4 month old won't take bottle

xc1148

I need any tips please! We've tried literally everything, but I'm hoping there is something out there we haven't heard of.

LO took the bottle at one month with no issue, then again at about 6-8 weeks. I never thought bottle feeding was difficult so we never kept it up. Fast forward to two months and she SCREAMS when dad tries to feed her. We thought she'd grow out of it...nope. We've tried 5 different brands of bottles, slow/fast nipples, warm/cold milk, mom holding the bottle, mom out of the house, feeding sitting up, feeding lying down, strangers feeding her, feeding her while she is distracted by music, feeding her outside in the yard, feeding her when she wakes up and is groggy, feeding her when she is starving...nothing.

Today I fed her at 4am, then went out all day and left her with the nanny. She didn't eat all day She wasn't even that fussy, she kind of cried and then would sleep a lot. I really thought today would be the day. The doctor said not to worry, either she can adjust to the morning/evening feed, but most likely she will figure it out after 2 days. I am also going to make an appointment with the lactation consultant. But any suggestions would be appreciated!!

ashleykadlec

Wish I had some advice for you but I'm unfortunately in the same boat! My daughter just gags and gums bottles and pacifiers, she just doesn't understand how to latch or what to do. I've bought every brand of bottle I can find. The first month she took a few bottles from dad from the medela brand but since then she hasn't taken a single bottle. My first daughter had no problem with bottles and I feel like everyone thinks I'm an idiot but she just won't do it even if she's hungry. Hoping we both can get some tips!

abcmom12

perhaps the nipple hole in the bottles is too small.  a bigger size nipple might be worth a try and squeezing the nipple when it's in her mouth to let her know there's milk while you rub it back in forth

kelsire

Same here! My mom has gotten her to take a bottle twice, but that is it! We have a wedding next weekend I was hoping she wiuld take a bottle by then, not lookin so good.
The one thing that helped my mom was to warm the milk and the nipple. We even had to rewarm in the middle of the feeding (only 2 ozs!)

xc1148

The best luck we've had was when I was nursing her, then slipped in the bottle into her mouth. She took a few sips before she noticed!! I'm using the comotomo and medela bottles. 

I'm glad we're not alone! I met a girl at the nail salon that had the same problem with her 8 week old.

mrsscheid

We had the same issue! I did what XC said, slip the bottle in while nursing for ten days and finally it worked. Also the only bottle my LO will take is the $30 one on Amazon called Mimijum. We seriously tried everything. She still will only take what she needs to get by but it is better than nothing I suppose.

xc1148

abcmom12 said:

perhaps the nipple hole in the bottles is too small.  a bigger size nipple might be worth a try and squeezing the nipple when it's in her mouth to let her know there's milk while you rub it back in forth

Yea, we switched to bigger holes...no dice. Have also tried spraying milk in her mouth, and you know what she does? She closes her mouth lol. Sassy little lady would rather sit there in silence to avoid the bottle than cry and say "im hungry!"

I just bought the calmela (super-slow nipple in case baby wants more control) and the mimijum. Fingers crossed!

xtine_xtine

Same issue here! My son was taking a bottle until about 12 weeks old when he decided he didn't want that anymore. We've tried a ton of different bottles. We've had minimal success with Tommee Tippee and Avent with 6m+ fast flow nipples. The little bugger will allow the nipple in his mouth but will not suck. We can't shoot it into his mouth or he'll spit it out and cry. My son can go 9 hours and only eat 1.5 oz. That's about the minimum he needs to stay awake. It's unbelievable that he'll refuse food for so long but our Pediatrician also said not to worry. 

If you are trying, here are a few tips that have worked for us: 

-distraction! use a book, toy or something to distract the baby. much to our dismay, we put on the TV (Sprout TV) and he's been distracted enough to eat. I HATE this method but it works. 

-do not force the bottle down their throat (my mom did this and all we got was screaming)

-tickle their bottom lip with the nipple and let them take it into their mouth. 

-give them time. try for 15 min. if no success? put the bottle down for 30 min and try again for 15. 

I know it's tough. I can't tell you how much breastmilk I've had to dump over the last few weeks because my LO refused it. These kids are stubborn and they know what they want! :-) But if you try every day, they will come around. I'm still feeling hopeful! 

xc1148

We finally got it!!!! I feel like crying haha. After $300 spent on bottles, the winner is....the adiri!! We have the newborn flow, but might try the 3-6 months because she is sort of struggling to get milk out at first. We've also done lots of practice, with just putting the bottle near her and singing etc. We even spoon fed her milk so she would learn milk comes from other places. Perfect timing because I go to work on Monday. Good luck, don't give up!

kelsire

I was hoping my LO would take a bottle this weekend as I was a bridesmaid and couldn't nurse in the dress. She only took a little over 1 oz in about 5 hours! She wasn't too fussy, just really sleepy. She survived. Gave me hope that I can go on a date with my husband and she won't scream the entire time!

azianrashid

I need some help too! My LO started refusing the bottle at 2 months old and now he is 4 months plus and I finally found that he liked those MAM bottles. But he only drank from it for two days! And that was like 1-2oz. I've tried everything before this. Basically he knows how to suck but just refuses. I'm thinking of leaving him w my MIL for a few hours to see if he would drink from it, but at the same time I'm scared that he'll starve himself.