My 4 Month Old Won't Take a Bottle!

I am a stay at home mother of three and my youngest did the same thing to me. Try switching the nipples my daughter liked the old fashion brown nipples when I pumped. She refused any other nipples when I pumped. Good luck!

I would go ahead and introduce a sippy cup. They may then in all different kinds now and you can find one that would be as simple as necessary. That way you can give a little as necessary until she gets the hang of it. That would help with the issue of nipple confusion.
It's just fine that she prefers mama over a bottle, in fact be happy it's not the other way around!
Good Luck!

Since she is still getting good strong sucking from her breastfeeding relationship with you, like another mama mentioned I would give the sippy cup a try. As long as she gets your milk from some source while you are apart, ya know?
I know you mentioned trying lots of bottles, but in case you hadn't tried this one...
Breastflow by First Years (is available at Target online, so likely at their stores as well) was what my niece eventually accepted from my mom when she cared for her while my sister worked.
Good luck! And remember mama, she will eat=)

Hi S.,
I work from home as well and my baby (now 14 months) NEVER took a bottle or a pacifier. At around 4 months I started to ask people what they did and no one except for maybe 2 moms had my same problem. My mom said neither my brother or I would take a bottle so I knew I had genetics stacked against me. I went to a lactation consultant, thinking the pros who helped my baby latch would also help her unlatch, but the consultant said HER baby never took the bottle, so she just said keep trying.

One thing that did help was she said to start her on a sippy cup with water and breast milk. I also started her on rice cereal around 4 months so someone besides myself could give her nutrition. I noticed my baby would have expressed milk in a bottle when someone gave it to her in the back seat of my car while I was driving. I also know she would take a bit from others when I was away, so babies seem to adapt with others when mom's not around. As for your long day on the 30th away from home, can you have someone bring her to the office so you can feed her during a break? I had to do that during many client meetings in the beginning.

I was having the same problem just a few weeks ago. I'd tried 5 different types of bottles, tried formula vs breast milk, other family members and friends to feed my baby girl but she would not take a bottle for anything. We had screaming fits, gagging etc. What finally worked for me was the Adiri bottle with the milk heated to slightly warmer than my body temp. About 99 degerees. If the milk is too cool, she doesn't want it. I've also started with some solids. Oatmeal Cereal and first fruits & veggies. I have to go out of town for 4 days so I wanted to make sure she was taking to her new feeding routine so Grandma and Daddy would not be in trouble! :) Best of luck. It's different for every baby.

Hi S.! Congratulations on having a baby who loves mama's milk so much.

Kellymom.com has a great page full of info on alternate feeding methods for the breastfed baby, with links to many wonderful articles. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alternative-feeding.html

In my experience, my son would take a bottle best if I were completely out of the house (which it sounds like you tried), and even then, he would only take a couple of ounces -- just enough to satiate himself and survive until I got home. By 5 months, he was able to suck on a soft straw and we mostly used various soft-strawed sippy cups. He took those much better than any bottle.

Some babies need to have the bottle feel as much like mama's breast as possible. Try to have the caregiver hold baby just like you do, and even hold a worn shirt of yours near her cheek so she can smell you while she feeds. Baby's sense of smell is a very strong influence.

Other babies want the bottlefeeding experience to be as unlike the breast as possible -- spoon or cup feeding (with a small, flexible medicine cup) while sitting facing out in the caregiver's arms can help. Some babies only want a bottle when sitting in a bouncy seat or high chair at arm's length from the caregiver... it all depends on the babe, to be honest.

Good luck!!

I would just get her a BPA free sippy cup (Lil Munchkins brand at Target are the ones I used) and let her drink out of that. By four months my 8 month old was actually drinking straight out of a cup and when she was with my sister she absolutely would NOT take a bottle but she did love drinking cold breast milk out of a regular cup. She thought that was pretty cool and we had no switching issues.

Holy Mackeral this could be serious, I would see a doctor about this. Your daughter should be getting alot more than that to eat! Definately see your doctor.

S., my 15 month hasn't had a bottle since he was six weeks old (which was an adjusted 2 weeks old as he was 4 weeks early) and never took a pacifier. It was a chore to get him to take the ounce or two he took from the bottle up til then anyway. I found these tiny little sippy cups at "The Dollar Store" that are 2 for $1. They were free flow cups so that didn't have to suck on them to get the liquid out. It just seemed to me that the regular sippy cups took WAY too much effort and I didn't want that much effort put in when he got to latch back onto me! :-)
Anyway, maybe something like that would work for you as well. I think it was kinda of the thing that if something is going into their mouths, they will swallow.
So you could pump and your mother in law could warm it slightly before putting into the cup and give it a try.
I wouldn't use the nipple guard unless you need it as I have heard that it causes more problems that it helps if it isn't something that you need.
Good Luck.

You could try sippy cups. Around 3 mos. of age, most babies can handle them.

