Training Baby to Bottle Feed

I wish you better luck than me. My 6 month old will not take a bottle at all. On days when I'm away from her she just goes without. She's on solid food and eats fine, but no bottle. I've tried different bottles, spoon feeding, medecine dropper, anything. Now I'm trying to train her to use a sippy cup. She'll chew on it so hopefully she'll get the hang of it. She will drink water from my cup. That's something new. At least now I can get some fluids in her when I'm away. She is just super stuborn and knows what she likes. Best of luck. Try a cup.

K.

Both of my kids refused the bottle, but eventually took a sippy cup (at 4 1/2 mos). We've used the "take and toss" kind since there is no valve and the baby does not need to suck hard for the milk to come out (you could also just use any sippy cup, just don't put the valve in).
With my youngest, we also used a syringe as an intermediate step to shoot the milk in his mouth (the kind you use for liquid medicine).

Well, you may already know that what you should be looking for is a bottle nipple that most closely matches yours. But obviously you have a little one with a very strong mind & spirit (smile, it's a good thing in the long run). All that aside, I do have another suggestion although it may seem odd. There is a silicone nipple (Medela and other makers) that some women must use for nursing. It's a soft plastic nipple that goes over your own. It's mostly used for the opposite problem, babies that don't want to breastfeed, only bottle. However, if I were in your shoes I would try that. It's sort of a half step b/c baby is still technicially nursing, but also getting accostumed to the position the tounge needs to be in and the slight taste of plastic vs skin, etc. Yet will have the scent of you and closeness of you. You can use it to wean your baby in the direction of bottle. Also try other tricks of the trade (again, it's usually in the opposite direction, but I think it's just the same), such as nursing her just enough to knock the edge off her hunger, then slip in the nipple bottle (will work best from the nipple shield to bottle). You might also have better luck when she's both tired and hungry. I'm curious how it'll all work out so I'd appreciate a response once you've tried it.

I had a similar problem with my daughter. She is now 6 months and is still breastfed along with cereal, fruits and vegetables. Whe she was a few weeks old I started to pump bottles to try and get her "bottle trained". She took a bottle fine until she was around 3 months old. She REFUSED to take the bottle. It would get so bad that I would have I would either give in and nurse her or she'd fall asleep in my husband's arms.

The only advice I can give is to keep trying. Pump every day and try to give her a bottle every day. Maybe pump it and give it to her right then, the temp that comes out is what she's used to. Perhaps leave her with your mom on a Sunday afternoon once a week and go out with your husband . That is how we eventually got my daughter to at least tolerate the bottle. She couldn't be held, she sat in her bouncy seat with everyone in my in-laws house doing a whole song and dance around her. I would leave on the weekends and go grocery shopping and I'd leave her with my husband and he'd distract her enough to take a couple of ounces. He'd sit in front of the computer and put on visual stuff that can go along with music sometimes (not sure if you'll know what I am talking about). She would watch the "show" and sometimes she start to suck a little bit.

Now she is 6 months and will drink a bottle fine. I'd say it probably took us almost 2 months. SHe doesn't love it but she'll drink from it. We didn't do it every day as my doctor suggested. so I'm sure if you try every day it might take you a month. Don't give up, she'll take it eventually. The hardest part for me (besides listening to her cry) was pumping all that milk just to dump it down the drain when she wouldn't drink it.

If my daughter gave in, your daughter will definitely give in. I never saw a more stubborn baby than my daughter. My son (who is now a little over 2) had a hard time taking the bottle but he gave in after 3 days.

PS- I was just reading some of the other responses and someone wrote that they used a slow nipple. We did just the opposite. We used a size 4 nipple from Avent. Our theory was that at least it was dripping into her mouth and she had to swallow some of it. Maybe my breast milk comes out of my breast fast and that is how she likes it. do you know how your "let down" is? Try to match the flow of the nipple to the flow of your nipple. I know mine comes out really fast (it'll spray all over her face if she takes her mouth off).

good luck...
Kelly

your baby knows innately that the milk that comes from you is the best source.
training your baby to feed from a bottle at such a young age is training that there are more important things than her well being. i think you should deeply consider whether your travel is necessary to leave such a young baby.

