LO won't take bottle but you returned to work anyway?

shellylovelee

We've had no success getting out 4mos old to take a bottle. I've already delayed my return to work (part-time self-employed) for a month. In two weeks I will be working.

Anyone return to work before baby was successful taking a bottle?   DH will be with her the day I go back so at least she'll be with someone she's used to. Worried it will be a very rough day/night for everyone.

honeybee111

I went back to work when DD was 7 months, but she didn't take the bottle either.  It was a rough first 3-4 days - she basically didn't have any milk during the day at all.  I was nursing/pumping, so she regressed to nursing every 2 hours in the evenings.  We tried sippy cups, and didn't have much success with those either, so our nanny suggested straw cups so we ended up with those in the end.  It was incredibly stressful at the time.  Good luck!

ByGrace22

Both my boys had a hard time with the bottle. Neither would have anything to do with it and they both ended up reverse cycling...basically sleeping at daycare and nursing all night. This worked ok since we bedshare and I didn't have to get up to nurse them. They would drink the bear minimum at daycare to take the edge off. The daycare ladies were very persistent and made sure they had at least something every few hours. I was back to work at 12 weeks.

pitterpatter129

Have you tried an open cup?  If nothing else, your daycare provider can syringe feed or spoon feed milk.  Some anti-bottle babies will accept hard spout sippy cups or open cups. Thankfully, my first didn't care.  LO2 might be a disaster because I don't go back until Aug...

 

 

 

 

dizzycooks

Delaying my going back would have resulted in my being fired.  DD figured it out, not to say it didn't suck, but she managed to figure out she needed to eat somehow.  She nursed every two hours I was home though until about 11 months.  At that point we went to every 3.

brettsmama

I actually left the house and then had DH and my mom give DS a bottle. If i was in the house, even in another room it didn't work. At 6 months DS have up bottles and used sippy cups with the soft spout and did much better.

azuremama

Both my kids hated bottles until I went back to work full-time and they had no choice. It took a week or two for them to eat well at daycare, but they both figured it out. It sucks, but sometimes you just have to dive in.

NicoleWI

I had to do this. My DS took a bottle fine initially, but then developed eating aversions with reflux and completely stopped taking bottles (or pacis, incidentally!). It was very, very stressful and exhausting. I was up with him a LOT at night. The nanny would syringe feed him a little during the day and occasionally he would take a few ounces from a bottle, but that was rare. It was really hard. We also tried open cups and started introducing the sippy very early (without much success). However, this is not the norm. Most kids DO eventually give in and start to take a bottle. Looking back, I wish I'd tried harder with trying several different kinds. I just felt like the particular bottle wasn't the issue, since he initially took it just fine, but I probably should have tried more kinds anyway. I was sooo sleep deprived. Anyway, it was very hard but we made it through and now he is an awesome, sweet, smart little boy. 

Debra4869

Yes you just have to dive right in. My DD never took a bottle from me or my DH. She ONLY took the bottle from her nanny and to this day she still would never take a bottle from me or anyone else ... Except the nanny. Kids learn to adapt to their environments. She knew if she was home that she didn't need to take a bottle because I was there to nurse her. But she also knew that at daycare that was the only way to eat. She took her bottles there like a champ. I went back to work when she was 12 weeks old.