Any other breastfeeding moms have little ones that pretty much reject the bottle? My daughter is almost 5 months old. Sometimes she'll take it and sometimes she won't. At this point, would it be easier to cup train her and put my expressed milk in that instead for the times I have a class to take or teach? Thanks for your input.
Have you tried using the playtex bottles with the liners..It might sound silly but maybe she is not taking the bottle because of the air in it. I had this problem with my son and he would only take those playtex liner bottles with the nipple that looks and feels like the breast.
Oh my gosh, I feel your pain!!! My daughter refused the bottle, and we tried every bottle out there. I called lactation, la leche league, and the pediatrician. Once I went back to work she would go nine hours without eating. What finally worked was having her sit completely upright. There are so many suggestions out there that I couldn't possibly list them all. But, call a la leche league member or a lactation consultant. My daughter is four months old and now happily takes the bottle.
Rejecting breast or bottle, can be due to:
1) teething (this is temporary. Still nurse on-demand)
2) illness/being sick (still nurse on-demand so baby does not get dehydrated)
3) If solids is given..... ? Are you giving solids yet? Always... nurse or give bottle, FIRST and before any solids or other liquids. Or baby will be too full to nurse/take the bottle, after.
For the 1st year of life, breastmilk/Formula is a baby's primary source of nutrition. NOT solids and not other liquids. Solids, is not as nutritionally dense, as breastmilk/Formula
4) If your milk supply, is diminishing. (this is for if she is rejecting breast).
5) If the flow of the nipple (if giving a bottle) is too slow, per her age. As they get older, they get more efficient, at sucking/nursing. So change the nipple to one that is more appropriate for her age.
6) IF you 'replace' direct nursing at the breast (if baby is rejecting breast), and give a bottle instead... your milk supply, will decrease. Or, your body will adjust, per milk output from your breasts, to the frequency of how often you direct nurse.
7) the baby is rejecting breast (but this does not seem to be your case), because they are weaning, from breast... and prefers a bottle. (my son was like that).
8) ear ache
9) she just rather breastfeed.
But for the 1st year of life, breastmilk or Formula, is still very important and their main... source of nutrition. And nurse on-demand... day and night, and especially at growth-spurts. When you can.
My kids as babies, would temporarily reject breast, when teething. This may be also for a bottle.
Or perhaps, she is just not interested.
How many ounces, is she getting per day?
How often is she fed (the bottle)?
Now, are you using the bottle, predominantly?
Or breast?
Try to direct nurse, when you can, so your milk does not diminish and so that she is getting adequate intake.
Hi! Make sure you're not around when trying to teach her to take the bottle, babies can smell milk from something like 20 ft. away and she won't want the bottle if she knows Mommy is nearby. We had to squirt some milk from the bottle into my son's mouth for him to get that there's food in there, we did this before he went to daycare at 3 mo. and he was great with the bottle ever since.
Breast Flow bottles are the best for BF babies. I have known a lot of babies,
including my grandson, who would not take a bottle but just wait for Mom
to get home. Then snack the rest of the day to make up for what he missed during the day. Finally the Breast Flow bottle won out!
I second April's idea. I had 3 breastfed babies and I am happy to say they took both. I had lots of expressed milk and it was just easier at night to feed. I got the liner bottles and the nipples that look like breasts and they were great. I had to stop early with my son and go to formula for medical reasons and he transitioned beautifully at 9 months.
One of mine NEVER drank out of a bottle but she did learn to use a sippy cup at that age. Go ahead and introduce a cup, that gives the caregiver another option when she is hungry.
We had to switch bottles at 3 or 4 months. He took the FirstYears BreastFlow bottles great the first few months and then started refusing them. We ended up switching to Nuk bottles. (And I met a lady at LLL who had the exact same proble, but they had started with Nuk and ended up switching to BreastFlow!)
So you might try switching bottle/nipple brands...