I just posted about this very same issue. Check back a few days to see post entitled "Help! My breastfeeding baby refuses the bottle." What worked for my daughter was that she did not want to be held while bottlefeeding. I put her in the bouncy seat, let her hold a finger of each hand while drinking the bottle. It has to be really quite warm - almost hot. Try having someone other than you feed her, try lots of different nipples (MAM bottles worked for me but Adiri were pretty good too), try different positions (lying on the sofa, bouncy seat, etc), try feeding her BEFORE she gets too hungry, try both formula and pumped breastmilk, different temperatures of the milk. Unfortunately, it took a month. Good luck.

Any of the times that you've tried bottles, have you been anywhere around? My babies will take a bottle of pumped milk, but only if I'm not in the house. With my youngest, I'll nurse him right before I leave, and that way by the time he's hungry again, I've been gone awhile and he knows I'm not around, so he knows he doesn't have much of a choice if he's hungry ;)

Have you tried a sippy cup?

Good luck!

Hi there! I feel your pain. I exclusively breastfed my daughter until she was 13 months old. I wanted my hubby to be able to get in on the feedings, though, too. We tried every nipple you can imagine on the bottle with no luck. Then my SIL introduced me to something called the ADIRI Breastbottle. You can find it here: http://www.greatbabyproducts.com/Adiri_Breastbottle_Nurse....
It's a little expensive compared to regular bottles but believe me, it works. It's a soft silicone-like material that mimics the breast. You can even simulate let-down by squeezing the bottle gently. I hope this helps you out! It sure did us...

I had the same problem with my now 1 year old. She refused the bottle for months, regardless of what was in it. To get her used to the feel of the bottle nipple, I would slowly put it in her mouth while she was breastfeeding and almost asleep. I actually used the slowest flow possible, so that she would not be startled with a full mouth of formula. Slowly but surely, she got used to it. She actually took it easier from me than from someone else, especially in the beginning. The bottles I used were "born-free", which are bisphenol-A free (which can leach into the formula) - I got them on-line, but I think babies r us may carry them.....HOpe this helps...

However difficult it may be for you, be strong and keep trying. My husband and I caved and just assumed that our daughter wouldn't drink from bottles and now, at almost 14 months, she is still breastfeeding with no signs of stopping anytime soon, though she is finally eating some regular food. I think that she has had a more difficult time transitioning to regular food because the only thing in her mouth had been my boobs.

Keep nursing AND give bottles - maybe your husband can do the bedtime or morning routine and give a bottle consistently at that time.I know it's hard but I think the payoff is pretty strong. Good luck! Be strong. You can do it!!

I breast fed both of my kids and didn't supplement with formula. Neither of them would ever take a bottle from me. With my oldest we just kept trying and eventually he got. My daughter though never took a bottle. We got her to drink out of a sippy cup and she loved that. So even though your baby is only four months if she can hold a cup that might work. Good Luck!

I tried to get my baby on a bottle (with breastmilk) almost every day for 6 months to no avail- in the end, I went back to work part-time and on the first day with the nanny, he took it right away! It didn't matter which bottle or nipple, it just took leaving him alone all day with someone else (you HAVE to leave the house). It's hard but babies are clever- they won't starve themselves and will take the next best thing when given no choice.

Have you tried the Adiri bottle? It is the only brand that has worked for us - I swear by it and we call it the miracle bottle! Good luck! C.

Just teach her to use a sippy cup with assistance. I like the old fashioned Tupperware ones. It takes more time at first but you avoid the hassle of needing to wean from a bottles later and the bonus is that you can preserve the dental benefits that you gave her from breastfeeding and not using artificial nipples.

Breastfeeding is not just about the food ...it's comfort & security and babies need their mother. You have smart little girl!

Hope this helps,
H.

