I'm Going Back to Work Soon and My 10 Week Old Won't Take a Bottle!

I exclusively breastfeed my son and will give him some bottles of pumped milk to get him use to them when I go back to work.. however, in the last week, he would not take the bottle and it was always my husband who gave it to him.. what I did yesterday that worked like a charm was I pumped into a bottle and had my husband give him that right away. Then it was the right temp and tasted "fresh", He started to refuse it, but then realized that it was the same stuff and drank it right up! If you do this a few times, maybe he will get use to the bottle regardless of what is in it.

Both my children were like this, and both ended up taking a bottle with flying colors once they were with their sitters/providers. There were some bumps at the beginning, but that maybe lasted 2 days at the most.

It's nerve wracking I know!!

Good luck to you on this one! My now 9 year old went from breast to cup. He never would take a bottle. I went back to work when he was 4 months old. I had to nurse him before we left the house, when we got to the sitter, come back on my lunch break, when I picked him up from the sitter and then had to go directly home. He had just started 1st stage foods by then so that would hold him over in between. At about 8-9 months he would drink water and juice from a sippy but never milk until we were off the breast completely.

J.,

We had this same problem with our daughter (now 5 months). Have you tried different bottles/nipples? My daughter just started taking a bottle 2 weeks ago and we think it was because one of her teachers at day care had the brilliant idea of taking apart a two piece nipple (the Brand is Breastflow) and trying that with just the outter nipple. She has been sucking down bottles ever since (and before that we had tried every single other kind of bottle/nipple on the market). I know this is very frustrating and sympathize with you! I was up every 2-3 hours at night for the first two months I was back at work!

Let me know if you want to talk more,
P.

Hi J..
Have you tried the playtex drop ins. My bf son takes the bottle with these. My friend's son used to refuse the bottle too. She used to give her nanny the shirt she wore to bed the night before. When the nanny gave him the bottle, she would hold the moms shirt. It helped and after a few days, he was fine. Good luck!

Your baby sound just like mine was--totally breast-centric and having none of that bottle stuff! That being the case, there is good news. Your baby knows when you are around and when you aren't. Have you left your baby with a grandparent or other person for an evening or afternoon yet? If not, try it. I'm willing to bet that once your hungry baby knows you aren't there, they will willingly take that bottle from the other person. That's how my girl was. If I went in another room and tried to have my hubby bottle feed her she would scream. But when I wasn't home and my mom or mom-in-law gave her a bottle she was cool. So try it and it will give you peace of mind for going back to work. ;D

I went back to work when my son was about 12-14 weeks old and same thing...he would not take a bottle. (even my husband tried while I was out of the house!) Well I only worked 5 minutes from the sitter so I figured if absolutely necessary I could run over there and feed him on my lunch break, but he did fine and took the bottle from the sitter with no problem! Don't stress about it too much. Just keep trying (or have someone else try while you're not around) and he'll figure it out.

Unless there is a health reason, you might try other types of formula and mix it with breast milk. Does he take pumped milk okay from a bottle? If he does take pumped milk, then I would mix it first 90% breast milk, 10% formula, then 75% breast milk:25% formula and so on to get him used to taking something other than breast milk. Soy probably tastes quite different from breast milk - even the regular formula tastes quite different. Good luck.

Have you tried using different types of bottles? At 4 weeks we introduced the bottle and my daughter absolutely refused it. I had a different kind of bottle (dr. browns) and she did that no problem.

good luck

Hi J., I am a home childcare provider. I have a breastfeed baby that came to my childcare who had never taken a bottle. It was a challenge at first but she eventually took the bottle especially when she realized that mom was not available and she was hungry. Although, she will take the bottle from me, she will never take the bottle from mom. So maybe you may want to have someone else give your baby the bottle. I hope this helps!

J.,

I understand how you feel! I went back to work when my twins were eight weeks old. There was one day where they only took one bottle and then waited six hours until I came home to eat. Our nanny had to "force" the bottle so they would eat, and after a couple of days, it was fine. I know it's frustrating that you can't be with them for every feeding, but know that they'll be okay.

