"Help! I Am Going Back to Work and My 2 Month Old Won't Take a Bottle!"

It can be hard once baby is used to eating in the comfort of mom's arms to switch. My son had no problem doing so, but my daughter was quite stubborn about it! Make sure the bottle nipples have an appropriate flow rate for your sons age so the formula isn't coming out of the bottle too fast or too slow.

As far as bottle choice, we too tried all the expensive ones such as Avent and Playtex. Finally on a whim I picked up a 3-pack of Parent's Choice bottles at Wal-mart for about $3 or $4 bucks and what do you know?--My daughter used them like she'd been drinking from then forever! Go figure :)

It also might help to have someone else feed him from the bottle instead of you (dad, grandma, etc...) This way he won't be confused about why he's not nursing but this different way of eating is with a different person. Then once he gets going you can gradually offer him a bottle as well.

Good luck!

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Don't be the one to give him the bottle and make sure it's breast milk not formula. Make sure you're using the slowest nipple flow and don't hold him flat or in a nursing position while using the bottle.

Bottles are messier than the breast so you may have to keep trying different brands until you find one that is comfortable for him. Give each new nipple a full day of trying. Yes I know that hearing him get upset it hard on your emotions and breasts but he's going to be fine. You might even see that he's willing to take it for another but not from you.

Both of my boys were like that, I couldn't give them a bottle. I couldn't even be in the room while they were getting the bottle which worked out well since I was at work.

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Usually it helps if someone other than yourself gives him the bottle. He sees and smells you so he expects the breast but if his daddy or another care giver would try he may take to it better ya know. That's what I had to do and I know a number of breastfeeding girlfriends had to use the same trick when they had to go back to work, school or whatever the case. Hope that works for you.

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try a slower nipple. i know on the avent ones my dd is 10 mths old and is still using a flow 3 b/c she gags on the 4-6 ones. and also like the pp said try cheaper ones and even have someone else give it to him whil eyou are not around

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You didn't mention whether or not anybody else has been trying to give your baby a bottle or if you were the only one who had been trying it. None of my four breastfed sons would ever take a bottle from me, but other people tended to have more success. I think it's absolutely normal for a breastfed baby that is several months old to prefer Mom to a bottle. What might work is to explain the situation to the sitter/daycare, and ask if you can bring him over for just a short visit and see if they will try to give him a bottle, so he can get used to it before you actually go back to work. It might take some coaxing and patience on the sitter's part, but your baby will most likely come around, even though he might protest in the beginning. What I always had to remember when other people were bottle-feeding my sons, is that I had to be very quiet and stay away from the scene, because if they heard me or smelled me, they would start crying and wouldn't finish the bottle. Remember that you can still continue nursing him when you are at home together,if you want to, because he doesn't need to get used to taking a bottle from you, he just needs to be able to take it from the sitter.
Good Luck,
J. H.

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My daughter will only drink from Dr. Brown's bottles. You should give it a try, plus it will cut down on the gas in his tummy.

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Hi, I am a stay at home mom of 3. A 3 yr old daughter, a 2 yr old daughter, and a 9 month old son. I have only nursed my son, but i had so many problems that I had to switch him to bottle, but i couldn't find one that he would take. I have a lactation consultant, and she tried 3 or 4 different bottles, and he would always gag. Then she told me to try one it is a Ventaire Natural Latch. It is designed specifically for breast feeding babies. I tried it, and he took right to it with no problems, and now i strictly pump and he drinks it from a bottle. So if you haven't tried that one yet You should. I hope this helps. It is also designed to be bubble free for the most part.
M.

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I had this problem, too. My sister is my daycare provider. About two weeks or so before I had to go back to work, she would come over at a feeding time. I'd pump and she'd take my son and the bottle and feed him. I had to be entirely removed from the situation or he wouldn't take it. He wasn't thrilled at first, but by the time I went back to work, he was taking that bottle. He wanted to be breastfed as soon as I came home and that was fine. I was just relieved to know he was eating in my absence. Good luck to you!

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My son would only take the bottle if I was out of the house. So stay calm, he will start taking the bottle when he gets hungry enough. I have never been able to bottle feed my babys. I had to let everyone else do it. If I was near, they wanted the breast!! I would leave for a couple of hours, and see if he will start taking it.
I hope this helps, J.

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sounds weird

have you tried picking the bottled you want to use then try putting on your breast while feeding to get the little one and also may help the transition from breast to bottle

that may be useful or it may just be your baby just want's your companionship you have provided during to breast feedings
i am not saying it will but it may during a feeing and it may

it will also help the dad in this to help you also feed the baby and let them bond like you have with the baby

good luck send me a personal message to see if it worked

S.

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My baby was 2 months early so he did not know how to suck a bottle so the first few weeks they feed him with a tube in his nose. Here are so things we had to do to help to suck on a bottle- put your finger under his chin and put a little presser on it and kinda massage his chin. Also they had us do the same with his cheeks, at one point they had us do both at the same time. he had it in no time.

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Hi E.,
Since he will take a pacifier, but gags on a bottle, maybe it's an issue with the flow from the bottle. You can try the Pacifeeder or Podee Hands-Free Baby bottle which looks like a regular bottle but has a type of straw-suction attached to the nipple. This will allow him to regulate the flow himself. These types of bottles are generally used for moms of multiples to allow them to feed their babies hands-free, but it might work out for your lil guy.

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on a whim try giving him a spill proof sippy cup. When my 10 month old daughter was about 2 months or so she refused to drink out of her bottle so I put her formula into a sippy cup and she drank like that was the last bottke she would ever get. For about a month we could get her to drink from anything but the sippy cup. Then one day after buying more sippy cups we couldn't get her to drink out of the sippy cup and went back to the bottle and are now having a very hard time gettingt her broke of the bottle. please let me know if that helps or not. my e-mail address is ____@____.com. Thank You and good luck.

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Have you tried having someone other than you give him the bottle? It may be that he associates you with food and knows the bottle is not necessary.

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When I went back to work, we went through the same problem. We found that he likes his bottles warmer than we were making it. Once we heated them up a little more, he took them no problem! Hope this helps!

i just asked the local WIC office on some advice about this because i watched my friends baby who is breast fed. they sent me a pamplet and it said that it might be hard getting a breast fed child to take a bottle. the reason why is because when you hold him he is getting your scent. this makes him want to feed from you. they said to try to find someone who has experience in bottle feeding a baby give it a try. most of the time this will work because he won't feel your body and he won't smell your scent. now what my advice would be is: you said he was gagging when you tried to feed him from a bottle, maybe you have to fast of flow of nipple on the bottle. my daughter was very picky about the nipple that i used on her. i could only use one kind. she wouldn't take from a bottle if a particular type of nipple wasn't used. either way i hopes this helps and if neither of these work i would consider talking to your local WIC office.