Breastfeeding excellently but won't take dummy or bottle - Help !!!

[bighugs]

Hi Everyone,
I have a 7.5wk old daughter who is a brillent breast feeder, but i would like to be able to express once in a while so i can have an early night ! Express fine but she won't take a bottle, tried lots of them but she just doesn't seem to know how to suck on them. I have also tried her with a dummy to try and break the habit of her using the breast to fall asleep but she screams every time i try it. Tried many different types of teat, i did think i had cracked it with a newborn flat teat dummy but after one day she wouldn't use it again, and now doesn't even attempt to suck it - just screams. ANY ADVICE OR HELP would be very greatfully recieved !!!
Thanks
Ali

[bear]

Try the bottle when she is not very hungry, also make sure you warmed the expressed breastmilk AND the teat of the bottle. Make sure it's not too hot AND let someone besides you feed it for the very first time. Don't even stay in the room, babies can smell you and your breastmilk and it's easier to get it from you then the bottle. You might have to try several times and you did wait a little to long, you want to introduce the bottle first at around 3-4 weeks so it will take you a little longer.
Hang in there and keep trying,it will work.

[CaedensMama]

I agree with the advice to let someone else giver her the bottle! It may help. Also, she may never take a paci - some babies never seem to want them. Are you nursing to sleep now or will she go down on her own after you nurse her?

[bighugs]

Thank you so much for replying.

We had been heating the milk but hadn't thought to heat the teat as well, will defenetly try that.
I breast feed her when she gives me the hungry cry (thank you baby whisper book for teaching me that !!!!!!) but i watch for signs of her going to sleep and stimulate her by rubbing the inside of her hand but if that dosen't work i put her down before shes properly asleep so she is atleast going in her basket semi awake, she is showing signs of getting herself back to sleep if she wakes in there.

My health visitor told me that i would confuse her and risk her rejecting the breast if i tried bottles before she was 6 weeks old, i wish i had found this sight before now !!!

Thank you again for taking the time to reply
Ali
x

[Erin M]

Ali-
My DD never took a dummy despite my best efforts....around 4ish months she started sucking her thumb and is still quite the thumb sucker at 16 months.  She'll figure it out eventually.  As for the bottle it just took loads of persistence on our part (and lots of warming up EBM).  Good luck