Breastfeeding & Lactation

Can you continue to try different nipples? What about a sippy cup?

I still have the same problem with my 4 1/2 month old daughter. My advice is to be persistent with the bottle. You try it, have your husband or other people try over and over. With my daughter, she has to be a lot more hungry to take the bottle than to nurse. I have been going home at lunch to feed her and in between she will eat only enough to get by (about 2 oz in the morning and 2 oz in the afternoon). What everyone (including the pediatrician) has told me is that they will not starve themselves! They are just smart enough to know that mom will come home and feed them eventually. Try different kinds of bottles and nipples too (some babies like the softer latex nipples). My daughter will only drink from the level two nipples with the Dr. Brown's bottles. Good luck!

My daughter did the same thing so we used a sippy cup. We started the sippy cup when she was 2 months old for the same reason. She would not use a bottle at all. Parent's Choice has some bottles that come with both the regular nipples and the sippy cup ones. Also, Advent has some sippy cup tops that you can put on the regular bottles. Best part is that you will never have to ween your little one from the bottle. :)

My son was the same way. Try the Adiri breast-bottle. www.adiri.com

Dear K.,

My 17 year old had a hard transition to the bottle all those years ago. My wonderful pediatrician advised me that it would not work with me trying to give her the bottle, because she knew I had the "good stuff". She said someone else was going to have to go this go round with her, and it may take more than once, and that I could not be present in the house or she would just scream louder until I came. So...... Grandma came for a visit and volunteered for the fight. My husband took me to dinner and to see a very long movie ( Dances with Wolves . I pumped before I left so that she had mom's milk and the only issue was the delivery system. Grandma said that she got hungry about 1/2 an hour after we left, refused the bottle, and they screamed at each other for HOURS..... Finally, at about hour #4, my lovely daughter very grudgingly took the bottle. We got home and both Grandma and child were zonked out from exhaustion, but at least she wasn't hungry. Over the next couple of days, I would pump in the middle of the night and Grandma would give her the bottle while I was in another room, not entering. She took it grudgingly, but at least it worked. Within a week we were fine, even with me giving her the bottle. I was so glad because a month later she had a fever and the doctor wanted me to push water with her, so the fact that she was accepting of the bottle by then was a Godsend. I cannot picture having to introduce it in an emergency situation when she was sick. The pediatrician said we went through it relatively easily, that most kids have more yelling sessions, but at least it worked. And today, my 17yr old is still "Grandma's Girl" out of all of my children, so the battle did not affect the relationship. I hope you have a good stand-in person available, and good luck.

N., day working mom with 5 children, ranging from 17 down to 21mo old twins, husband works nights, so no childcare.

My daughter, who is now 9 months old did the same thing. At about 6 months or so, we introduced the sippy cup and she does much better with that. She still has never taken a bottle, but now that we can use the sippy cup, it doesn't matter. (And it's MUCH less stressful to leave the house knowing that she can be fed while I'm gone!) Good luck.

My baby went 14 hours without eating when trying to get her to take the bottle. I sat in my room away from her while my husband tried to get our baby to take the bottle. Her last feeding was 2am and finally took the bottle at 4pm. Of course there was a lot of crying. Just be patient, babies will not starve themselves. Since then she prefers the bottle - less effort!

By 7 months I would think your baby has had some solids? So there is absolutely no reason for him to be starving. Whoever is keeping him should just feed him cereal or jarred food or whatever.
Another thing to try is to spoon feed your milk. That takes a long time and can be frustrating for baby and feeder.
Or try a sippy cup. It's not too hard to teach a baby to use a sippy cup. Start by leaving the stopper out so that whatever is in the cup flows freely into baby's mouth. Go slow so baby doesn't choke. Once he realizes that something good comes out of the spout, he will suck at it. You can put the stopper back in at that point. It takes a couple of times for baby to remember to actually suck on the spout but they catch on pretty quickly. Both my babies were on the sippy cup by 6 months because they were bottle snobs too.
I like the playtex brand for cups. They don't leak (often) and the parts are interchangeable between stages. There is a soft spout beginner cup. Gerber also makes a soft spout with handles. Nuby is another brand but the nuby requires biting down in order to get the goods out and I know you don’t want to teach your baby to do that while you are still nursing and the teeth are coming ;)

