7 month old is refusing BM while I am at work

elemenoP

My 7 month old is refusing bottles while I am at work. She will eat other foods but will not drink her bottle. I am gone from 6:30 to 4:30. I tried the cup as well. She clenches her mouth closed. So she is eating 6 oz in the morning and about 8 oz in the afternoon and bed.

MamaLlama14

Most LCs will tell you not to be the one to bottle feed when LO is getting pumped milk so that he/she doesn't confuse it with the breast and begin to refuse nursing, but for some people I know that was how they got their child to accept a bottle after EBFing.  When baby realizes it's your milk coming from mommy they may be more inclined to take it.  I see both arguments- but I know that for two of my friends, giving their LOs the bottle at home a few times to "teach" them did the trick.

Also, talk to your pedi about his recommendation for how many ounces a day LO should be getting in BM, especially based on how much she's getting in other forms of food.  He may be okay with her getting her milk from you and not getting it during the day if her overall diet is not suffering.

CC1017

My son was around 9 months old when he started refusing the bottle.  One day my mom said he just started having a fit when she got the bottle and that was that.  During this time, he increased his nighttime nursing sessions.  He would nurse morning, when I got home, before bed, and usually twice at night.  Breastmilk was always offered in the bottle before offering solids.  We also tried the straw cup - he would drink a little bit of milk from it, but mainly preferred water.  So during the day we upped his solids and gave water in a straw cup and at night we increased breast feeding. 

jayro10

My LO has never taken a bottle. She is 7 months also. I went back to work and she started daycare a month ago. They've gotten her to take a bottle two times. I nurse her in the morning before we leave, then at daycare she gets oatmeal mixed with 2 oz breastmilk. I go nurse her again on my lunch break. She gets a fruit/veggie in the afternoon. And then once we are home, she nurses every hour till bedtime, plus at least two MOTN feeds. It's exhausting for me, but she is getting all her milk in so that's what is important.

jesuisfatiguee

DS refused the bottle AND sippy cup (several different kinds), and thus didn't eat much at all when I went back to work. Turns out he prefers to drink from an open cup, and will eat 1 meal of pureed fruit and veggies a day. It took a little over a month for him to cooperate, though.

I was hoping to delay solids as long as possible and take a more BLW approach, but making sure he gets proper nourishment is what had to take priority. You gotta do what you gotta do. Good luck, mama! It's tough in the beginning, but it actually does get better!

==N==

My dd went through a Phase around that age too. DC had to mix it with oatmeal for about a month. We kept offering the bottle and one day she took it again.

elemenoP

I only nurse her, she gets bottles from DH when I am not home. I haven't personally given her a bottle. She drank her bottle fine until about 3 weeks ago and began refusing it for a little while then finally giving in. If she wakes in the middle of the night she nurses but there are times where she sleeps through the whole night.

EMLDF

Haven't read through all of the responses, but are you feeding your LO previously frozen, defrosted milk?  My 9 month old will only drink fresh milk from a bottle (and will nurse too).  This wasn't always the case for us; when she was in DC she always had frozen and it was no problem.  Something changed and now we have a huge frozen stash that we probably can't use.  Something to consider. 

elemenoP

That was something I considered but it's both Defrosted and refrigerated. Today I am pumping at work right before leaving and going to see if possibly she will take fresh bottled from me when I get home. Maybe if she sees I can give her a bottle too she will be more likely to take the milk.

elemenoP

Btw thank you for all of the support mamas. I appreciate your advice, experience and words of encouragement.