Forcing the bottle

VTKatie

I have seen a lot of posts on here about babies that refuse the bottle. I am in that boat.  A recent medical diagnosis requires me to start taking medication that is not safe for LO.  I need to transition to the bottle within the next few days.  I have tried EVERYTHING over the last month or so to get her to take a bottle and she absolutely refuses.  She took them up to 6-7 weeks no problem, so I know she can do it.  Then she just stopped and hasn't taken it since. Now I am in a situation that is going to make me force the bottle.  Has anyone gone through this?  By going cold turkey on breastfeeding, will LO eventually take the bottle? The doctor said if she doesn't take it I will need to use a medicine dropper to feed her formula.  I am having extreme anxiety over the whole situation and am at a total loss for how to proceed.

kwh33ls

My LO did this for a little while...I did the bait and switch (latched on me, then pulled it out and popped in the bottle) a few times with some success, and now she's okay with a bottle again. I hope it gets easier--it was very stressful for me when I knew she had to go to DC and wasn't taking a bottle well.

ETA:I did not poop in the bottle, I popped it in. Wow.

ADC1979

Have you tried using a variety of different brands of bottles to see if that makes a difference?  Like PP, my mom tells me I refused bottles when I was a baby so they had to EBF and use a sippy cup if it was really dire.  Sorry to hear this is causing you so much anxiety, you don't need that on top of your medical diagnosis!  

How old is your LO now?  Maybe it is time to try a different nipple size if our baby is older.  (I'm going to guess baby is at least 10-11 weeks based on your ticker.)  I suspect my LO would do with a different nipple size but he's taking his bottles currently so I'm not going to rock that boat.

Ekg688

I second leaving the house (or going to a different room/level) and have someone else feed her, if possible. Ive only successfully given DD and bottle once and it was while she was totally distracted by someone else.

Distraction (as pp state) could also help. I'm a HORRIBLE mother and will use the TV to distract DD; giving her meds, clipping her nails, or if I absolutely have to get something done and I dont want her to fuss.

VTKatie

I have tried every bottle, nipple, flow rate, made. I have had other family members, friends, etc offer her the bottle while I am not home.  I have taken her for walks and tried to give it to her in the carrier, stroller, bouncy seat....cold milk, warm milk, formula, a mix of breast milk and formula.  I literally have tried everything.  This has been more stressful than anything else we have gone through as parents.

Jordanjkmr

I had to switch to formula suddenly with my first who had never had a bottle before the sudden switch. The only thing that worked was sticking to my guns: it's formula in a bottle or nothing.
It took quite a few tries, but eventually he was hungry enough to eat: babies won't let themselves starve, they just make it a heartbreaking process on us moms.
I suggest having someone come spend the day with you having coffee and chatting while you keep attempting the bottle. Someone to encourage and help you, someone who can keep your mind off of the struggle in between tries.

VTKatie

Update! After 9 hours of hell, DH came home and she drank a whole bottle from him. There were lots of tears through the day, but it seems if given that as her only option, she will do it. Feeling very relieved! She won't take it from me yet, but that's ok. We are headed in the right direction.

SummerMomma2Be

I am thinking I may have to do what you did. Maybe starving all day will force my DD to take bottle. I too have tried tons of bottle types and flow. I tried, DH tries and other family. She won't even let the nipple be in her mouth to suck it. I even tried a nipple shield to get used to that feeling and and she won't breast feed with nipple shield. I even tried breast milk in a medicine cup and that didn't go over well.
I am out of ideas!! I have a training 10/22 I will be gone for about 8 hrs. This is the first true test of how she handles it. I go back to work f/t 11/24. So hard!