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not taking bottle!!! Help!

kerischraderkerischrader
in Babies: 3 - 6 Months
I currently BF and would on occasion (more in first 2 months) gave DS a bottle (with BM) so I could drink...more then 1 drink :) leave DS with DH, or have a date. DS took it just fine. I think the last he had a bottle was 6 weeks ago. Well now that I am starting to ween (slowly) but start with 1 feeding a day for a week and then add in another....etc. He WON'T take a bottle!! I tried yesterday but we were at an event and I thought there was to much going on... so tried again today and he got SO PISSED! I mean PISSED! I finally gave in and gave him my breast. How do I start to wean if he won't take a bottle. We are also starting to make a lot of changes with him, so maybe I should wait until things have settled??? We started yesterday with no swaddle and also me not breast feeding him to get to sleep. Thoughts? Should I wait? Best way to keep trying??
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Re: not taking bottle!!! Help!

  • l_elizabethl_elizabeth member

    Ugh, so it's VERY common for BF babies to stop taking a bottle at about 3 months or so. Many who have taken a bottle just fine now won't, it happens a lot actually. Or you get a baby like mine who has never taken one, period. He very likely won't take a bottle from you and might take it from someone else, or he won't take it no matter who gives it. We're kind of in the same boat, as I'd like to quit EBF but can't because he won't take a bottle at all. I think if you really have to quit, you're going to just have to do it (and not give in to nursing). Weaning might not happen for moms like us. You might have to pump the milk you'd still be feeding him, and feed it out of a bottle or just dump it.

    It's why we haven't weaned yet. My LO has to quit by 10 months, so I'm guessing we'll probably EBF until then even though I don't want to. The alternative is to let him cry and go hungry, and that breaks my heart.

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  • JessieJHJessieJH member
    We ran in to the same problem. We tried lots of bottles with no luck. On our pedi's advice I handed over bottle feeding to DH and I made sure not to be around while he worked on it- even a wiff of me and our LO will not toy with the idea of the bottle. We heat it up more than you would think you need to and we've found that the Playtex DropIns and latex nipple are the only ones she will use right now.
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  • preggersINschool25preggersINschool25 member

    My LO normally takes bottles, but would not tonight.  I had to calm him down (rocked him, used a pacifier, had him laying on his side)  When he was calm, I took the pacifier out and gave him the bottle.  That time he took it fine.

    There have been other times I try to feed him (bottle and nipple) and he has refused.  I can usually get him to take it by rocking him as I feed him.  Sometimes, I think he may not be hungry.

    Sorry if this wasn't any help. 



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  • janinekrausejaninekrause member

    I think for your sake, I would try all of the above. As much it is sucks for them to cry, your LO will eventually eat.  Some people are fine being the exclusive form of food for almost a year, but I think I would shoot myself. I work so it would never be an option and weaned my daughter pretty early on (pre-3 months).

    But I do know those who had a hard time- they tried a few different bottles, and just kept trying. Yes, it involved crying but a baby will get hungry and need to eat.

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  • kerischraderkerischrader
    Thanks everyone... DH and I decided to wait a couple weeks until DS has transitioned better sleeping without his swaddle, and not nursing to sleep. Then we will attack the bottle issue. I will start with letting DH feed him with me not around, and go from there. Thank you for your ideas :)
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  • klmbbbklmbbb member
    We have had a similar problem.  We gave LO her first bottle at just over 2 months and she took it with no problem.  All subsequent bottles have been rejected by her.  H did some searching for solutions and (I cringe to say this) found that feeding her in front of the TV worked.  Maybe she had anxiety about the bottle and the distraction of the TV was enough to make her forget about that?  We only plan to use the TV until she takes the bottle without objection.  We don't want her associating food with TV.
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  • anythingelsepleaseanythingelseplease member
    We had the problem that the baby (EBF) would not take a bottle at all. I had to go back to work at 8 weeks and started introducing a bottle 3 weeks before that. The only way she took the bottle was if she was half asleep. If she was awake she screamed and screamed and refused to even put it in her mouth. We tried every kind of bottle and every kind of nipple. We tried having me feed her, we tried having others feed her. We tried different positions, different locations, different times (when shes not hungry, when she is hungry). We tried every suggestion that everyone gave us and nothing worked until I finally had to go back to work. We sleep fed her the first few days, but after that she seemed to realize that I wasn't there to feed her so she started taking the bottle. She still takes it very fitfully (3 weeks later) and fights it at first, but takes in enough to be satisified during the day. It may just take time like it did for me. Or hopefully you will have an easier time with one of the suggestions above.
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