Getting a Breastfed Baby to Take a Bottle

The best advise I can give is just keep tryin. My son didn't like the bottle either when I started to give it to him wit the expressed milk. It took him a couple of times to finally get the hint that it is still mama feedin him but just out of a bottle. Don't force her to take the bottle, if she fights then just put it down and try it again when she gets hungry. She will learn that this is goin to happen whether she likes it or not. She will take to the bottle, just take time and you will see. I do hope it works out for you.

My cousin had the hardest time with her 3 month old daughter and we all tried to help her but when they want the booby, they want the booby. She finally had to go back to work and for about a week or two her baby refused everything the babysitter tried. LIke the other advice you got the starving them out was the way it worked for them. One day she ate 1 ounce out of per exhaustion from fighting and than it just got better from there. It's the hardest thing hearing a baby cry, but in the end her hunger will win and she'll take to the bottle.

Good Luck!!!

Good luck.

Why would you want to take that away from such a small baby? And it may be none of my business, but why would you wean a baby at 6 months, when the breastfeeding relationship is obviously great?

I think it's sad that you'd try to force-feed a perfectly happy breastfed baby, with an artificial thing like a bottle. Just so your husband can participate? Why doesn't he just stick to participating when it comes to solids, and save your poor daughter from being force fed. That's just awful, I'm sorry.

And OMG am I shocked at your other advice. You people seem to view a happy breastfed baby as a parasite! Unless you absolutely HAVE to go back to work, or similar situation, why on earth would you deprive your baby of the breast? "Starving them out" is sick in the deepest form.

Wow! No offense, but we humans are very weird when we have we dont enjoy it if we dont have we complain.Lol! why do you want her to take the bottle? do you work? if i may ask? none of my kids like my breast and i was like a cow, and wishing they do pleaaaseee i just love! it is painfull but beautiful "a women breastfeeding! i pump my breast for almost a year with each, just because i believe breastmilk is soo good for your kids. My kids thanks to breast milk are very healty they dont even get a simple cold. My sugestion for you take it easy enjoy having your baby sucking your breast (bonding time) i know your husband want to feed her but she doesn't like that fake niple. Tell him to do the dishes while you breasfeed. Now if the reason you want to start weaning her so early is because you are going back to work well use diferent niples like those with the shape of the breast. there are a lot of good niples specially for babies with the same problem.

good luck!

If she has not taken to a bottle now, she probably won't, 5 mos is too late to start so don't force it. If you had to get a baby on a bottle (like if you had to go to work), you needed to start around 4-6 weeks. At this point she's used to you! My son was the same. I thought I should do the same, pump and let dad have some feedings, but I waited too long! The good news is that you can just SKIP the entire bottle phase! Go straight to sippy cups with water or juice. And use your milk to make her cereal when you start. Maybe let dad do the solid feedings when he's home. But it'll probably be mostly you anyway!

It sounds like it's going well, so why change it? And why are you thinking about weaning so soon? She's only 5 mos old! Shoot for a year, then think about it. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at LEAST 2 years. We are the only culture that weans our babies so early. I can understand wanting time for yourself, so how about when you know she is going to take a 2-3 hour nap during the day, nurse her to sleep and then leave. Just plan to be back around the time she wakes up. Even an hour is helpful to recharge your body and spirit.

Enjoy this precious time you have with her! Soon enough she'll be doing her own thing!

Just a thought here you could try the playtex nipples they have them for regular bottles put a little of your breast milk on the nipple when your home just to get her to the feel of the nipple then after that she will should have no problem a lot of nipples are hard to suck but the playtex is wrinkled and feels the closest to the breast, good loving times ahead,

S. lopez Vancouver wa.

The only time my son ever took a bottle from anyone was when he was in the hospital for RSV when he was two months old. The nurses were able to get him to take the bottle when I wasn't there at feeding time. Maybe pediatric nurses know some trick to get babies to take the bottle. I agree with the advice you already received that said, you should not be the one to try to get the baby to take a bottle. It should be someone else.

