Hi,
My daughter is 6 months old. She has been breastfed and was drinking one bottle of formula at night before bedtime. My husband would also feed her a bottle of breastmilk early in the morning.
For the past week, she completely refuses to take the bottle and cries to be breastfed. She is a happy baby and has hardly ever cried until now. She won't even let us put the bottle in her mouth, just clenches her lips. I've tried to give her a sippy cup - but she hasn't learnt to suck from it yet. We just started her on solids about a month ago. She eats oatmeal cereal witn some Gerber fruit in the morning and some rice cereal and veggies in the afternoon. Just won't take the bottle anymore.
Some additional details:
She used to sleep through the night when she turned about 4 months. But for the past month, mostly wakes up once in the night and wants to be fed. Her father was out of the country on work this past week, when the refusing to take the bottle has started.
Any advice you have is greatly appreciated. I get back to work soon and would like my daughter to be able to eat while I am at work.
Thanks,
K
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all your responses. Prior to my post to this board, I had already tried pumped breastmilk, and also bottles with nipples that were wider- that didn't make a difference. After reading your replies, I tried a soft spout sippy cup, she took a few sips but would then stop again.
We had our 6 month well-check at the doctor's on Friday. Turns out she has a slight viral infection in the throat and perhaps that is what might be causing her to reject the bottle - or she might just not want the bottle anymore. In any case, the doctor thinks she is doing fine healthwise - just had a growth spurt too ! The last few days have been different since she had her shots and is having a fever - she will only take the breast.
The doctor has asked us to call back in a few days if she is still not sleeping better (in case it wasn't due to the throat infection) and said she would recommend other ideas. The doctor also thinks it is fine if she eats solids and does not drink milk for a few hours. Luckily my job only requires me to be out of the house about 5 hours, 4 days a week. I am now mixing the cereal with breastmilk.
Once again, Thank you for all your responses,
K.
It sounds to me like she's looking for comfort from mommy. Is she teething? Are you stressed and she's sensing it?
I am going to guess she is teething. When my daughter was about this age her eating and sleeping habits changed and it was all due to those sore gums. She may not want the bottle because it isn't as soothing on her gums as mommy is. Don't make too many drastic changes with a different bottle etc. for now. I bet in a week or two she may be feeling better and get back on track.
OH - and ignore the HONEY suggestion. No honey!!!
Hang in there!
I had the same problem with my daughter. Will she take breast milk from the bottle? Try putting a little honey on the niple of the bottle and let her taste it. Also, at night I started to mix oatmeal in her bottle. It kept her fuller longer.
Pumping and no formal will probably help too. They can tell formula from moms milk. It is sweeter. My little one hated the bottle but on the odd time I wasn't around she would take the bottle for others. If she knew I was around, she wouldn't take the bottle. It was like she figured why drink from the bottle when the real thing is here. LOL
Try juice and other things in the bottle to mix it up. Watered down of course. Let her see that it is not just the formula in the bottle. My daughter went to the sippy cups with the long thin niplle cup. Prevents leaking and allows them to use those type of cups. That is all she would used when she was in that stage. You can get them cheap. Walmart has them for like 2 dollars. Look for the steps on the side of the sippy's.
Good luck!
I just read the advice to put a little honey on the nipple of the bottle. Babies should never be given honey until they are at least a year old because of a condition called infant botulism. It can actually paralyze (temporarily, I think) different muscles--even their diaphragm. Think Botox! Corn syrup (light or dark) can also be a problem unless it is pasteurized.
You can read about it here: www.drpaul.com/library/HONEY.html
You might also try the straw sippy cups. My daughter was mostly breastfed and never liked the regular sippy cups but did great with the straws. Good luck!
Babies have a hard time transitioning to a bottle while mom is still in the home.
Try leaving for a while and see if she will bottle feed then. It could be due to teething as well, she just wants the comfort of nursing.
Also, when her father left town for the week, situations like that can throw her off if she is getting on a schedule, You said he bottle fed her in the mornings, so since that is now gone, she may just be a little sad and confused and now refusing the bottle in response.
Sippy cups are great, and she may take it well pretty soon. When my boys were this age though, we just let them sip from an open faced regular adult cup (we held it for them). And that is what they drank out of.
Don't worry though, sounds like she is eating well and things will return to normal soon. Good luck!
I experienced the same thing with my daughter, except she started refusing the bottle at 6 weeks. We tried everything from not breastfeeding for several hours (thinking maybe she just wasn't that hungry) to experimenting with all of the different bottles. The only time we were able to get her to take a bottle was when a friend was watching her for a few hours for me. I didn't mind breasfeeding (just wanted to give daddy some xtra time with her). At about 5 months she started taking a sippy cup with water in it and eventually formula, then milk when she was old enough. I would say that she will start using a sippy cup soon (just maybe try water instead of formula to start) & you may just have to give up on the bottle idea (although that isn't so bad because my son had a really hard time transitioning from bottle to sippy cup, so you could avoid that battle, by going to sippy cup now).
