Baby won't take a bottle

cape05bride

My best friends's baby is 3 months old and is refusing a bottle.  My friend is breastfeeding and has been pumping in order for her daugther to take a bottle in case she needs to go somewhere.  They've tried 6 different bottles and she still screams.  Any advice I can give her?  She hasn't been able to leave her baby for more than 30 minutes because she will only breastfeed.

LynnJones

She may need to try a faster flow nipple.  I know they say to stay with a slow flow one while breastfeeding but maybe her let down is faster than most and her baby gets frustrated with the slow flow of the nipple.

charlatti

My kiddo would never take a bottle -- the only thing that works is now she'll take pumped milk from a sippy cup. But shouldn't a 3 month old be able to go more than 30 minutes without nursing? That seems unusually frequent.

cape05bride

Oh yeah she goes longer than 30 mins, sorry that was a typo

eacabraham@gmail.com

Getting a baby to take a bottle can be really hard, and it can take far more than thirty minutes.  If they can skip the bottles, it's okay to give up on this for now, but if they need them for any reason (because she has to return to work, or she needs some time off, or whyever), then things get tough.

I hated introducing bottles.  I had to leave the house.  My husband wore earplugs.  It sucked for everyone involved.  The things we tried that actually helped (and yeah, these things suck too, sorry) were:

1.  Maternal unavailability.  I could not be in the building.  I went for walks.  I went to the library.  I went to the mall.  We dropped the baby off at grandma's and went to dinner (not actually a fun date, and not to be tried without advance agreement from grandma).  DH took the baby to the park.  They called me when it was over.

2.  Make the bottle unlike nursing. Not in the same chair mama sits in, different holding positions, not while snuggling up to the receiving blanket mama leaked breast milk all over.  Try and make it a novelty, so it looks less like a substitute.

3.  Persistence.  You just have to keep trying this stuff, day after day, until the baby gets it.  Once you've got the baby to take a bottle once, give the kid a bottle once a day, even if it's just an ounce, to keep in practice.

The first person to successfully bottlefeed DS was my mother, at her house.   DS never would take a bottle from me or if I was around.

rach312

DD took maybe 5 bottles ever and it was the worst experience.  She was fine as soon as we were able to give her sippy.  Is her baby old enough for one?  I had a friend that introduced a sippy as young as 3 months and the baby was able to drink from it (with help).

busygal

DD didn't like a bottle either but at 3m she was able to lap from an open cup (of course this is not ideal for getting in a full feeding). Other things we tried successfully included warming up the milk more, me being totally out of the house during the attempt, and having DH walk around while feeding her (carry her in one arm and hold the bottle with the other). Distraction is key.

Also, they might try going 2 feedings apart. If she refuses the bottle or only takes a little on the first feeding, by the second one (which would be sooner than normal obviously) she may be hungry enough to eat.  DD would sometimes fight the first feeding I was away but take the second just fine.