Back to work in 1 month - BF baby won't take bottle

lovelypinai18

I have a 10 week old son & have been almost exclusively breastfeeding. I'm on maternity leave until August when I'll be returning to work for 5 days a week for 8 hour plus days. When he was 2 weeks old his pediatrician said we could start bottle feeding expressed milk because he was breastfeeding so well & gaining weight. LO did great switching back and forth. We started having my husband feed him a bottle at bedtime. Then I guess a week after this LO started being awake for longer amounts of time & became fussy at dinner time. So I just starting breastfeeding him exclusively & we didn't use the bottle with him again until he was 5 weeks old; we went out for dinner & my MIL was able to get him to take the bottle, but with some difficulty. A couple weeks later I started leaving him with different family members throughout the week in the mornings while I went to the gym. He ate small amounts of milk with the first 2 people he stayed with. And after that he absolutely would not take the bottle anymore. I start work in the first week of August & am really becoming stressed that LO won't eat while I'm at work & will not be a happy baby for whoever he is staying with.

What we have tried:
- We started with the Avent bottle, which he had no problem with up until he started refusing them. Since then we have tried Playtex Vent Aire, Playtex Drop-Ins, NUK, Breastflow, Medela nipples that came with the breast pump, Parent Choice, Gerber newborn latex nipple, Dr. Brown. Now we are trying Tommee Tippee.
- He has never liked or wanted a pacifier.
- Have tried feeding him with me, with me out of the house, with my husband, my mom & his mom, my sister in law, my aunt, my husband's grandma.
- Have tried with him sitting up, lying in the cradle position, lying on his back, facing forward on a lap, switching the bottle during breastfeeding, outside, in the living room, in his room.
- We tried an afternoon of no breastfeeding & just the bottle. He screamed when the bottle was put to his mouth.
- Now I am trying just offering the bottle during morning feedings when he is calm - placing the bottle to his lips while breastfeeding. Sometimes he's ok with it there and gnaws on it. Other times he starts fussing. When I put the bottle in his mouth while he's dozing off he keeps it in his mouth but that's it. One time he sucked for a few seconds while he was dozing off then spit out the bottle. I've tried putting the bottle in his mouth while he's been asleep.
- I'll still keep trying the current method we're trying, but if it still doesn't work I am considering buying more bottles & nipples off of Amazon to see if he likes those. Otherwise, will we have to resort to using a cup or medicine dropper since I'll be going back to work?

I am happy breastfeeding has gone so well & enjoyable with us. But now I'm pretty sad he won't eat while I'm away. Does anybody have any advice?? Thank you so much!

9fraulein

I have the same problem, LO is 4 months and the only time she ever took a bottle was the first 2 tries at 4 weeks old, and never since. Also she refuses the pacifier. I got back to work when she is 5.5 months. I will be gone 10 hrs/day, 5 days a week! I am worried, but I spoke with another mom who went through it already, she said it took her daughter a week to get used to the bottle when she went back to work. She said it was a very hard week. But now her daughter drinks from it fine, and she uses Avent, but said she didn't think it mattered the type of bottle anymore because she will drink from others. So, I don't really have any advice, except to say I am in the same situation and I am not looking forward to going back to work because of this, but I am optimistic she will eventually drink the bottle, even if it takes a week! 

honeybee111

I pretty much went through the exact same thing with my daughter(3.5) except I went back to work when she was 7 months.  Since she was older, our nanny suggested going with a sippy cup instead which we tried and failed, and eventually ended up with a straw cup.  I will have to say, the first week back to work was horrible - DD basically barely had milk the entire day, and then would nurse every two hours once I got home until bedtime.

I'm now trying to avoid all that with DS(6 weeks).  I'm pretty sure we weren't consistent with the bottle with DD, and that's what part of the problem was, so now DH and I are committing to one bottle a day with DS.  Again, the first few days were rough.  Then, he was ok with DH giving him the bottle, but would scream if my mom tried it.  Now, he's MUCH better - today, he ate 3.5 oz from my MIL feeding him.  We're also sticking to one type of bottle/nipple, and not switching around every few days like we did with DD.  I think it gave him a chance to adjust to it.

Temp994124375009771

Our pedi was so nice and helpful when I went through it with DD.

She hated the bottle and never wanted a paci.

My pedi said "go. She will be fine. She will eat when she is hungry. It might not be as much as she normally does and she may reverse cycle eat more at night when you are home but she won't starve herself." She said both of her sons did this with her and they figure it out.

I left. DD refused first bottle. Gave in on 2nd one. :

A couple of things that helped us were latex nipples we noticed she screamed less with those ones so we just picked those one to stick with. Also, really really warm bottles. Like boarderline hot. Even now if the bottle cools at all she immediately looses interest. Finally I have to be GONE for her to take a bottle.

Good luck!

st.augbride

Dd did this when we started daycare. She took it just  fine until about 3 months old and then completely refused it. The first week at daycare she barely ate at all in the day. She held out until I got her, and I even came to feed her midday a few times. Then we had a period where she was home alone with dh for a week, and with much persistence, she slowly started taking it. We had success with Dr. Brown's bottles (I really think the bottle type didn't make a difference though since she rejected them all and we tried a TON) when dd was sitting in her bouncer, facing the tv or given a toy for distraction, and dh was to her side rather than in front of her. I don't think it was until I was back at work for about 2 weeks that she started giving in. Even now, daycare says that certain providers have more luck with her, and she won't eat while being held but only in the bouncer. Who knows!? But she did eventually eat.