- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Austin Babies
BF-babies and bottles
Okay, so we had DS's 6-month check-up yesterday and he's fallen to the 8% for weight.
As I mentioned before, he really doesn't take much from his bottles in daycare. Pedi thinks he's just a boob-man and is holding out for me. Which is flattering and all, but my kid needs to eat more than 9 ounces while he's away from me for 10 hours. (And the thing is that he's happy the entire time. He doesn't get fussy or miserable. He just won't take the damn bottle.)
So I had the idea to go up to the next flow bottle nipple. With DD, we just stayed on the slow-flow nipple the entire time she took bottles (13ish months). I'd read that going to the fast-flow nipple can be detrimental to BFing b/c the child will get used to the faster, easier flow from the bottle and will start to get frustrated at the breast. I do NOT want to create BFing problems for us, but I don't know what else to try to get him to take more while at school.
So if you BF'd, did you ever move up nipple flows? Did it have any affect on BFing?
Dear Bump: You suck.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: BF-babies and bottles
I'd definitely try it. DS was also a boob man and nothing could deter his love for them, not even the fastest flow nipple in the world. Sorry, that's stressful
Are they using the FF growth chart or the BF baby growth chart? (The standard one is FF.)
i'm probably not the best one to answer this, but I do remember distinctly changing the nipples w/my #1 and it made a huge difference. we mostly EBF, but he did get around 1-2 bottles/week and it was around 3 months when he started refusing the bottle. a friend told me to try a difft nipple flow and then instantly he was back in business w/the bottle. i never saw a difference w/my #2 and #3 guys, just my #1. fun how they are all different!
oh..and no change in BF'ing at all, same as usual when we went up a size, but like I said, we did very few bottles in comparison to your guy, but i would guess that it wouldn't change BFing for you?
I'm not sure which chart they're using, but it's not so much that he's in the 8% as that he's fallen from the 50% to the 8%.
And my pedi was wholly unconcerned. She says that he's clearly a happy baby, thriving, ahead in every developmental milestone, etc. He just loves him some boobs.
We had the exact same issues w/ my oldest. She did not ever like bottles. Ever. She drank just enough to not starve at daycare and that was pretty much it the entire time she was on bottles. And she did drop weight percentiles too. She basically waited until she was at home to catch-up. Which like you said - wasn't really ideal and all but it wasn't like we could force feed her either.
We did change nipple sizes but not until she was about 10 months - and that was b/c it was taking her so long to finish her bottles and daycare asked if we could try it. We did and it was totally fine. It didn't affect her bfing at all. But obviously she was a little older.
Do you think he'd take more if you offered him bottles more frequently? Not sure it would make much difference but maybe he'd do a couple more ounces just by eating more often.
I'd at least try going up one size in the nipple. If it doesn't work, you can go back down. It wasn't an issue for us b/c DD loved the boob so much, so she was perfectly fine w/ the faster flow on the bottle. And she was a very slow eater in general too....so slower flow on the boob didn't bother her.
Baby J dropped too... from 48% to 10%ish... my memory is already failing me on the exact stats. Our pedi said the same thing but that obviously we'd just keep an eye out. I bought one pack of the faster flow nipples (actually because i ruined one or two while washing them)... and i can't tell a difference!
Don't you just love Dr C! She is amazing and always makes me feel like a great when I ask stupid questions!
Back to your original question, changing nipples and bottles made a difference for us.
Hugs!
Is there a brand of nipple that's better as in more like mom's? Maybe something more similar would help? I have no real advice but good luck! lil man looks great and is adorable!
I don't have anything helpful to add except to commiserate.
K2 never took a bottle, no matter what we tried and we had a similar issue with his weight dropping in the percentiles. I know it's stressful, even if he's happy and doesn't fuss.
I hope you find a solution that works for your handsome, sweet boy.
Granted, we didn't use a bottle nearly as much as you are, but I do remember moving up a nipple size at some point. It didn't make her a bit of difference. She continued to nurse until 16 months like it was nothing. But we didn't feed her a bottle for that long, obviously. I definitely think you should try it. Good luck!
ETA: Definitely check out the BF growth chart. I did this because DD was pretty much always at the v.e.r.y. bottom of the chart and there is a difference in them. The BF chart certainly didn't make her look huge or anything, but it did make a difference.
I used the breastfllow bottles and went up to the medium flow around 6 months and she dd fine. The nipples are a little annoying but she sucked from it the same as she did from the boob so I liked them. They have them at buy buy baby and some of the bigger targets