Help! DD suddenly refusing the bottle

dtwmco

We've been giving DDs one small bottle of BM each night before nursing so that they don't forget how to take one.  I return to work at the end of this month, so they need to be able to eat without me.

Suddenly a couple days ago, DD began refusing the bottle.  She screams when it comes near her mouth and won't have anything to do with it.

(We've been using the Medela bottles and nipples.  I looked tonight for nipples that aren't silicone, and the only ones I found were latex for the Playtex Dropins - I don't really want to use that whole system if not necessary...Just to see, I did buy an Avent bottle, DD still won't take that nipple.)  Any suggestions if this happened with your LO?

ejgballerina

This happened the other night with DS, however, he took a bottle with just a little fussines the next night.  I don't have much advice, but you also might want to post this on the Breastfeeding board to see what advice you can get, I know that they are really helpful over there with this sort of thing.  GL!

emiannie

I know it seems early, but she could be working on some teeth.  Noticed any excess drool?  Miles got his first two teeth at 5 months.  So it could be that they're moving around in there and causing her some discomfort.  You might try Orajel on her top gums to see if she'll take it after that.  That almost always worked for Miles.

LVBlvd

I feel your pain on this. ?Paige refused the bottle for over a week and I was at my wits end. ?She was barely eating anything! I realized that she was really gassy, so before each feeding, I gave her mylacon. ?Every night I gave her gripe water. ?That helped a bit, but things didn't get much better until I switched formula. ?I give her lactose-free now, and she does a million times better. ?I know you are giving EBM, so that wouldn't be your issue...

I would guess that bottles make her gassy and she is associating bottle feeding with gas pains. ?You might try gas drops before a bottle session. ?Good luck!?

dtwmco

Thanks -

I did see a similar post on the BF board, but there weren't too many answers, so that's why I posted here.

She has refused occasionally, but this has been the longest stretch...4 days, I think.

  Another reason why I am so upset about going back to work.

LVBlvd

I am sorry - that is really tough. ?I don't like anyone else to feed DD because she can be so difficult and I feel like I have gotten it down to a certain extent. ?But my mom just tells me, don't worry - when she gets hungry enough, she WILL eat!

dtwmco

Thanks again..

She did eventually take the bottle tonight after being in her crib for a little bit of time (which was after nursing).  DH said that she just kinda calmed down and took it.  (He always does the bottles.)

I had thought about teething...  I never thought to try sometime for the pain prior to the bottle.  It's interesting, because other DD has trouble nursing due to teething sometimes, I think.  DDs aren't doing any major teething right now - no visible irritation in their mouths, but they do have drooling, stick lots of things in their mouth, are irritable, I see what look like teeth coming up. (Pedi said that what I was describing wasn't teething since there was no visible irritation in their mouths?)

As far as gas, I think it's a definite possibility, but the bottles are so small that it wouldn't be too much gas?

LVBlvd

dtwmco:

As far as gas, I think it's a definite possibility, but the bottles are so small that it wouldn't be too much gas?

They swallow more air at the bottle than on the breast. ?Especially if she is fussing and fighting it - all she is doing is sucking in more air, causing more irritation. ??