My BF daughter won't take a bottle.

[Baby Georgia]

I want to help my wife out with feeding, so have tried on a few occasions to give Georgia a bottle, but she won't take it, she is 14 weeks old.

I have tried a couple of different teat manufacturers but she just won't have it.

Any advice on making some progress?

Georgia's final feed of the evening lasts for almost 3 hours(although she sleeps through the night - result!) but it means my wife can't do anything outside of the house until that's finished, which can sometimes be too late.  If I could do the final feed than maybe my wife might get a little freedom and I can contribute more than just bottom changes and putting Georgia down for the night.

Thanks

[Chicane]

Hey! Welcome!

It can take some time for LOs to get the hang on a bottle. How many times have you tried? Have you tried at the same feed every time and how long to you try for? She is still little and probably still getting used to the breast, it takes a bit of time and patience to introduce a bottle. I am sure some other BFing mums will come on soon and give you more advice on that....But my real question is - why is that feed taking 3 hours? What is happening in that 3 hours?

[Shiv52]

Alot of babies do take a long nursing session in the evening but 3 hours seems excessive.  Is your LO feeding the whole time? 

What are you offering in the bottle?  Breast milk or formula?

Have you seen this :

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=173309.0

[Baby Georgia]

We are offering breast milk in the bottle.  The feed takes 2 - 3 hours, but there are breaks in between, it's like cluster feeding tbh.  My daughter is 14 weeks and 15 lbs, so she stocks up well before going down.  She's been a good eater and taken to breast from birth.

TBH, there has been no steadfast rules to the efforts we have tried, no set feed or anything like that.  It's been quite random.  The only thing common each time is my daughter gets very upset, she's not stupid it seems and she knows the difference very well! lol 

[Baby Georgia]

Alot of babies do take a long nursing session in the evening but 3 hours seems excessive.  Is your LO feeding the whole time? 

What are you offering in the bottle?  Breast milk or formula?

Have you seen this :

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=173309.0

Thanks for the link

[Shiv52]

The feed takes 2 - 3 hours, but there are breaks in between, it's like cluster feeding tbh.  My daughter is 14 weeks and 15 lbs, so she stocks up well before going down.

Mine both cluster fed loads in the evenings.  It definately eased up after the 4 month GS so hopefully it will be the same for you guys.   I'd accept the long feed as she is going so long at night!!!

Have you tried a bottle right at the end of a sleep when she is still drowsy?  Or as a DF? 

[Baby Georgia]

The feed takes 2 - 3 hours, but there are breaks in between, it's like cluster feeding tbh.  My daughter is 14 weeks and 15 lbs, so she stocks up well before going down.

Mine both cluster fed loads in the evenings.  It definately eased up after the 4 month GS so hopefully it will be the same for you guys.   I'd accept the long feed as she is going so long at night!!!

Have you tried a bottle right at the end of a sleep when she is still drowsy?  Or as a DF? 

The length of the feed isn't that much of a problem tbh, it's more that if there's a night out planned then my wife can't leave the house until after the feed is finished, which makes a night out for her impossible (leaving the house at 9 isn't as plausible as it was before Georgia was born, he he)

Having taken a look at the link you provided there are lots of ideas on there to give me some inspiration, so thanks

[shivi]

Another way to stop the clustering and maybe convince baby G to let your wife get out and get some Y time is for your wife to use her pumped milk straight after the first feed of that evening cluster....and maybe you should be the one to do this (as G will smell your wife etc etc),

Clustering in the evening is due to the lowering of prolactin levels as the afternoon and evening wear on....it is common as Shiv says, to around the 3-4 mth mark and after this, prolactin levels stay even throughout the day and night, only rising when LO is actually sucking. My DD particularly was a pain for wanting to be attached to me from week 6 to 10 ish at 6-9pm and I found it impossible to do DS's bedtime and this as DH works late. So I did a kind of top-up feed of ebm at this time rather than at DF time and it worked wonders for giving me back my evenings.

DS, on the other hand, was an easier guy for socialising as he clustered from 4 to 7ish pm in those early months.

It SHOULD all sort itself out soon and if not, I suppose take heart in the fact that the nights are so good....

S x

[Chicane]

I do agree with Shiv though, a lot of these kind of things do settle down after 4 months. If you feel like posting up what a regular day looks like then we may be able to help you figure out more of a routine so that you and your wife can get some time together in the evenings...you can see what kind of format we mean by looking at the samples in this link http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164253.0
and yeah, sleeping so well at night, amazing!

[squeakersmum]

My DD was terrible a bottle feeding for a while there! We started when she was about 5 weeks old to give her just a couple of ozs at a dream feed (pumped that morning) and then I would finish the feed at the breast. She was nice and sleepy and this was the only time she would even entertain the bottle being anywhere near her! Honestly it was perseverance and giving her just that little bit every day. Also doing it at the start of the feed when she was hungry worked but i've also read of babies that do better when they've had the edge taken off the hunger.