We had the same problem. Our daughter never did take a bottle. I can share everything we were told and tried. Try different nipples and bottles, she may find one she likes. You need to totally leave the house when he tries. She will know if your there and only want you. Be sure the milk is warm enough; it is always the right temperature when it comes from you. Sleep with a blanket of hers to get your smell on it and have him hold it when he feeds her. Have him beside you when you are nursing so she gets use to looking at him when she eats. Most of all relax; she will become upset if you are. We tried all of this and none of it worked. We eventually gave our daughter a sippy cup and she would drink more off of that than a bottle. It became easier for me to leave her when she started to eat solid foods, Dad was always great at that, funny faces and noises are his specialty. As far as weaning goes the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least the first year. You have gone this long and made it through the first month and hardest part, why stop now? Breastfeeding is a great gift to our children and ourselves. There are numerous benefits to breastfeeding that formula just does not have. There is a lot of support out there if you need it. Hope this was helpful and good luck!

Hi L.,
As mother who nursed two girls I can say from first hand experience, that you are doing the right thing just keep trying. You said you are out of the house while he tries this, my question is when are you doing this. I found that if the girls were tired or near bedtime it was almost impossilbe to get them to try. Might I suggest he try feeding the no so important afternoon bottle that doesnot coinside with a naptime. Remember no matter how difficult it may seem you are doing whats right and best for your baby and you and do not let anyone tell you differnetly. Keep trying and ket me know if you have anymore questions.

If you give her a rubber nippled bottle when she is used to the breast, there is a huge possibility she will not take your breast anymore. What I did was to either take my baby with me or as she got older, the feedings were 4 hours apart and sometimes I could stretch it to five. We would go out right after a feeding and be back in time for the next.

I felt like breast feeding was sooo very important that I was willing to forgo long times away from my babies! Grandmom K.

Hi L.,

You are not alone; we get this question daily at our stores. We have a handout posted on our site that might help.

The following suggestions may help when offering a bottle to a resisting baby. However, none of these are necessarily an absolute 'fix'. Encouraging your breastfed baby to accept a bottle is a process that may require your practice and patience for several weeks.

Click the following link to read the full article. http://www.pumpstation.com/pumpstation/dept.asp?s_id=0&am...

Sincerely,
The Pump Station

My now 2 year old daughter never did take a bottle from anyone until I went back to work full time when she was 8 months old. It was very hard for all of us and we tried EVERYTHING and she just wouldnt budge - I swear I felt like my boobs were going to fall off sometimes. It got to the point of if she even saw a bottle she would scream. What I think finally ended up working was she just got hungry enough and with the combined gentle coaxing of our wonderful grandma like provider she gave in about the same time that we had to wean her. :|

Some of the things we tried:
Just about every bottle on the market
Me completely gone out of the house for hours (Dad nearly didnt survive that one)
Always having the bottle with her (with water in it) so that she could play with it and suck on it.
Having Dad hold one of my dirty shirts or nursing bras close with her too.
Having different people (friends and family) try to feed her.
Waiting until she got really hungry and only offering the bottle.

Anyway - I hope that you succeed - I know that many babies will take both Mommy and bottle. Good Luck!

L. and stubborn Autumn

I know this sounds real hard to do, but you must not feed her the bottle. Let your husband do it, or someone else. She will cry, and cray, and cry for sometime but she will get it. If you try and feed her she will smell you, and then get confused. Consistancy is the key.

Good luck
M.

I found with my daughter that Advent is the closest thing to a true breast, or at least mine...LOL

So, I suggest you try to find a nipple similar to yours, so that way there is minimal difference. Also, have your husband sit next to you and her while feeding, have him caress her face and let her see him there. It will make it less ackward for him and her. Have him talk to her as well.

