4-Month Old Suddenly Refusing Bottles.

M., the same thing happened to my son around 4 months! i thought maybe it had to do with teething or because he started going to a sitter. the first couple of days were very hard emotionally because he just refused the bottle, so while he was with the sitter he didn't eat. we ended up trying just about every other bottle out there and he finally took to dr. brown's. the one he used before that had a big nipple base, and i don't know why he all of a sudden changed his preference, but the smaller nipple base of the dr. brown's seemed to work for him. he's still using it today. best of luck!

First of all are you feeding her the bottle or is someone else. It not unusual for a child to refuse a bottle especially from mom. Try having dad or someone else give her the bottle.

Is she just refusing it from you? Try it. My daughter would not take a bottle from me, but she would take it from anyone else when I was not in the house. Babies know when Mom is there!

M. - I too just went through the exact same thing. This one is child #3 and my other two had no problems transitioning when I went back to work. But Michaela (my 4 month old) is just like your little girl. Up until about a month ago she would take the occasional bottle just fine. But when she turned about 3 1/2 months old she started completely refusing the bottle. We have tried a million different brands of bottles and nipples with not much success. I started back to work last week and Daddy is home with her and the other two during the day. The first day she held out with no milk for 9 hours. The second day 7 1/2 hours and the 3rd day about 5 hours. By the 5th day she was taking 3 bottles. I still nursed in the evenings and in the morning before leaving for work and then all weekend I nursed. So come Monday of this week she held out with no milk again for about 5 hours then took the bottle just fine. Tuesday she was back to 3 bottles again. I think you have to remember that it's instinct to eat. She is not going to let herself starve so if she's hungry enough she will take milk from the bottle. Here are some tips to try that might help.
1. Have someone else give her the bottle and you leave the room. If she can see or hear you she is most likely to hold out for you.
2. Walking around while feeding the bottle seems to help.
3. Warm the nipple of the bottle as well as the milk.
4. Take a shirt or piece of clothing you wear often that will have your smell on it and swaddle the baby with it while she eats so she has your sent near her.

I hope this helps! Good luck!!

My son did that around the same age, after we tried to leave him overnight with his grandparents. Have you tried giving her a sippy cup instead? The Nuby cups worked well for us, since they have a soft spout. Also my son refused to take milk or formula if we warmed it up, but he would drink it cold out of the fridge. Good luck!

Who is giving her the bottle. If it is you, she may not want the substitute when she can have the real thing. Have someone else feed her, don't be around when she is eating. Next thought, if someone else is feeding her and she refuses, wear a shirt during the day that the other person can put on while feeding her. It will have your scent on it that she will be close to while she eats. My last thought, check the flow of the bottle nipples. WE found we had to go to an older baby nipple before 6 mos. because they liked the higher flow rate. Also, my husband found the milk had to be the perfect temp, body temp--I had picky children. Too cold, they didn't want it, too hot refused too. Lastly, we used Playtex nursers, and he often had to squirt the milk into their mouth until they realized this was the milk, what they wanted, even though the nipple was different.
Good luck. Every mom deserves a night out!
R.

Many breastfed babies never take a bottle so consider yourself lucky you got this far. :-) Since she's 4 montsh old already just give her a sippy cup with breastmilk in it. My son never took a bottle - not once - even though we tried many times. When he was about 4 months old we gave him a sippy cup of water at the table at mealtime and he took right to it. We had to hold it for him for a few weeks until he got the hang out of it but he drank breastmilk out of it while I was gone very easily.

Our handsdown favorite kind of sippy cup is Playtex. Not alot of little parts to loose, the soft plastic 'stopper' part attaches to the underside of lid so it doesn't get lost in the dishwasher, they never spill or leak and all the lids/stoppers/cups are interchangable.

I breastfed both of my children, ages 10 and 6 now. I don't "remember" having a problem, but then I was 37 and became sleep deprived when my first was born. Any how, you might try a couple things. Warm the nipple by running warm water on it, put a dab of something slightly sweet like unsweetened applesause or baby cereal on the nipple. Just enough to make her curious/get her started and the waterbath warmed breastmilk should keep her going. In the end she will get hungry enough to take the bottle if that is all that she's offered. A late meal or one missed meal will not harm her. The problem with feeding that I had was getting them to latch on properly after they were born. My daughter was slow regaining her birth weight because of not latching properly, which was also painful for my nipples. My son went off eating for a day and a half after getting the hang of it when they circumsized him. Don't get overly nervous or anxious if she doesn't take the bottle right away. It is true that they can sense frustration/anxiety in their caregiver and that can put them off, make them anxious, etc.

This happened to me also. Baby #3 was about 4 mos. when school let out and instead of going to the sitter's was home with hubby for the summer. She refused to take the bottle. Because I was gone at work all day, she was without for about 9 hours. At first he would take her out of the house to his mother's or the neighbor's to eat. Then I spoke with the dr. and she told me that babies sometimes do that. As long as she isn't getting dehydrated she'll eat before she starves. We made it through the summer. She nursed all night long some nights, but she kept growing and was reasonably happy through the day. She slept a lot. By the end of the summer she was using a sippy any way. I start the sippy with mine at about 5 months. You can still leave her for an evening. Leave a bottle with whomever you leave her with, if she's hungry she'll drink it, if she wants to wait, she'll do that. She may be a bit unpleasant, but she won't be hurt and she'll be especially glad to see you when you return.

My youngest son would not take a bottle from me and barely would take it from my husband. We started him on a sippy cup with breast milk at about 4 months old.

My granddaughter is the same age and in the same boat.
So, since she is past 4 mos., if my daughter needs to leave her for one or two hours, I believe a little mashed ripe banana would hold her over in a pinch.
Personally, I am proud to say that of my six breastfed children, five of them never had a bottle!(And I don't think they would have taken it anyway!)

try a sippy cup. that worked for my niece, who was very picky!

This is actually very common at that age. They start to realize that it's SOOOO much better straight from the tap, always at the perfect temp, and a great way to snuggle with mama. My kids never really took bottles at all:( The best advice I can give you is have someone else do it for a while. As long as you are in the house she will want to nurse.

My EBF baby did the same thing around 3 months. However she was sporatic. She would refuse the bottle because she knew the real thing was right there and she preferred the real thing. I ended up having to get someone else to give her the bottle. If I was there, she would not take it. If you dont have anyone else around, keep offering the bottle to your baby. If she is hungry enough, she will take the bottle. Sounds kind of cruel but its true.

Neither of my kids took too well to a bottle until I figured something out with my second. I gave him a bottle of formula with his solid food. He wasn't expecting breast. There was no connection to breast feeding. Playtex nursers or other bag type bottles are great as they can sit up and drink. Distractingly fun to drink and look around at the same time.

If this continues to give you trouble I would give up the bottle and try a sippy cup. At around 5 or 6 months there is no point in pushing a bottle.

The problem for one of my grandchildren turned out to be the nipple of the bottle. It seemed that one type of nipple had a taste or feel that the baby objected to. This happened with one of my own and a pacifier. My youngest child became very sick with flu like symptoms. Immediately after feeling better he threw (literally)the pacifier and refused to have anything to do with it from then on. Even though he was given new pacifiers immediately, I think that he associated the pacifier with being sick.Differnt nipples and pacifiers have different textures and different tastes and thast may be a problem for your daughter.