I had the same problem. My son wont't take a bottle or a paci. One good thing we won't have to break them of the habit. My son prevers the sippy bottles with the straws. He loves to drink from the straw. Try it, he may go for it, especially if he sees you drinking from one.
Good Luck,
R.

your posting didn't say how long you've tried to get your son to take the bottle... we went through the exact same thing w/ my daugther. she flat out refused the bottle. and we tried MANY different bottles. our pediatrician said to keep on trying and have someone else give her the bottle. if you are the one trying to feed him with the bottle he may be holding out because he wants the milk from the source. who can blame him? is the milk that you are giving him (via bottle) formula? fresh bm? or frozen then thawed? we found that my daughter didn't care for the frozen then thawed bm. i have to give her fresh bm. i guess the freezing process makes bm go bad or taste different. anyways, i know it is hard to hear this but you just have to keep on trying... if he refuses then he doesn't get a feeding that time. b/c if he refuses the bottle and then you nurse him it's not helping the situation. pediatrician also told us that babies will get hungry and will eventually take the bottle. kind of like survival of the fittest thing. i know its hard to see your baby cry and not eat. good luck!

Surprisingly, your son WILL figure it out. I thought my daughter wasn't taking a bottle, but once I was away at work long enough, she did.
Don't be surprised if he doesn't eat much until you get home. My daughter is 7 months and she will eat when I'm away, but only a little. She still waits until I get home to nurse. Be patient with the little guy and give him lots of lovin'.

I had the hardest time getting my little girl to take the bottle. The thing that worked for me was: 1) Playtex Drop-in bottles. When she finally did take the bottle those were the only ones she'd take. Even when she got used to taking the bottle, she knew the difference! 2) Have someone else give her the bottle at least once a day around the same time. Make sure she does NOT see you, smell you, or hear you at all while thise is being done! Plus it might be easier on you not being able to hear it either, cause she may scream. It'll take a little bit; maybe even a few days, but it'll happen. Then you can go back to work with a little ease of mind. And as time goes on you'll feel better and more confident that she'll eat. You have to do it every day though. Try and do it around the time that she'll be doing it with the babysitter while you're working.
Another thing that helped was when she was being given the bottle the person that was giving it to her would make the t-t-t-t-t-t-t sound (not breathing out, but breathing in while making that sound) I don't know why but it helped.
Good luck.
You have to be consitent though.
love, S.
anymore questions: ###-###-####
ps. IMPORTANT!!! Make sure they hold her in an UPRIGHT, cradled position. (Like she's sitting up) If she/he is in a cradled, laying-down position, she'll think she should be getting the breast.

my son 7months is the same way..... pump the milk and use it to make cereal or feed it to him with a spoon - mine will drink water in a cup but not milk.... he eats Cheerios so he doesn't get hungry nurses when I get home

Will he drink water or juice from a sippy cup? When my breastfed baby was 9 months she didn't like a bottle either. Also, I didn't want to give formula. She drank juice & water during the day & ate baby cereal. I have worked full-time since she was 5 months. She is 20 mts. now & still nursing. I pumped from 5 to 9 months (until she was old enough to be getting enough from solid foods to last until I got home. She still comes straight for me when I get home (often at 7 PM).

Give him a cup. If that doesn't work, have someone else give him the cup while you are out of the room. Go for a nice long walk right before he usually eats (about 30 minutes that way he's used to the other person). He'll drink when he's ready! Good luck.

I just went back to work last week. All last week my 4 month daughter wouldn't eat. She made up for it by nursing all night. I put her in daycare at 9AM and pick her up at 5PM and during the entire time, she ate maybe 1 to 2oz. Finally, my husband feed her at the daycare. They saw how he feed her and realized that they weren't doing it the same way. She wanted the entire nipple and the area around in her mouth. Some babies like the milk a little warmer/cooler. Just have to keep trying and then they will get it. I use the Second Nature nipple with my daughter. When she go hungry enough, she will eat. At 7 months, your son should also be eating a little bit of solid. Also, it helps to have someone else feed him. A baby can smell his mom from 20 feet. If he sees you, he rather have the real thing than the bottle. Good luck. It is tough having to go back to work.

