baby not taking a bottle

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ninahudd

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Our 8 week old is refusing to take a bottle after having been fine with it for the first 6 weeks. She will only be breast fed and throws an absolute fit when we try to give her expressed milk. We have tried everything (or so it feels like) including different teats, different people, different rooms, happy smily faces, we even tried disguising the bottle. She seems to be getting more stubborn with it as time goes on. Tried walking away and then going back to try again. She eventually just cries herself to sleep and misses the feed.

Not sure what to do next, any advise?
 
I don't have any advise, but I know what you are going through. My 2 babies had a few bottles the early weeks, then none and there was nothing I could do to get them to take a bottle. With baby #2 I thought I'd be smart and make sure I gave a bottle twice/week, but then I went a little too long wothout the bottle (1 week) and could never get him to take a bottle, in the end he only ever had 3 bottles. I didn't need the baby to take bottle as I don't go back to work until close to a year, so I just exclusively BF. I aslo found poumoing to be a major pain and time consuming chore, so for me it was just easier to not bother.

I do feel tied down sometimes, once the baby was older I can sometimes go out in the evening after he goes to bed (usually at 7:00) as he mostly sleeps through the night. The way I look at it, it is just one year out of my whole life, and it does go by very very fast. It speeds up as you go, I remember the first 12 weeks or so being so long with my first, but it definatly feels faster as they get older.

If you HAVE to get the baby to take a bottle because you are going to work, just keep in mind that when you are gone a baby will not starve themselves, so he may cry a lot at first and eat hardly anything for a few days, but he will take it eventually. I know that ir not very comforting, but it is true.

edited to add

By not eating well for a few days, I mean when you are at work and not avialablre to feed him. Just wanted to clarify that as I didn't mean to try that your self, to just not feed him at all waiting for him to take the bottle. What I did was to try to get the baby to take the bottle in many different ways, or get my husvband too, but if not successful, I still fed him myself. From what I read at the time there seemed to be 2 schools of thought, make the expereince entirely different from BF,(different person, room, etc) or make it as similar as possible (in choice of nipple, warming mik AND the nipple). Unfortuanatley neither method worked for me, Good Luck!
 
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work issue

unfortunately i have to go back to work. i really dont want to leave our helper with a crying histerical baby and neither do i want leave a crying and hysterical baby. am i going to have to go tough and let her miss feeds if she doesn't take the bottle?
 
I've been having similar problems with my 5 week old. We started giving her the bottle at 4 weeks which she would take but after a lot of sreaming and protesting from her, not a very nice experience for either of us. I spoke to my midwife and she had these suggestions which have helped;

give the bottle before she gets really hungry, wake and give when still sleepy
she should have her back to you and the bottle comes from infront
walk around like this jiggling her

Hope these ideas help good luck

sunrays
 
Know how you feel as well. My first baby never took a bottle. My second (now 5mo) is the same, but she will take small amounts of milk from a cup. Not sure how old your baby will be when you go back to work.

If your baby continues to refuse, is there any scope for having you meet your baby during the work day? Much more pleasant than pumping, if you can work out the logistics.
 
too young for a cup?

Baby will be 14 weeks when i go back to work. Is that too young for a cup? Logistically it is nearly an hour into work and then an hour back. Can't work out which is worse, leaving my little girl to cry all day and then feed all night or drag her into work at lunchtime every day and then possibly make her dependent upon that rather than taking a bottle.
Any advice anyone?

By the way, baby slept the whole night through last night for the first time.
I feel like a new woman:milestone
 
Congratulations ninahuudd...I'm looking forward to reaching that milestone too!! My little one was in special care straight after she was born and as I told them I wanted to breast feed they fed her with a sippy cup from day 1. I've not tried it since but may look into it if she is still being difficult with the bottle.
 
sippy cup

Is a sippy cup like the ones with a lid and spout ype thing with holes (how I wish I could draw it)?
 
The newborn baby feeding cups look similar to an inverted bottle's lid. You can actually use the bottle lids if they are rounded - the Avent lids are very similar to the feeding cups I got with my Ameda pump. The main difference being that the official feeding cups have measurements on the side and have a lid. If you want the real thing, you could try looking at Medela's website:
http://www.meridianhk.com.hk/special_feeding_main.html
Apparently you are supposed to angle it so that just a little trickles into the baby's mouth until he/she shows an interest; don't just pour it in. I found it a little tricky at first, but had success when I put her in her "bouncy chair" which holds her at a 45 degree angle which I have found ideal. Too upright and it all comes out because she hasn't figured out swallowing yet!
 
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