Baby Won't Take Formula

We had the same problem with our daughter. I ended up having her skip a feed (basically "crying it out" since she didn't want the bottle with formula then) so by the next feed she was starving and willing to drink anything. It totally worked. It sounds cruel but if she's hungry enough, she will take it. I ended up just giving it to her straight - not mixing in breast milk - I didn't want her to get comfortable with that since I was trying to eventually wean her completely. It's good he takes the bottle - we had a combo of her hating the bottle and the formula. We never had an issue after that time. This method also worked for my sister in-law. You can ask your pediatrician if this technique is right for you, but from what I understood - there was no harm done with skipping one feeding of milk. Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi J.. I recently had to put my daughter on formula, as well. I was under so much stress that I just stopped producing milk. I think it was more traumatic for me than her! Anyway, she hated the formula at first. Breat milk is sweet, so to her, the formula is bland. We put some pureed bananas in the formula, and never had a problem again. We started with 2 tablespoons of banana in a 4 oz bottle, then 1 Tbls in 4 oz, then 1 Tbls in 6 oz, and now she'll take just plain formula. You may hear people say not to put food in a bottle, but this doesn't hurt anything- you're on;y putting enough in to sweeten it up a bit.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

J.,

Having been there and done that, I would suggest what a pediatrician told me worked for her daughter (and mine): Nestle Good Start furmula. Looks, smells and tastes like the real thing :-).

Good luck--
A.

Try just breast milk via bottle,
then after 2 weeks, add a half teaspoon of formula,
if she doesn't take that well, add a quarter teaspoon,
after a week add half teaspoon,
then after a week add 3 quarters teaspoon,
then one teaspoon,
then one and a half,
and 2 teaspoons ect...

it will work just gott do it slowly.

Good luck

M

Try different brands of formula. They all taste different. My son refused Enfamil, but loved Similac. You'll find the one that your son likes best. Ask for samples at your pediatrician's office so you don't have to spend too much to try different kinds.

Hi, my name is S.. I have three children, all who have been breast-fed, and I have also worked as I labor and post- partum doula. My advice to you would be to dilute formula as follows. Start with it being 75% breast milk/25% formula. After 2 or 3 days, go to 50% breast milk/50% formula. After another few days, give or take, or when Mathis has adjusted to this, then go to 25% breast milk/75% formula, and so on. This process may take a month or so. Remember, he is used to the sweet, light taste of breast milk. Have you ever tasted formula? It doesn't taste very good, much heavier and they say more filling. So it is going to be a major adjustment for him. Also, try to have other people give him these bottles other than you. He associates breast milk with you! He can smell the milk even if you are not nursing him. If someone else is giving him a bottle try to leave the area (be out of sight, and his ear shot)while they prepare the bottle and him to get ready to eat. It should go a lot smoother. Let me know how it goes.

Regards,

S. C. in Montgomery

J., That is SO GREAT that you've been able to exclusively breastfeed your baby! I also know there comes a time when he'll need to have a supplement. After researching formulas and determining that there were not really any good ones out there, we got a recommendation from our chiropractor to supplement with goats milk because it is naturally homogenized by the goat and is closest to breast milk. My babies thrived on this as a supplement.
We were fortunate to be able to purchase our milk from a mennonite farm which also made it less expensive than formula.
Good luck, I know it is frustrating trying to find the right thing for your situation.
B.

We had this problem with my daughter when I went back to work full-time. I found that really heating the bottles helped (as warm as was safe).

What I had to do with my first born is to slowly add a little formula at a time and then slowly increase the amount over time. It takes a while to get them on 100% formula but this was what worked for our child.

good luck, and be persistant!

i am not sure if you tried to changed the formula. maybe it is the type of formula you are using. also try to warm it since breat milk is usually warmer than room temp. keep trying. you will find one that he likes eventually.

what kind of formula are u trying... if u havent tried similac i recommend it...

I got my son to take formula by mixing mostly bm with a small amt of formula at first, then after he took that I'd just increase the ratio of formula to bm and he took it no problem--it took a while, but he was able to get used to it at his own pace. My daughter was more challenging. She didn't want it at all. So, I took a break from trying until she was a bit older and tried again. Once she was used to the bottle and didn't breastfeed anymore she was willing to take it--She loved it. She drank formula until she was almost two. My advice would be to take a break and then try it again later. Hope that helps.
mb

try a different formula. my daughter would only drink similac. She hated enfamil.