Need Advice Re: Feeding a 6 Month Old Who Refuses the Bottle

We had a lot of trouble getting our babies to take bottles too. With both of them we finally had luck with a latex Nuk standard sized nipple (that can go on any standard bottle). After months of struggling with both of them, this is what worked. (We tried every bottle and nipple on the market for both of them.) It worked for them when we finally got their reflux under control with Prilosec. My son never spit up, but was very uncomfortable and refused to eat...all he wanted was to nurse. You might want to have your daughter checked to see if there's a reason she's not eating, other than the bottle itself. Pay attention to her behavior....Is she arching her back, waking at night, coughing, fussy?....there might be something making her too uncomfortable to eat.
Good luck. I understand how frustrating feeding issues can be.

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I have a 7 month old daughter and had the exact same problem. Everyone told me to keep trying everything which was good advice, but one mom on the site recommended I try using a nuk nipple. My daughter occasionally uses a nuk pacifer and the familiarity seemed to work for her. She started taking her bottle almost immediately. Hope this helps!

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Ugh, I can completely sympathize with you. Neither of my boys ever took a bottle--I know the anxiety it brings! I know a handful of other moms who had to leave their babies in daycare that would never eat. These babies nursed like crazy during the night to make up for it!

We went straight to the sippy cup with both boys. It took a while, and we had to experiment with all three of my kids. The best ones for us were the Gerber FunGrips. The ones for babies have handles and a soft spout, which was even better. All three of my kids had success with this cup.

Good luck!

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Hi,
Wow that is alot to have on your plate.
My son refused a bottle until he was 10 months old. But he was the second and somehow between sippy cups and straws he managed. I think he finally got the hang of the bottle when I was not around for a day or two to feed him. Maybe your conference will do the trick.
We played a lot of games with the cups, straws and bottles and let the meal time take a long long time. I remember the floor was always wet. I put breast milk on the outside of the nipples and sippy cups to encourge him to explore.

And I fed him lots of runny foods- applesause, spinach, stuff I could make in the blender and control how mushy or runny it would be.
Its hard now, but her determination will came in handy later on.
good luck!
M.

I agree with the women below...if she uses any kind of pacifier, see if they make a comparable bottle. Had I seen that Nuk made a bottle, I would have tried that as that is the binky he uses. My son also refused the bottle when I started back to work and would go long stretches without eating, which caused me major anxiety. I bought several different types of bottles (avent, adiri, etc.) and one day saw an online commericial for Breastflow bottles. He actually didn't spit it out or refuse it right away-and only a week or two later had not issues with the bottle at all. If you are going to make the move to a sippy cup, I would suggest one with a straw. (i will skip the long story with my son and just tell you they are better for them) Playtex sport insulated is the best one I found that doesn't leak from the lid and is easy to clean and you can buy replacement straws online at teebop.com. I moved my first son off the bottle at one year straight to these with no weaning problems and he loved them. We still use them once in a while for a long car ride. Good luck!!!!

My son didn't like sippy cups but will drink out of a cup with a straw or even just a regular cup.

So sorry for the difficulty! I warmed the nipples that i used before giving the milk and used advent nipples with born free bottles. They were the only ones that seemed to work. Every baby is different though. And my son never took the bottle well. Good luck!!

try a sippy cup. kids know what they are ready for, sometimes before us.

I wish I could offer advice, but I only have sympathy. My youngest was the same and nothing worked: it was breast or starve. At around 8 months she finally started taking a sippy cup to my great relief, but it was a long haul.

Hi. I don't know if my story will help but you may want to explore seeing a feeding specialist who works with infants.
My daughter had failure to thrive as a result of what the Dr's believed was reflux. Every week the Dr's switched her formula,finally I exclusive breast feed.
At 5 months, I attempted to wean her unsuccessfully . My daughter was seen by a feeding specialist per her Dr's recommendation.
I was told, there is a window of opportunity to learn how to suckle on a bottle vs. breast feed. My daughter was unable to switch or learn to use a bottle but did learn to use a sippy cup with the help and advise of the feeding specialist. Needless to say, I continued to breast feed until 9 months as well.

Good Luck.
S.