I just went through this with my now 10 month old son. What worked for us was Pedisure and a bottle/sippy cup by thinkbaby. I had to order it online because it's not sold in stores. It's bpa free and it's the best thing we've ever bought! We had tried everytype of bottle and sippy cup on the market too. My son had only breastfeed up untill that point as well. The pedisure is sweet just like breast milk and I at first mixed it with breast milk and he gobbled it down, then I slowly cut back on it and switched him over to formula. He's doing great! So my two words of advice would have to be vanilla pedisure, and thinkbaby sippy/bottle cup!! I promise it'll work! Good luck!
A.

http://www.wiessinger.baka.com/bfing/others/dad.html

I would express milk and have my inlaws baby sit once a week ever since my son was 1 month old. Well my breast pump broke and so I decided that at 4 months old it would be ok to try him on formula, it made him terribly sick he puked and puked. So ever since then he refuses a bottle even of breast milk. I wish I could help. I have to go in for surgery this month and can't breast feed for 24 hours, I've got a stock of breast milk that should be more than enough but I'm dreading this. I'm thinking of getting a hotel room so I won't break down and breast feed him while there are still medications in my system. I wish I could help, my oldest took sippy cups after 6 months so we are going to try that.

I know my response is late, but I had to write after reading some of the judgmental responses you got. How dare people try to make you feel guilty for choosing to bottle feed. I weened my boys completely at 3 months, and they are just as happy, healthy, and well adjusted as kids that were breast feed till 12 months or past. If you want her to take a bottle, refuse her the breast until she takes one. My boys did both for a while, bet went to formula by 3 months because I did not like to breast feed in public, it made me uncomfortable. That was my choice, you make yours, and don't let anyone try to make you feel guilty, the formulas they have today are great, and since your daughter is 5 months she already got all that wonderful colostrum from you. I wish people would stop being so judgmental and stop trying to make people feel like bad parents for choosing to stop breast feeding. Sorry if I went on a little, but I feel strongly that this is each womans choice, and people should be supportive on this sight, not out there trying to make people feel bad about the choices they make regarding the feeding of their children.

Blessed Be
Jennifer

Oh, you have my sympathys!! This time around I'm going to combine breast and bottle - we had the same issues with my son. After trying 6 different bottles/nipples, he finally took to the old school Playtex nursers with the disposable liners.

With my son I asked the Pedi the best way to get him on the bottle after 6mos of exclusive BF'ing, he told me I'll just have to "starve him out", I was really reluctant to do this but it turned out to be the only way. Sadly though it took us 3 solid days of starving him out before he took to the bottle. It really broke my heart, but the more I kept offering the breast the longer it took to wean.

The Playtex worked for him because it was super slow flow, every other bottle was just too fast for him and he would drown which would scare him and he refused the bottle. After talking to my neighbor who has 6 little ones of her own & BF's she says to offer the bottle at least 1 feeding right from the start & then weaning won't be so hard, she doesn't believe in the "nipple confusion" hype & neither do I. Once he got hungry enough he knew where the food was.

Just be patient, it'll break your heart but both of you can get thru it!

We had the same problem with my daughter who is now 7 months. She still wont take a bottle but will drink juice or water out of a cup. So my husband is usually the one to give her solid foods and I still breast feed about four to six times a day. I don't know if this will help at all.

my daughter who is now 9 years old was breastfed for one year.she would never take a bottle. we started with a cup just for practice but only a little bit of fluids.that way we controlled how much she took in on each sip. withih time she did just fine and a sippy cop was givin under supervision. she was 4 mths when we started with her. she never had a bottle.

Hi! I realize I'm late to the party, but I couldn't help but chip in, since I didn't see anyone else say it...

Adiri (http://www.adiri.com) makes a "breast bottle" that is made of silicon (? I think). When it has fluid in it, it really imitates the look and feel of a breast. We had a few for our daughter (actually, the older model that was short and breast-shaped) and while she wouldn't take them (she took to the Playtex Vent-Aire system), I was really amazed by the breast look/feel. My daughter only breast-fed for 3 months and then she flipped to formula, which was fine because I couldn't seem to pump enough to complete feedings, and I was going back to work.

Anyway, I passed them on to a friend who was transitioning off the breast and her daughter was having trouble switching to the bottle. This was the only one her baby would take.

In any case, I'm in agreement that this is a personal choice and shouldn't be judged by others. They're not living in your home and experiencing what you and your husband are, so they don't get to vote. What works for you is what's best for you. Good Luck!