Oh I feel your pain! (and our babies have the same birthday!!!!) The week before I went back to work my then 13 week old baby boy decided he didn't want bottles anymore. (I swear they can sense the upcoming separation) I don't have a miracle cure for you except to say that your little girl will take the bottle if she is hungry enough but it may become a battle of wills. With us it really wasn't an option because he HAD to take a bottle so my husband (bless his heart) would just have to stick it out while Carter screamed at him for about 20 minutes but then would take it. Now he takes it much easier although still fusses if it has been a while between bottles. My advice is for you to stay far away while someone else gives the bottle. Leave the house if you have to and don't let your little girl see you before she gets the bottle. Also we ended up with the gerber NUK bottle because it was like his pacifier. Other advice...try giving it to her when she is still half asleep - it is a little tricky but it takes them a little bit to realize that it isn't the breast. Oh and get a faster flowing nipple. Our son uses the medium - the slow was too slow. Hope this helps. The only other thing I would recommend is lots of prayer! It is very frusturating and stressful believe me I understand. But eventually your baby will take the bottle.

Hi,
My little guy was almost 4 months old when I went back to work full time. Until he went to daycare we were batting about 25% success that he would take a bottle from me or my husband. We don't have family in town so didn't have the luxury of having a lot of other people to try giving him the bottle. Even when grandma was around he would only eat 1-2oz (that was a successful attempt). For about the month before I went back to work we tried to give him 1oz 1-2 times a day from the bottle before I would BF him. We also tried many style of bottles and the one with the best success was the playtex dropins nipple. We had to go to high flow nipples because that's what my letdown is like. A friend had a similar problem and found she needed to use a latex nipple since silicone was to firm.

At daycare he fussed before each bottle the first few days but only refused one bottle. Then for the most part it has been happy sailing. Since you won't have the problem I did which was they throw the milk out after 1 hour you don't have to make a lot of little bottles. Even now he still fights my husband to feed at home but not at daycare when he visits (I think he knows that he can win with him at home and that I am probably close by).
On another note, my sister's son never liked the bottle. he went 6 hours eating 1oz before she came home. In general kids won't starve and can tough it out if needed. It will be h*** o* your son's grandma though.

HI S.,
I had this same experience. My daughter never took a pacifier and refused the bottle as well. She just started taking it at 6 mos ( she is 8 mos now). At 4 mos when I went back to work we started in with rice cereal, a bit early, so she would have some food. Then I had her caregivers offer her a bottle with the rice cereal because she would be thirsty. I knew she was at least getting some nutrition even if it wasn't BM. I ended up nursing her a lot when I was home at night/morning and the 2 days I worked from home. I didn't use the nipple shield because lactation said to not mess with the nursing if they are doing good at that. You want her to nurse as much as possible so I would just keep trying the bottles.
It usually doesn't end up being a specific nipple or bottle, it's just when they are ready. The Dr Browns is what ended up working for us, but I think that was when my daughter said ok I will take it now mom. I was also the first one to get her to take the bottle. Everyone says to have other people give it to her, but for some reason it worked with me. Every baby is different. She will come back around, just give her time. IN the meantime try the rice cereal if your pediatrician gives you the ok:)
T.

perhaps it's also the smell of Mommy that she misses. Maybe your mil could place a shirt of yours next to your babies face while she bottle feeds.
I have to agree with a couple of the other posts. Rice cereal and if the baby is really hungery, sooner or later the baby will take the bottle. I would not worry too much
D.
Mom of 3.

I have heard that this type of transistion is sometimes hard for the little ones. But a lot of times they will figure it out - the only way I am going to eat is from this stupid bottle - so I guess I better eat. They can and will resist for a while, but usually they will take the bottle eventually. Good luck. I hope it works out for you.

Two ideas... One, have you tried a soft-spout sippy cup (I remember our doctor had us first try it when our daughter was about 4-months old). The other idea is trying a small regular cup. IKEA makes a great, cheap set of small cups that are easy to hold and has an easy, smooth rim to drink out of:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10096907
I've also heard of people using Dixie cups for newborns and premies with sicking problems. We actually are born with an instinct to drink from a cup, so this might be easier for her. Good luck!! :-)

I had a the same problem with my youngest little girl.
After trying I think almost every nipple out there I finally found a new bottle that NUK just came out with. It comes with a wider nipple and bottle and is designed especially for breastfeed babies. It is still the only bottle my daughter will take. I get mine from walmart. But im sure they probably have them at other stores as well.
Wish you luck!
Blessings on you and your family!

We had this same problem, tried all the bottles, waiting and not waiting until she was starving, etc..what finally worked was formula in the bottle! Guess she figured out that it's not right for breastmilk to come out of plastic!

I've heard other people try the same thing. I didn't want to give her formula, even on my one day a week working, but she got 100% breastmilk up till then and continues to the other six days, so oh well I guess :)