Baby Wont Take to a Bottle

Make someone else feed them to her. Most babies don't want mom to feed them a bottle because they know that mom has the food. Leave for a period of time (one in which she would need to eat) and allow someone else (nana, dad, etc.) feed her. She will eventually get hungry (I have a friend who's son didn't eat for 10 hours one day, he eventually got so hungry he HAD to eat from the bottle) and it will only get better from there! Good luck going back to work!

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She probably wont take a bottle from you because you have her boobies. Have your hubby or mom or anyone else practice her with bottles, she will probably be fine. If she knows you are in the room tho, I'm sure she gets a one track mind.

1 mom found this helpful

Hate to say it, but some breast fed babies just won't accept mommy's milk from any plastic nipple. I have 3 kids, all were breast fed for at least a year, but when it was time for me to go to work it was a horror show trying to get any of them to take a bottle. And I tried everything. With my first baby, my mom would actually bring him into work so I could nurse him because he wouldn't take a bottle from her or anyone else either. Finally a fellow coworker (nurse) told me to try mixing a little formula in with my milk. Wouldn't you know - it worked like a charm! I tried this with my other 2 when they refused bottles and again they all accepted. I continued to breast feed as usual when I was home and never saw any adverse reaction to supplementing with formula. It might be worth a try?

Another option is to not use a bottle, but try having her drink from a small diameter cup or spoonfeed her, or use a syringe and dribble it into her mouth. I admit that this can be a bit more trouble than a bottle, is messier, and takes longer, and she won't get the same comfort that she does from sucking, but it is a way to get something into her when you're not there.

We used Dr. Browns for my son, but you may want to see a lactation consultant to help you find the right nipple. It honestly does depend a lot on YOUR breast's shape, you want the nipple of the bottle to match your breast as closely as you can.

Try Adiri bottles. They are "breast shaped" bottles which is a little weird but it worked with my second son who wouldn't take a bottle! Google them on the internet to buy them as I'm not sure they are sold in stores! Good luck! For us it was the only thing that worked (and by 3 months old my son did eventually go back to a normal bottle!!)

I had the same problem with my son and finally was given bottles by my sister in law in England which my son took the 1st time we tried him on them.
You can buy them here, they are called Nuby and have little bumps on the nipples that are supposed to be like the breast.
They were the only nipples that worked for us. You can find them on the Babies R Us website. You can get a pack of 3 bottles for $6, not too much to spend if they didn't work for your little one.
Good luck :)

I often recommend the Playtex bottles to other Moms, they worked great for my son who had latching problems while breastfeeding. The shape of the nipples on the playtexs allowed for him to have a very similar latch to the one we were encouraging on the breast.

The other suggestion I have is to have someone else give her the bottle, and you should leave the room, or better the whole house. If she smells you, or hears you or anything she will hold out for the real thing. Babies are smart that way. :D

I had the same problem with you with my DD at 12 weeks. I went through Nuby, Tommee Tippee, Avent, First Years, even the training cup, before I hit the jackpot with MAM. Somehow, DD loved the Ultivent teat. She took to it immediately. The flattish shape of the teat was more agreebale to her. Of course, I also had to starve her a bit in the process of trying the different teats! When she was established on MAM, I tried switching her to different shaped teats but she refused the rest. Even her soother has to be from MAM. She would spit out the other brands. BTW, I'm also still breastfeeding and DD is already 10 months old.

My daughter did great with the Tommee Tippee. Make sure that the milk is the right temp, then give the bottle, and hungry baby (not too hungry), to nana and go for a walk. As long as nana is game for this, it may take awhile, but it should work. Right now she smells you.

I showed up at daycare after having pumped, and her schedule was a bit off, so they had just prepared a bottle for her. They gave it to me, and when I tried to give it to her, I'm sure she was thinking...but you have boobs, why are you giving me a bottle? She did take it from me though, but she is now 5 months. I don't think she would have done it at 10 weeks.

Sounds like something my sister tried with her daughter...She eventually did go back to work w/o a positive bottle experience....But both Grandma and daycare quit after 1 week, as her baby would never take anything else and just cried all day. So my sister had to stop working. Sorry I don't have a success story for you....just wanted you to know how my sis handled it.

I had the same problem with my daughter. It took her two months, but she finally took the bottle and now you'd never know that she had such difficulties. We tried a number of different kinds, including Avent (which worked for my son), Dr. Brown's, and Tommee Tippee. The one that ultimately worked was the Nuby bottle (which also worked for Michelle H). In addition to the little bumps on the nipple, the bottle itself is flexible. Our daycare provider would literally squeeze the milk into the baby's mouth until she figured it out for her herself.

I had the same problem w/ my DD where she refused the bottle. Like you, I went out & bought every bottle imaginable. I had to go back to work when she turned 12 weeks and she wouldn't even touch a bottle until 4 days prior to me having to return to work. She would scream & cry & make herself vomit & choke. I felt so bad I thought I wasn't going to be able to go back to work but then I decided to try the Playtex drop in ones & it worked but it HAD to be the SLOW flow brown nipple (NO exceptions). It was actually a win win situation for me because I was using the zip top breast milk storage bags that you could use in the drop in bottles. My advice is to try & play w/ different nipples.

Also, who is trying to give her the bottle? She may have a problem if you're feeding her the bottle or if you're nearby (as crazy as it may sound) because she can smell you & babies know where their food comes from.

Keep trying & don't give up. You'll see, it'll work out in the end (in my case 3 days prior to returning to work).

I agree have someone else try to feed her, dont even be in the room, becuase if she smells/hears/senses you she still may not take the bottle from confusion....the breastflow are the ones that I tried and my son did wonderful with them.

I had this same problem with my youngest daughter. In fact, I had to take an extra month of maternity leave to work on this problem - ugh. First, as far as the bottle - try to find a nipple that you think most naturally matches your own body shape. Then this is what I did. I put Lansinoh on my breast every time she fed. I'd also put it on the nipple of the bottle. So the initial taste and feel she would have would be the same thing. Usually there were certain feedings when I knew she was going to be drowsy at the end. For those feedings, I would start her out on the breast and then when she got drowsy I'd do the quick switcheroo -pull my breast out and shove the bottle right in. In the beginning, she'd notice and cry, so I'd have to keep switching back and forth. Eventually she would tolerate the bottle and would take a sip or two. Then I started spending time with her at the daycare and trying this method there. Eventually the daycare provider started trying to give her the bottle - she'd maybe only take 1/2 ounce - but at least I knew she was on her way. Just so you know, a lot of people will recommend that the baby won't take a bottle if you are trying to give it to her and to just have somebody else try. I'm sure that may be true in some instances, but for us, it didn't matter who gave her the bottle - she was just not going to take it. I personally could not stand the crying method either, so I couldn't do the - "let her starve and eventually she'll take it" thing. Also, I have found that this child of mine has grown up to have an amazing amount of self-control and stubborness. If she does not want to do something, she cannot be bribed. So this could be part of her personality shining through too ! Good luck !