Help. I just went back to work two weeks ago. I have my 2 mo. old in daycare. She did okay on a bottle at first, now she wont take it much at all. She has a hard time latching on to it. I am afraid she is not getting enough nourishment as she will only take about 3-5 oz. over a 9-10 hr stretch. I think she may be having nipple confusion. Any suggestions?
My son was the same way. There are nipples that are shaped a little different and that is what my son ended up taking. When he was hungry enough, he took it. Good luck to you, I know this is really hard to go through.
Are you pumping? A common, but little-known, cause for a baby to reject a bottle of pumped milk is excess lipase. I have that issue, and it's very easily solved. Kellymom.com has more info:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/lipase-expressedmilk.html
I pump into bottles at work, and then scald in the microwave, and put it in the fridge. Or, sitting at room temp for a few hours before the fridge takes care of it as well.
If you're concerned about nipple confusion, stick with the lowest flow nipples you can find, as it's more like the natural flow and requires similar effort. My 10-month old is still using size 1 newborn nipples, and has been fine switching between breast and bottle. (Once we got the lipase issue tackled!) :)
I think your daycare provider(s) should be educated in this area and be trying harder. If you find advice you follow and it works (such as warming the bottle in a cup of hot water), and the daycare is not willing to do what works, then I would suggest finding a new daycare provider. When my 2 older children were small, I enrolled them at a home day care and the provider was great...plus the group was only 6 children !
After age 3, I put them in a great daycare center to give them the opportunity to be with more children, etc.
A.,
How is your daughter latching on to the breast at home? If she doesn't eat all day, is she nursing all night to make up for it? My dd had a really hard time in care, and refused to take a bottle at all for a couple of months. We were up all night nursing, and she was ok in the nutrition department. Check her weight to be sure she's not losing, and watch her for signs of dehydration and failure to thrive.
As for bottles and nipples, there's a great new bottle called the Breastbottle Nurser. You can get them at www.onestepahead.com. It's a little expensive, but worth it if your baby is having bottle troubles. It is shaped more like a breast than anything I've ever seen, and I bought one for Maia. It's wonderful, and easy to use (it's hard to tell from the catalog that it really is easy to fill, clean, and feed with). The other bottle Maia was willing to use was the Avent bottle.
Good luck, and don't be afraid to check with the pedi to be sure your baby's still getting enough to eat!
H.
hi, you may definelty want to try diffrent nipples & bottles. some babies just dont take to some nipples. there may be confusion....but she needs to get use of the bottle. burlington coat factory has a huge selection of all baby bottles/nipples for a resonible price. good luck. luv always C.
mom to cameron & pregant with baby #2....due aug 29th.
Like many other previous post before mine stated, try different bottles and nipples, and if you are using formula in the bottle, try different formula's. The nurse at my pedi. said that babies who are use to bm/bf tend to be fussier with formulas and you might have to try 3-4 or even more types of formula. If you are bf and using bm in the bottle she might be assosiating the bm to the breast and wont take it from the bottle. In all, I hope you find something that works. I just switched my 4 1/2 month old daughter from bf to bottle feeding and it was a lot of work. I was trying breastfeed and bottle feeding but she would rather have the breast, so I just had to do away with the breast all together, I pumped and mixed the bm and formula for about a week and than went with just formula. I use the Similac Isomil and it works great. I hope you and your daughter don't have to hard of a time.
Hi A.,
When it came time for my son to bottle feed, I ended up using the playtex nurser bottles w/the latex nipple. He never did well with the silicone nipple (even w/pacifiers). The original playtex bottles come with the brownish colored latex nipple (or you can buy the nipples separately). I think the latex nipples are a little softer and more flexible than the silicone.
Good luck.
Hi A.,
I was having the same problem with my two month old as well. Someone had told me to warm the bottle to exactly 100 degrees and she should take it. I thought it was joke, but I got desperate and tried it and now she takes it no problem. But the bottle has to stay that temperature, so if she takes her time drinking it, the bottle usually cools down so sometimes I'll have to go and warm it up a bit again in order for her to finish it. I'm not sure if your day care will do this for you, but you could try it at home and see if it works for you.
L.
Hi! I went to work when my now 5month old was about 6 weeks. I was nursing and pumping and tried a few different bottles until my baby decided that he liked Dr.Brown's wide neck bottles. Assuming that you are using breast milk in the bottle (she might not like the formula you are using) then try diferent bottles and nipple shapes. I think I went through about 5 different ones!
Working mom of boys, 5 years and 5 months.
Hi A.,
Have you tried a different brand or style of nipple? My daughter had a hard time using the Avent brand nipple when she was very small. For her, the Playtex nipple was more comfortable and she stopped fussing.
If it is only happening at the day care, ask then how they are mixing her formula. Maybe it's too thick and she can't get the food out.
Good luck!
What kind of bottles are you using? I breast fed for 3 mths and my daughter bottlefed too. We used the Playtex Nursers, the original kind with the latex nipples, she didn't like the silicone until she was older. I find that any other kind of bottle was too fast for my daughter. Good luck, not easy.
Have you tried Avent bottles?? These were very easy for my daughter to transition to. They say they are most like the breast.
Good Luck