I too had that issue when my son was 5 months old and I was gearing up to go back to work. He would not take a bottle! With my mom's help, I would pump a bottle (instead of nurse him as I would usually do) and leave the house for 2-3 hours. During this time my mom would engage him in cuddle time and songs to encourage him to take the bottle. We did this 2-3 times a week until I went back to work. He finally took the botle (although my mom could tell he'd rather nurse). It may take some time, but try it. I use the Avent bottles stage 1.
Hope it helps!
K.

Hi K.,
Sorry to hear you are struggling with this. My lactation consultant and a book on breastfeeding told me to try having a relative or spouse give the baby the first bottle, not the mom. Also, trying it when they are not too hungry and giving just an ounce or so. Now, this was advice when I was 4 weeks...so that the baby wouldn't prefer the bottle over the nipple...so not sure if this is good advice for a 7 month old?? Good luck!
A.

Hi K., My name is S. and I have a 2 1/2 and 1 year old boys. I nursed both for 1 year each and was lucky enough to stay home and work with them. My 1 year old however, NEVER took a bottle. I tried every kind, every nipple. Nothing worked. He saw his brother with a sippy cup and refused anything but breast. He went from the breast straight to a sippy cup. The best one that allowed him to bite to release the milk and learn to chug it. He's happily off breast and onto a sip cup. The brand we got him onto it with was "Nuby" and I found it at walmart. It has a silicone sippy tip and works well but can leak. From there we went onto playtex sippy cups. Don't fight the baby with a bottle, go with it. you won't have to take a bottle away later!

Some babies just seem to know what is good for them! His refusal shows that he is attached to you and that is a good thing. No matter what they say, the commercial nipples can't duplicate the sucking of a human nipple. In a younger baby that often causes a lot of nipple confusion which sometimes leads to a rejection of breastfeeding because the rubber nipple is so easy to get milk from. This ease in a baby with strong sucking can actually make him feel like he's choking. Thus he is rejecting this. Many babies with nipple refusal have been successfully fed using other means. It needs to be something that will allow a slower flow. You can try a sippy cup, or even a teaspoon. With the cup, it isn't pretending to be a nipple, so he won't suck it, and you can control the flow to be very slow. With a teaspoon, he won't ever be getting too much to handle at once. Yes it is more work to feed this way, and you would need a cooperative caregiver, but if you want to continue nursing, it is worth a try! Good Luck!

Start moving to the cup. Some kids just won't have it.

My 3rd child absolutely refused the bottle, and NEVER took one. I flew my mom out here from Colorado and left him with her for 8 hours when he was nearly 7 months! He wouldn't take a bottle ALL DAY. I, too, was gearing up to return to work. So, I left him with the home care provider 3 part-time days in one week to see if she could coerce him (thinking that he could still smell my milk in the house with my mom). He still wouldn't have it, even though I was pumping my breast milk. He was eating some solids, so he wasn't screaming all day or anything - but once he saw me, it was ATTACK. I tried EIGHT different nipples! Oh, joy!

Anyway, I trained him on the cup, and put my pumped milk in a sippy cup. I was fortunate to work nearby, and went on my lunch break to nurse him. I nursed in the morning, pumped at 10 am, nursed at lunch, pumped at 3pm, nursed before dinner and at bedtime.

So, try working the cup in there - and if you can manage a lunchtime feeding, go for it. Good luck.

At 7 months, he's old enough to start having some solids introduced into his diet, so perhaps that could supplement his diet until you get home. Another idea is to try a different bottle -- perhaps the bottle, because the nipple is so similar to the breast, is off-putting. One other suggestion might be to try him on a sippy cup of some type; he may be ready for that and could get breast milk via that route.

The good thing is that even though he's hungry when you get home after being gone for awhile, he won't starve. As long as you keep options available for him (solids, different bottle, cup), he has the opportunity to eat when he's hungry.

Good luck!

Maybe he'd take a sippy cup?