baby taking a bottle...?

LolaBelle515 · May 2012

Anyone have advice?

My wife (who carried) is exhausted from cluster feedings in the middle of the night. She started pumping so I could take one of the overnight feedings...but it's a disaster so far.

50% of the time he might, after lots of prodding, take part of the bottle from me...but he'll never finish it and requires the breast afterwards anyway, so I have to go and wake her up.

The other 50% of the time, he won't even take the bottle from me...but if I give him to her....he'll take it immediately.

I've tried wearing one of her shirts to at least try to create her scent, but no luck.

Anyone have suggestions on how to help baby take a bottle from someone other than the nursing parent? It's frustrating that I can't feed my own kid...but even sadder that I can't help my wife who is exhausted and really wishes I could help with this.

Thanks!

leapgirl8 · May 2012

Have you tried finger feeding? That's what we're doing with the supplement we're giving the twins right now. The lactation consultant at the hospital gave us periodontal syringes (just plastic syringes with a curved tip) to use. You fill it with formula or pumped milk and then let the baby suck on the end of your finger (fingernail down). You can gently stroke the roof of his mouth to get him to suck. Once he has a good suck going on, you slip the tip in next to your finger and dispense the goods slowly. If he pauses, you pause, so it's the same suck/reward system as on the breast.

Obviously I have been a mom for about 5 minutes so there may be better suggestions out there, but this is working well for us.

TaylorandMel · May 2012

Can't really advise on this because our babies went from being tube fed to taking a small amount from a bottle and never did take to nursing after bottling at the hospital from the beginning. They're experts with breast milk from a bottle tho. Maybe you should bring LO over and the 3 of them can discuss it.

hlke · May 2012

I used to nanny and I was the only one that the baby would take a bottle from. I think it was a combination of some of my "tricks" and that mom wasn't home and eventually he'd just be hungry enough to give in.

The single most important thing to get him to take a bottle was that mom had to be out of sight/earshot or the baby would have none of it. If he knew boobs were an available option, there was no hope.

The mom I worked for had a gliding rocker in the living room and used a breastfeeding pillow when she breastfed him in the rocker, so our routine was that I would sit in that rocker with the breastfeeding pillow, get him into as close to a breastfeeding position as possible, and then give him the bottle. If he wouldn't take it, I would stand up and try to calm him as much as possible before trying again. This is where my favorite book of all time "The Happiest Baby on the Block" comes in. I would swaddle him, put him on his side, make shushing noises, and bounce around/swing him around until he calmed down enough that we could try again. Keeping him swaddled for the feeding sometimes helped too. Needless to say, all this could be a very loud process and I'm not sure how well it would work in the middle of the night, or if your wife will actually get more sleep with you taking the feeding if he cries a lot when you try to give him the bottle.

2moms2twins · May 2012

We have twins ... and had no feeding issue but a close friend of ours who has a baby just a few mo older than our did... You may need to run the gmut and go through several diff bottle moreover the nipples. Try to find one that is closest to what your partners nipple look like .. try silicone and or latex providing no allergies until you find one that works. Our friend went through several diff types of bottles until she found one.. SO you can try to buy one bottle at a time BRU is pretty good about returns but check b4 and tell them the baby did not want it or you can always write to the companies and tell them but it may tke a while for them to send you a sample or coupon ...

you can also hold the baby the way your partner does and keep the bottle in the same position ... One of ou girls stopped latching on to the breast but would only take a bottle if she was in the same position as if BIO MOM was going to feed her. It was weird but we went with it so I would basically hold her like i was going to breast feed her but used a bottle ...

Madela also makes a device that will dispense milk and allow you to faux breast feed if you are interested supplemental feeding very common in adoptive mothers who want to breastfeed and in non-biomoms who want to breastfeed and need help with lactation and non-bios who just want to help feed

hope that helps ...

- J

hlke · May 2012

Yeah, 2moms idea about the supplemental nurser is a good one if you'd feel comfortable with that. Feeds can take a long time with the supplemental nurser (the tube is tiny) but it would be much more like breastfeeding. Not sure if you using it would be enough to induce lactation, but beware of the possible side effect.

Are you feeding formula or pumped breastmilk? If you're feeding formula, you can try a few different brands, some babies just don't like the taste of certain formulas. And like 2moms said, trying different bottles might also work. Dr. Browns and Breastflow are both frequently recommended for nursing babies because they are more like the breast.

Finally, remember this too shall pass. Just try your best, enjoy the baby, and have faith you will figure it out.

hlke · May 2012

Oh...and taking half the bottle and then wanting to nurse sounds like comfort nursing. Could you try a pacifier and cuddling? Breastfed babies generally need smaller more frequent feeds, so don't be surprised if he won't take a full 4 oz from a bottle, he probably is getting less than that per feed from the breast.

norika33 · May 2012

First off...holy cute baby!!

I second what everyone said- we went through a bunch of different nipples, my kids never took Playtex, but loved Dr. Browns slow. I know it can be super nerve wracking because you want the LO to get their food in, but I think stress plays a part too- babies are little sponges!

My daughter, who came home at 4lb8oz, was (and still is) a peanut, so we constantly tried to make sure she got enough, which only made feedings harder since she had a tiny stomach, so had to eat all the time.

Hang in there- it will work out- and definitely talk to your pedi or your lactation consultant- there's all sorts of tricks to try, and it will magically work itself out one day. Then you'll be onto the next thing ;-)

Want a personalized experience?

baby taking a bottle...?

Re: baby taking a bottle...?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards