Tips to get baby to take a bottle?

Re: Tips to get baby to take a bottle?

• katlizabeth member

  May 2009

  Wow, this is similar to my story!    I had to pump to increase supply and bottle feed after bfing to supplement my lazy sucker and he loved the bottle.  I then went for about a month without bottle feeding and left to go back to work and ds ate three times while I was gone, for a total of one oz and probably 20 minutes of fussing each time.  I don't know how many times you've tried, but it took ds about 4-5 days of being bottle fed during the day before he took it like a champ.  It got better each day, but now it's regular routine.  People also say that you should have someone other than you give the bottle.  My aunt also tried to give ds a bottle with one of my "dirty" shirts on her so that he could smell me.  Sometimes I stick a paci in his mouth if he'll take it to get him used to what sucking on a bottle will feel like.    People also say babies will eat when hungry...I know that's hard, and I wouldn't try it that long, but it might be woth a shot.  Hmm...my aunt finally got him to take a bottle by putting him in his swing and feeding him while he was swinging.  Good luck!
  

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• kds24

  May 2009

  I'm not going to be of much help b/c there were no real techniques that we used to get DS to take a bottle.  Around 3-4 months he got picky and was not very good at taking a bottle (he got about 1 max per week).  In the past month or so he takes them like a champ even though he gets them even less frequently since I haven't been able to pump as much.  He actually grabs for the bottle and holds it himself and gulps it down.  Just keep trying to offer it once or twice a week, not when the baby is super hungry or tired, I found that DS would be best in the afternoon and terrible at night. 

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• azuremama

  May 2009

  Some of it is just persistence, I think. 

  Other things that worked for us:  trying different temperatures (DS likes his milk really warm), having people other than me doing the feeding (I couldn't even be in sight or he'd refuse), trying when he was really hungry, trying before he got too hungry. 

  At daycare, they sometimes found that he'd take it better if he was not in a nursing position.  Either facing away from the feeder so he could look around, or even in a bouncy seat or propped up on the boppy worked better at first.  It was like if he was being cradled, he wanted the real deal.

  Good luck.  It's very frustrating, I know.

  

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• Alli321

  May 2009

  Thanks, I will keep trying at different times and temperatures!
  

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• jennysays2 member

  May 2009

  we had a lot of trouble too. she'll take the First Years breastflow bottle. Would only take it in her bouncy seat at first. My husband would make sure she was calm and happy (not overly hungry, but fairly hungry), give her a pacifier for a while, then the bottle. Let her play with the nipple and don't be too forceful with it. know that drinking an ounce at first is a victory and don't push it.
  

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