I am working on the same issue as I will be travelling and my exclusively breastfed baby will be with my mom. My husband and I are working together to tackle this issue- I will be going shopping/running errands by myself for a half day several times before our trip and he will be taking care of the baby and bottlefeeding. I won't be far away and on my cell phone if he runs into trouble, so I can come home if needed as we experiment. The plus to this is that babies tend to take bottles better when mommy isn't there (i.e., from daddy or grandma). I learned with my first baby that he would often take a bottle for someone else, but refuse anything but breast from me. I think this is due to both hormones (they can smell mommy and milk!) and habit. If hubby isn't willing, try asking an aunt or close friend to try this scenario.

Hi S.. I had to do this with my first daughter when I went back to work and then again with my second (even though I was home.) It was a nightmare both times but it eventually worked. We used the NUK nipple and I always had my husband feed them. I made sure I wasn't in the room. At first both of my daughters screamed and I would be crying. But eventually after days of this they took it. The other key thing is once they take the bottle you have to give them a bottle once a day. We thought we had my first daughter taking the bottle fine so we took a break for about a week and we had to start all over again. The daycare director suggested we do one bottle a day and it worked like a charm once she stopped screaming and took it. Hope you have a patient husband that can help out!

Try a sippy cup, my daughter has never taken a bottle, but loves her cup. We use the Nuby brand at Walmart for $3.

I had this problem with my daughter, unfortunately I lost my milk around 4 months so I had to get her to use a bottle. I found that she did better when I wasn't feeding her so I initially had my husband or someone other than me try. At first it was not happening but eventually we got there. Also, I made sure that I had the highest flow nipple so that milk was literally dripping out when I put the bottle in her mouth (I use Avent bottles). On a side note, my son fights me now on bottles, he will eat from them but he's not the best at it, however he likes when I sing to him, not sure why but he eats when I do. With all that said sometimes regardless of what you try it feels like it is not going to happen. Hang in there and stick to it if they are hungry they will eat. Good luck!

Hi! I too had issues with my son when I tried to get him to take a bottle. It took a number of bottles before he would latch on. He took the Mam bottle. The nipple is flat on two sides and the information packet said it was most like mom. The other thing I had to do was to not be near my son when he was given the bottle at first. If he saw me he would not latch onto the bottle. With saying that we started the bottle feeding with his last bottle before bed. I would be out of the room tending to other things while my husband gave him the bottle. It took some time but, he did take the bottle. Hope this helps!!

I had a similar problem with my son and I contacted La Leche League for some support. I've included the basics of what they sent to me. I will add that in order for my son to take the bottle, it could not be from me, nor could I be anywhere near him while trying the bottle. Even the sound of my voice disturbed the process. Needless to say, he comfortably transitions from nursing to bottle feeding easily now. Good luck!

Taking one to three oz is within normal for the breastfed baby, provided he is getting enough in a 24-hour period. A lot of mom’s will have 3 or 4 small bottles with 2-4oz each and have the care provider feed the baby more often, rather that 2 or 3 large bottles. This is a great calculator that can help you determine how much your baby needs while you are away. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

There are a few things you guys can try to make this easier for everyone. Sometimes temperature is a sticking point with babies, it’s too hot or too cold. Also determine how they feel he’s hungry, is he on a strict schedule, or fed when he signals he’s hungry? Often when a baby cries, we try feeding them first, this works great at the breast but not so well with a bottle, he may just want to be soothed by sucking.

If he’s just having a hard time taking the bottle in general, there are a few things you could try. You might them try to have them latch him onto the bottle, the same way you do at the breast. If they are putting the nipple in his mouth and he’s not accepting it, this may help. Warming the nipple by running it under warm water might help make it a little more pliable.
If all else fails there are other methods of feeding besides the bottle, you could try using a cup, a soft spout sippy cup, using a syringe (often called finger feeding).

I encourage you to contact your local LLLL, or better yet, go to a LLL meeting if you have one in your area. This concern is frequently discussed at meetings, and you'll have access to great information, and the support and encouragement of other working breastfeeding moms. This is the link for the Connecticut groups. http://www.lllusa.org/CT/CT.html

Hi S.,
I have been struggling with getting my four month old to take a bottle as well. We started trying at four weeks and have had success only a few times. We have tried many different nipples and bottles, the most recent being the Playtex Nurser. It seems to be working the best so far. Good Luck!