EBF baby REFUSING bottle

jarob747 · April 2016

Anyone else's EBF baby REFUSING a bottle? I've tried everything, everyone, every bottle and nipple and have had NO luck at all. Anyone else dealing with this or is my baby boy the only one?

Miss Lilac · April 2016

I'm in the same boat! Won't take a pacifier either. If I try bottles he finds it funny at first and smiles a whole bunch while playing with the nipple. Then he just gets mad and starts biting at my actual nipple through my shirt. Does the same to my husband! Lol.

Mamacat316 · April 2016

My older son, now 2.5, would never take a bottle or pacifier. We tried a few when he was a tiny baby but he had no interest so I gave up and just fed him straight from the source. It wasn't a big deal since I'm a stay-at-home mom, and as he got bigger I could start to leave him for 4-6 hours at a time.

Miss Lilac · April 2016

Mamacat316 said:

My older son, now 2.5, would never take a bottle or pacifier. We tried a few when he was a tiny baby but he had no interest so I gave up and just fed him straight from the source. It wasn't a big deal since I'm a stay-at-home mom, and as he got bigger I could start to leave him for 4-6 hours at a time.

@Mamacat316 Did you start solids at 6 months? I keep thinking that will be a game changer.

Karen249 · April 2016

I am having the same problem. My DD still feeds every two hours (8 weeks). help! I'm desperate for my husband to be able to successfully give a bottle so I can get a 4 hour stretch of sleep. Mama is tired. It seriously has been over two months. So jealous of all you ladies getting some solid sleep. Hoping someone will have some tips or tricks that worked for them.

jarob747 · April 2016

I have NO tips

I need help too! I am supposed to go back to work in May. I can't leave him without him taking a bottle. He just smiled behind the silicone nipple, it's cute lol. Does the same thing to my husband too. Oh what to do, what to do????

jarob747 · April 2016

Miss Lilac said:

I'm in the same boat! Won't take a pacifier either. If I try bottles he finds it funny at first and smiles a whole bunch while playing with the nipple. Then he just gets mad and starts biting at my actual nipple through my shirt. Does the same to my husband! Lol.

Are you planning to return to work?

jarob747 · April 2016

Karen249 said:

I am having the same problem. My DD still feeds every two hours (8 weeks). help! I'm desperate for my husband to be able to successfully give a bottle so I can get a 4 hour stretch of sleep. Mama is tired. It seriously has been over two months. So jealous of all you ladies getting some solid sleep. Hoping someone will have some tips or tricks that worked for them.

Oh no, if you're already feeding every 2 hrs it's not like you can feed more often really during the day. Can you try feeding while you're laying down in bed so you can at least be resting?

srecupido · April 2016

Have you tried leaving the house completely? It seems like babies have a funny sense of what they can get away with and with whom. If you left your so at home with a bottle for a few hours baby might eventually get the picture that there isn't another option today.

I know that's not a method for everyone... Just another suggestion

Miss Lilac · April 2016

jarob747 said:

Miss Lilac said:

I'm in the same boat! Won't take a pacifier either. If I try bottles he finds it funny at first and smiles a whole bunch while playing with the nipple. Then he just gets mad and starts biting at my actual nipple through my shirt. Does the same to my husband! Lol.

Are you planning to return to work?

No. I'm not. So it honestly isn't really a huge deal. But it would be nice to be able to go out for more than a couple of hours. If not, I'll survive.

jarob747 · April 2016

srecupido said:

Have you tried leaving the house completely? It seems like babies have a funny sense of what they can get away with and with whom. If you left your so at home with a bottle for a few hours baby might eventually get the picture that there isn't another option today.

I know that's not a method for everyone... Just another suggestion

That the only thing I haven't tried yet. Will do. Thanks

OctoberStars · April 2016

My son went through this about a week ago. He went from being fine with bottles to screaming when he saw one. I know there are a million suggestions on the Internet and every situation is different so this is just what worked for us.

What worked for us was 2 fold : first we "played" with the bottle while he was happy but not hungry in order to get rid of the negative association. Next, while I was out of the house, my mom waited until he was hungry but not to the point of crying and offered it a bit more forcefully than playing and squirted it in his mouth. He latched right on. However, he still cried before bedtime because he wanted to comfort nurse to sleep even though he wasn't hungry. Good luck!

ashton2190 · April 2016

Mine still doesn't love bottles but she takes them. Because it takes longer to warm up a bottle than to whip my boob out, sometimes she gets a little crazy before the bottle is ready for and that makes it harder. Sometimes we have to rock/bounce/walk her with the bottle in her mouth until she calms down enough to take it.

Another thing we did at the beginning is I held her while DH gave the bottle. Then I passed her over while he held the bottle in her mouth. That way she knew it was okay to take the bottle

SmallyMcSmall · April 2016

I'm still having this issue with my 7 weeks old. He absolutely hates pacifiers. As for bottles, I know its recommended that if you want to switch back and forth between breast and bottle to use a slow flow nipple, but my son refuses to do that much work to eat. Last week, I caved and tried a medium flow nipple and he took it twice with much less of a fight. My guess is that I just have a more forceful flow to my breasts and the medium flow mimics that better. Now if only i could find the time to pump to continue trying to establish a relationship with the bottle!

VitaLuna · April 2016

Suggestions:

-leave completely while someone else gives the bottle (go outside)
-have the person hold baby really close/snuggled to feed
-give the bottle when baby is happy/content. Start with just a little snack, maybe an hour after baby nurses, just to get them used to it when they're not starving/frustrated. They don't need to take a full feed right off the bat.
-choose a time of day when they're not typically fussy (for us, that's mornings)
-if baby becomes hysterical, don't force it, try again another time

-the nipple/bottle combo that worked for us was Lansinoh momma slow flow nipple on a dr brown's wide neck bottle
-neither of my kids have taken a paci, and not for lack of effort

Hang in there. I know how stressful it can be!

kinnonam · April 2016

My LO will refuse the bottle if I am around. If I leave him with the grandparents while I run errands he is fine. But if I am home or in the area he will cut up.

jarob747 · April 2016

Viti Luna said:

Suggestns:

-leave completely while someone else gives the bottle (go outside)
-have the person hold baby really close/snuggled to feed
-give the bottle when baby is happy/content. Start with just a little snack, maybe an hour after baby nurses, just to get them used to it when they're not starving/frustrated. They don't need to take a full feed right off the bat.
-choose a time of day when they're not typically fussy (for us, that's mornings)
-if baby becomes hysterical, don't force it, try again another time

-the nipple/bottle combo that worked for us was Lansinoh momma slow flow nipple on a dr brown's wide neck bottle
-neither of my kids have taken a paci, and not for lack of effort

Hang in there. I know how stressful it can be!

Thank You for the suggestions, i will definitely try them. Yes it is so stressful

jarob747 · April 2016

I will try all of these tips. Thanks ladies

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