won't take bottle

giggler25 · July 2014

DD is 8 weeks old tomorrow and apparently I screwed up badly by not trying to introduce a bottle sooner. She won't take it. MH tried a Medela bottle/nipple on Tuesday morning and a Dr. Brown bottle tonight. She cried and pushes it out. I even left the room so it was just her and daddy. She won't take a paci either, though we have tried a handful of tines to introduce one, even earlier on. Is it too late? Am I permanently out of luck now?? I was so worried about establishing BF that I didn't try sooner and I didn't realize until reading a thread on here late last week that it was getting too late...

SamanthaPo · July 2014

FWIW, my daughter didn't take a bottle until I went to work. We started trying to introduce the bottle at 6 weeks, but she refused it. We tried roughly 8 different bottles. Nothing worked, until I finally went to work and I wasn't home. There is still hope!

Melody330 · July 2014

Please don't think you messed anything up! You are doing a fantastic job. Introducing a bottle early doesn't mean anything. My LO took a bottle like a champ for weeks....until he didn't anymore.

My advice : keep trying once a day. Only give an oz at a time so you aren't wasting precious milk

MH would get frustrated so we came up with a plan. He would attempt three times to get LO to latch on the bottle and if that didn't work he would soothe him for a few minutes. Then I would take him and finish the feeding. It took a good 4 weeks or so but he figured it out!

FWIW we wound up using Lansinoh mOmma natural Wave bottles

Good luck!

giggler25 · July 2014

Thanks so much @SamanthaPo and @Melody330! Good to know there is hope...

flcl · July 2014

You did NOT screw up. We had been giving LO a bottle everyday/every other day since week 3 because we wanted to make sure he would take them... and he did. He took them great until 11-12 weeks and freaked out. He has been refusing bottles ever since.

We took a few steps back and had DH spoon feeding him the milk for a couple of days. He took the milk then. DH then went to a sippy cup with the valve removed and LO took the milk then as well. Unfortunately, both of those processes take a long time and result in losing milk. So, we tried all kinds of bottles and nipples and choice the one he refuses least. DH still tries daily/every other day with not much luck. The important thing is try regularly but don't force it. At least we know that there are other ways LO will take the milk when I return to work. His pedi said not to worry, that LO's sense of survival will kick in and he will eventually take the bottle when I do go back. It can be frustrating so hang in there!

Pankers · July 2014

We just reintroduced bottles again at 16 weeks, took 2 weeks to get her to take one. We had to use the Lansinoh mOmma natural wave ones too. She wouldn't take anything else. Also try your LO when they are not too hungry.

giggler25 · July 2014

Thanks for all the advice!!! At least we have a plan now.

eggmankate · July 2014

You did NOT screw up so don't feel bad! This is soooo common. DD took bottles well at 8 weeks and then when I returned to work at 12 weeks she did what your LO did while my mom was watching her. It was confusing to me and really stressful and thought she was going to reverse cycle and never take a bottle. I called daycare to give them a heads up that DD wasn't taking bottles and the director told me she's never in her 15 years of experience had a baby permanently refuse a bottle. The daycare workers have so much experience with this. To my utter shock she took a bottle (somewhat reluctantly at first) with daycare on day 1 and by the end of the week she was a pro. So as much as I understand it's stressful now just realize that this isn't likely a permanent problem.

won't take bottle

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