodies and their own temperatments best.

I'll be praying for all of you
Blessings,
J.
aka- Old Mom
( 36 years ago - my breast fed daughter - then 10 months old---quite unusual to nurse back then) - went on strike when I was injured in an auto accident- and REFUSED to take any kind of bottle or cup from my Mom- who finally spoon-fed her - God be praised I was ''' only''' in the hospital 2 days and refused any meds' that made my breast-milk bad for her-----oh the surgoen was furious ''' you'll NEVER be able to nurse her again- why are you so stubborn?''' to which I replied ''' this is no way to wean a thinking, feeling, remembering person-- if I can't nurse again- there's (he meant my milk would never come back in-- nonsense - he was totally off the mark) no problem.'''

she nursed for another 6 months and then weaned quite happily--.

sigh -
Old Mom