We've been struggling with this with my 16 week old. I head back to work in 2 weeks and she hasn't taken a bottle since she was about 7 weeks old. We tried 6 different bottles, tried different positions for feeding, tried warming the milk and leaving it cool, tried freshly pumped milk, tried just about everything. This past Saturday, we decided to wait her out until she was hungry. I was worried because I pictured a cranky starving baby refusing the bottle. Note- in the past, she'd either seemed like she had no idea what to do with the bottle or got upset that we would even put that thing near her face. This time we kept some bottles nearby. I fed her at about 4 am. When we woke up in the morning, I headed out to run errands from 8 until 1. During this time she drank about 1 oz. from the bottle for her daddy. The surprising thing for us was that she didn't get cranky or overly tired. I came home and still didn't feed her. We went out the the mall as a family (baby, daddy and me), and she finally gulped down a bottle around 4:30. Then she was hungry and interested in more than the 4 oz. bottle we had with us, so I did end up feeding her after she had had the bottle. Still, we were pleasantly surprised that she wasn't frustrated or angry or upset. She took the bottle when she really was hungry- as long as it was on her own schedule- not our usual feeding schedule. I think babies will eat when they're truly hungry, and it doesn't necessarily mean getting upset and shutting down.
Hope this helps!

Hi J. ~

I actually went through the same thing with my 6 year old when she was a baby. She took a bottle at 6 weeks and then 2 weeks later when we preparing her for me to go back to work she would not take a bottle! She never did... The whole time at daycare she would only drink 2 oz and then I would nurse her A LOT in the evening. I did start her on food early (4 months) because then I at least felt she was getting that nutrition during the day. I actually made all her baby food and froze it in ice cube trays and sent the frozen cubes to her daycare. At 6 months she was already in a sippy cup and the would finally "drink"!

I would still keep plugging along with it. Have the exact same schedule with her now that she will have when you go back to work. Nurse her in the morning like you would before work - bottles during the day while at work and nurse at night when you'd be home from work. If someone else is around, try having them give her a bottle with you not even in the same room. I've heard that works sometimes because you are so associated with breastfeeding - she just may refuse the bottle from you.

I now have 21 month old twins and luckily didn't have to worry about that with them since I now work from home! :-)

Hang in there...it's tough but you and your little girl will get through it! By the way I tried every bottle out there and nothing worked - she was VERY stubborn and still is to this day!

J.
http://www.yourgogreenteam.com

don't combine your milk with formula and there's no need to play the bottle switching game. As long as you are using bottles that are meant for nursing babies (wide mouth bottles), you should be fine. The trick is to leave the house and have someone else offer the bottle to your baby. At the 10 week mark, my mom took my son over night because he refused to take the bottle from me or my husband. I was worried sick thinking he just wouldn't eat. She took him and he refused to eat, then at 11:00PM, he woke up and she warmed up the bottle, put it in his mouth and he took it. When she returned him to me, he still refused to take the bottle from me (but then again, why would he want to when he can drink from the real things?).

Your son will be fine, but you have to have someone else feed him and you have to leave the house. Babies can smell us and he will refuse the first couple times, but in order to survive, he will take it, just make sure you are using the right bottles.

Hi there! I would try letting only other people give him the bottle, and don't ever do it yourself. That worked for us. My husband also had to find the right feeding position that would work for them--my daughter won't take a bottle in the same position she lies for nursing.
Good luck!

HI J..

I am wondering who is giving your baby the bottle. Maybe he won't take it from you because he is much more comfortable with nursing. Perhaps also it's the type of formula you are giving him that he doesn't like. Have you tried using a milk based formula instead of soy?

For your last question. I nurse and give my son a bottle in one feeding. I have to tell you though that my son is 4 months and I usually nurse first and then give him a bottle if he's hungry. Be patient. You're right, he won't starve. It just takes longer for some babies.

Had the same problem with my son. So, I tried every bottle out there. The only bottle he would use was Playtex drop ins disposable bottle with the brown natural square nipple. Maybe this will work for you as well. Found it and the nipples at Wal-Mart and once in a while could find the nipple at Babys R Us.

Hey J. -

The problem might be that you are trying to give him the bottle. He's confused because he can "smell" you which was his first cue when he was a little baby that food was coming. Now, he knows your smell which tells him to breastfeed and is frustrated that you are giving him a bottle.

Try having your husband feed him and you leave the room. The first time that my daughter received a bottle, I left the room and my husband fed her. This was the suggestion we received from both our lactation consultant and our pediatrician.

Once he is used to feeding from the bottle, then you can start to feed him. Remember that this is a brand new thing for him and it will take him time to realize what he is supposed to do. My personal advice would to not skip a feeding since he is only 10 weeks old.

Good luck!!!! I hope that works!!!

I hope that these articles might be helpful for you...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/t025000.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/fo2.asp

Best wishes,
J.