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Offline ENMS

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6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« on: November 14, 2009, 15:50:29 pm »
Hi there,

My 6.5 month old DD has just started refusing the bottle in the past week or so.  It took really long to have her accept the bottle in the first place (she didn't really reject it but she didn't seem to know what to do with it) but once she did, it always went well, we gave her a bottle a day for a while but then I decided to start breastfeeding full time again and reduced it to about a bottle per week.  Now, I need to wean her for 2 of her 4 feeds since she's starting daycare in January and I want the weaning to occur a couple of weeks before that since I know daycare will be difficult enough as it is I want to avoid any further disturbances in the same period.  But she keeps refusing the bottle, she just won't open her mouth and ends up crying after 1-2 minutes of me trying.

I want to continue breastfeeding her first thing in the morning and before bed and replace the two feeds during the day only.  If I decide not to breastfeed her until she accepts the bottle, if it takes 1-2 days, will it impact my milk production since I do want to continue feednig her? Also I'm not sure I'm mentally strong enough to do that, I'm assuming it will involve lots of crying and I've been struggling lately, not sure if it's PPD or something else, I'm seeing my doctor on Wednesday about it.

So I would prefer to do it gently but I don't know if there are any other options than just continuing to offer the bottle every day?
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Offline RachelC

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2009, 11:39:45 am »
How's it going?

Are you offering breast milk?  Will you be pumping when you go back to work?
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Offline ENMS

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2009, 12:49:34 pm »
Hi!!

Still not working, I'm not planning to pump, I wanted to give her formula for the feeds I'll miss.  I keep offering the bottle every day but she gets really mad so I guess I just won't have a choice but to go cold turkey on her.

How long do I need to wait to go back to breastfeeding her morning and night once I go cold turkey on her with the bottle so that she doesn't get confused? 2 days??

Thanks...
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Offline RachelC

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2009, 19:36:56 pm »
Are you planning to pump for your supply?  If you go cold turkey on all feeds, that could be big trouble for your breasts... both in supply and risk of infection.

She may be balking at the taste of the formula - very different than breast milk.  You may want to pump and start offering 3/4 milk, 1/4 formula for a couple days, then lower the ratio to 1/2 and 1/2 then 1/4, 3/4, then all formula.
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Offline ENMS

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2009, 21:35:42 pm »
Hi! She's had formula many times before and didn't seem to dislike it (she used to take a bottle a day). I did try EBM in a bottle and she didn't want it either...

TBH I don't know what to do...  In BWSAYP she says the way to go is to just refuse to breastfeed them until they accept the bottle, that's why I wanted to do it but I'm a big believer in smooth and progressive changes for baby.  I'm going to keep trying for 1 week offering a bottle per day, if it doesn't work i'm not going to have a choice.  I assume I should pump if I do get to that point although I hadn't thouht of it, thank you for the reminder!!!
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Offline RachelC

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2009, 21:48:14 pm »
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Offline ENMS

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2009, 22:42:02 pm »
Yes, I have and I've tried most of them...  I'll keep trying!!! ;-)
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Offline SophiesMum9

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2009, 20:00:37 pm »
My DD did the exact same thing at about 6 months. We had been giving her a bottle every night from about 2-4 months and then I just stopped giving it to her and bf'd her instead (not thinking she'd forget about it!) ...I went out one night a couple of months later and I had to come home because she wouldn't take the bottle from my husband. I started trying to give her a bottle again every night and she was absolutely refusing...this went on and on for weeks. She would just spit it out and cry and arch her back as soon as we would try to give it to her. I tried countless different bottles and nipples and nothing worked. THEN I discovered the "Adiri" bottle....I gave it to her one night and she just latched on instantly, no problem, like she had been doing it her whole life! It was incredible! Now she is 9 months old, and takes a bottle of pumped breastmilk in her adiri bottle every single night. You should give it a shot, I think you can order them online from toysrus. Good luck!
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Offline ENMS

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2009, 01:25:21 am »
Thank you SophiesMum!!  Believe it or not, I am using the Adiri bottle!!! I had issues with her accepting the bottle from the beginning and the Adiri bottle ended up saving our life, the first time I introduced it she just took it!!  The only thing is that not long before she started refusing it I switched to the orange one, which I think is for 6 months +, I tried switching back to the blue one I was using before (think it's 3-6 months) but it's not helping.

Thanks for the advice though, and I'll keep trying!!!  I soooo want to avoid doing this the hard way...  :'(
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Offline SophiesMum9

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2009, 02:30:39 am »
Oh my goodness! Small world! lol Now I wish I had another magical solution for you!
I would just keep at it, every day, at the same time, and don't let her know you're stressed...When I was having trouble getting Sophie to take the bottle my naturopath suggested putting a bit of pear juice mixed with water in the bottle and seeing if she'd take it that way. Sometimes just a different liquid will spark their interest. Also, my LO is 9 months and we're still using the stage 1 adiri bottle (the white one) ...the others ones were too fast for her. Just a thought.

I really feel for you...it can be so tough and frustrating, but just stick with it, it will work out one way or another. :)
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Offline ENMS

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2009, 01:28:39 am »
Guess what?? She took 4oz out of a bottle today, and she gulped it down so fast I couldn't believe it. I think it's due to two things...  SophiesMum you made me think and I used the blue bottle again, and I warmed the milk more than usual because I was busy doing a puree so it warmed longer than usual.

Hopefully this will continue, I am so glad it worked out!!

Yay!!!  ;D
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Offline RachelC

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2009, 01:50:56 am »
 ;D
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Offline SophiesMum9

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Re: 6 month old suddenly refusing bottle
« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2009, 03:53:28 am »
Yay!! I'm happy for you! I know what a relief it is when they take that first drink from the bottle! Sophie likes her bottle quite warm also I've noticed...if it's not warm enough, she won't take it. Picky little munchkins they are... Glad things are looking up! :)
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