I hope you figure out what works best for you soon!
It seems to me that she might stop refusing the bottle if that's all she is ever offered. If she refuses the bottle and then gets to nurse, she'll just continue refusing the bottle. But if she refuses the bottle and gets nothing (or a cup), it seems like she would eventually be hungry or thirsty enough to take what is offered. My daughter had lots of feeding/eating issues when she was little and we worried about whether or not she was getting enough. Her doctor just kept reminding me that kids won't starve themselves. You just have to stick to your plan.
Good luck!
I don't know what your situation is, but mine seems applicable here, so you can take it or leave it. When my daughter was 6 weeks old we started trying to give her a bottle of pumped milk. I actually had dental surgery for which I was gone for 6.5 hours. She never took any milk. My mom tried spoons, straws, syringes, and many different bottles. We tried for weeks and then once/month after that. I decided not to go back to work. We were terrified, because we were in terrible financial trouble with lots of debt. But, within 3 months of making that decision, I had figured out how to save every cent I had been making. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected, so if you do decide to try, I'm happy to share some of the things I did to save the money.
I know how frustrating this is...my daughter started refusing a bottle during her second month (I was pumping and have not yet introduced formula to her). I posted a question similar to yours and it was suggested by several people that I change bottles. I was using playtex nursers. I tried several kinds and found that occasionally she would use an avent bottle. She was never consistent with it. On the rare occasion I was gone, she would often cry herself to sleep rather than take a bottle. At six months I was told by the pedi to introduce a sippy cup. Fortunately she took to that a lot sooner than her brother did. By seven months she would use a sippy cup on her own and that's what we started using when I had to be gone. It relieved a lot of stress for this mamma. So maybe that will be worth trying.
As far as the sleep issues...is it possible she is teething? Both of my children got restless and cranky at night and wanted to nurse seemingly all night long when they were teething. My daughter is nine months old and is starting to get her molars and her sleep has started to get a little disruptive again.
Hope this helps a bit. Good luck!
K.,
My daughter went through the same thing. I nursed like you, but felt she should also take a bottle from dad/grandparents at times too, so I wanted her to be able to drink from a bottle as well. What solved it for us was changing her bottle nipple to a faster flow. Turns out she was getting frustrated at having to try to h*** o* that newborn bottle nipple. :-)
My daughter (now 13 months) did the same thing at six months! I was usually away from her for four hours in the evenings (for work) and she would just have a little oatmeal or something like that and not eat anything else until I got home and nursed her. She grew perfectly fine! I do nurse her periodically in the night -- something that does not bother me (we co-sleep). I have heard that when mothers start back to work, the infant will want to nurse during the night to make up for time lost during the day. I take the perspective that nursing gives more to the baby than just nutrition -- it is a way for them to connect emotionally to their primary caregiver and it gives them a sense of saftey and security. When my little one began nursing at night, I let her. In those quiet moments in the middle of the night, I marvel at my beautiful baby and the connection we can share . . . I know that it will be over all too soon and my interrupted nights will soon be gone. Trust your instincts and listen/observe and respect the insticts of your little one -- their actions as infants are not corrupted by parenting manuals and "how tos" -- they do what they do out of natural needs!
I'm sorry you have to go back to work so soon.
Put her back on the breast.
I will be brief: No solids until she is about 11 months old, Breast feeding gives her all the nutrients she needs for that long, even no water as it is in your milk. This time is short-enjoy it for the next few months. Before you know it, she will be eating off the table and using a sippy cup and walking, etc. Calm down and relax...
Get a soft spout sippy for her. Nuby makes a good one. It'll take her a while, but she'll get it. I had the same issue, so I started the sippy at 5 months. It's the only way I could get her to drink breastmilk if I wasn't available.
She might be teething too. If you havn't already, try giving her some hylands tablets before her feedings.
When my son was about 6 months old, he started waking again to eat in the night and eating all the time in the day. It turns out he was just teething (nursing is more soothing to their teeth and gums than a bottle) and also gearing up for another growth spurt. It only lasted two weeks or so, and then we were back to our regular schedule.
Enjoy the time you have left before you have to go back to work and nurse all you can! :) When the time comes and you aren't there as an option any more, she will learn to take a bottle, or more solids. Give her time. Good luck to you!
She's not ready to quit yet. Don't make her, use a pump. Good luck!
