" My Bottle Fed Baby Refuses to Take Her Bottle"

Hi S.,
I agree that if she is hungry she will eat. My 17 month old was a champion eater untill around a year. Now it is hit or miss. Their bodies will let them know if they need to eat. Just keep offering it to her and if she refuses just let it go. Most likely she will be hungry again soon. I also agree it is time to try solids.
Good luck!

Hi S.,

I used to stress so badly when my little one refused to eat or drink. Others who posted have some great thoughts. Maybe she is ready for more solids...possibly teething. The one thing my daughter's doctor told me a million times over is that she would not let herself starve to death! At some point, she will eat. I always thought she needed to eat the same amount as was listed in various books and online, but learned that's not the case. Keep trying...keep encouraging her, but relax a bit. There's always the chance that your stress about her eating is carrying over to her also.

Ditto the response that suggested teething pain. Try Tylenol or Baby Motrin for sure.

If that doesn't work, you may want to ask your doctor about GERD (acid reflux). The first sign we had from my daughter was when she was 5 months old, and suddenly stopped wanting to eat. She still isn't a great eater to this day (she is 3 now) but when we started her on Zantac, at least she would eat enough to keep growing.

Good Luck!

It doesn't sound like a problem to me, as long as she is eating, and especially eating raw fresh fruits and vegetables, which have plenty of water in them. If she is getting enough water in her food, there is no reason she needs to drink liquids if she doesn't want to. And there is especially no reason why she needs to have cow's milk in any form - contrary to dairy industry advertising, cow's milk is not a good food for humans and actually causes or contributes to many health problems. It may be that because of your concern you have entered into a "power struggle" with her - if so, you can just back off from trying to get her to drink anything, and just offer her water in different forms, just have it available if she wants it, and let it go if she doesn't. The same with foods, just offer her a variety of healthy foods that are soft enough for her to eat, and let her choose what she wants. Bananas and avocadoes are great, cucumbers are another favorite, nut butters, apples, pears etc.

Try yogurt, and perhaps it is time to put her on solid foods.

If I remember correctly my daughter ate a lot of solids as well as being breast fed at that time.

But try yogurt. It is milk in a more solid form. If you are concerned about the sugars in it, get the plain (my son loved the plain (!) and add your own fresh fruits pureed and sugars.

It most likely is teeth pain. Try giving her Motrin and see if she changes her mind. Keep in mind that the worst teething pains are before you can see or feel anything on the outside.
If not, consider that she may be telling you she is ready for more solid meals and less bottles. If you are desperate for her to drink because of dehydration concerns, give in and try diluted juice or something.

Please don't worry! You already confirmed she isn't sick with the doctors, so now it's just a matter of waiting. It could be a dozen different reasons why she isn't eating and most are nothing to worry about. Pain and discomfort from growing, teething, etc can make a baby not want to eat. Growth spurts can dramatically effect eating, from eating what seems like next to nothing to suddenly eating like they are starving to death and back to not eating. Loss of interest in milk and more interest in food.

I would watch and see how sleeping habits are affected. Does she wake in the middle of the night crying, good sign of growing pains or teething pain.

If she just has a lack of interest in food, just let her be. She eats more than you think and is just fine (they don't need as many calories as we do!). When she gets hungry she'll let you know. It's totally normal!

Your daughter is old enough to start drinking from a sippy cup. It takes less work to get results. About this age I also started introducing my kids to drinking from a regular cup (obviously with your assistance and control). I don't know if you are feeding her solid foods yet. If not this could be her way of telling you she wants more than just milk.

The way I see it, you can re-lactate or move to solids/pureed foods and supplement with vitamin drops.

My mama always used to tell the same story about me when I was about the same age, for me it was that I was ready for baby mush, banana purée was my favorite. The story always started out just like your post, I just refused the bottle!