HEELPPPP - my 3 month old will NOT take a bottle and been trying for 8 weeks!!!

[Lissie]

Hi

In bad need of some new tips/advice. My little girl is exclusively breast fed and is 12 weeks old this Tuesday. She is at 50% for her weight and has no problems breast feeding - htough she does feed little and offen.

I am trying to get her to take a bottle - we strated trying at 4 weeks and she still has not taken mor ethan an ounce of the odd occasion. I am running out of ideas and strating to feel trapped - as cant do anyhting on my own. Here are the things we've tried:

Different bottles - Breast Flow, Tommee Tipeee, Medela Calm, MAM, slow/fast/med and variflow teats.

Tried different milk temperatures.
Tried different milks - expressed, formula - Aptamil and SMA.
Tried different people (inclusing husband)/ positions - including me leaving room.

Tried giving bottle when hungry and when not hungry.

At first she hated having anything in her mouth but my boob - now she doesnt mind holding a bottle teat in her mouth, but does not know how to suck and tries to use her tongue as though breast feeding (nipple confusion?). She draws no milk from the teat when she does this - even the ones that her meant to work like a boob i.e. breast flow bottles.

SO we tried a Medela feeding cup(in case it was confusion about sucking)  - this confused her a lot and she cried her eyes out on each occasion and would spit it all out.

What else can I do? I am always calm when trying to feed her and so is Husband - so shes not picking up on tension - and she doesnt associate bottles with crying as she will happily hold it in her mouth and try to suck (wrongly).

PLLLLEEEASSSE suggest soemtyhing new for us to try - I need to have some space occasionally. Never planned to give up breast feeding - just want to combination feed so little one and I can have the best of both worlds.

Thanks in advance Lissie

[Lolly]

I don't have any direct experience I'm afraid as my two were bottle fed pretty much from the start, but here are a few links that should help. http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=178500.0 and http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=173309.0.

If these don't help come back and I'll get some breastfeeding eyes on this!

HTH!

Laura

[babyjones123]

I am having the same problem. My LO is 8 weeks old. She goes hysterical as soon as the teat is put into her mouth. I am having a stand off this morning. I am using the medela calma. She has not been fed for the past 7 hours. Does anybody know how long a baby should wait before i offer the breast?

[Lolly]

Fed her please.

You shouldn't be going cold turkey with such a tiny baby to get them to take a bottle. Babies as small as yours only have breast milk/ formula for food and liquid intake and can get VERY dehydrated very quickly. Going cold turkey is sometimes the best way for babies who are on solids and taking water from a cup at times when mum needs to go back to work or for medical reasons for example.

Have a look at the links I posted above, I think this bit is important for you - Give the baby the bottle for 5 minutes, then take a break for 20 minutes, try again for 5 minutes and after that, nurse. Do this 2 times a day for a week.  Make the 5 minutes fun and set a timer so you’re not watching the clock but PLEASE feed your baby and try again another day.

Laura

[babyjones123]

Thanks Laura. Sorry i dont think i explained myself very well. My LO hadn't fed for 7 hours as she only woke up at 9am after her last feed at 4am. I wasn't actually starving her Anyway the update is  I tried to give the bottle, she didn't take it, so tried again 20 mins later. she then fell asleep for 40 mins, woke up and took the Medela bottle!! Hooray

[Lolly]

Phew I'm glad she took the bottle!

I think some of the advice in the info is to give a bottle at the same time every day. But you also need to be aware that giving bottles can have a negative impact on your breast milk supply, so it depends on your long term aims as to how often you give a bottle. Some people combine feed with no issues at all, others find it's the beginning of the end of breastfeeding so you need to be happy with what you do 'cos we all know happy mummies = haapy babies

Laura

[babyjones123]

Hi Laura, I went out for dinner the other night and expressed some milk for my mum to feed her. My LO would not take a bottle from my mum. Since then i decided to introduce a bottle to ensure she knows how to feed when my mum is looking after her. I love breast feeding and have lots of milk so have no intention of stopping

[Lissie]

Still no luck

[*Liz*]

What are you doing at the moment? What bottle and what feed? After your LO refuses the feed do you BF straight away? If not how long so you wait?

I think the real key is being consistent and it WILL happen.

After they take it in their mouth happily it tends to happen fairly soon as long as you keep up the tempo with it.

Lets try and make a plan that you will do the same every day for a week. If no joy still we can then change something for the next week.

If all you want is a few hours off to go shopping or something have you considered a doidy cup? A LO can lap from it like a cat - now they won't take a full feed from it but can take enough to keep them calm and hydrated so you can have a few precious moments to yourself. Obviously still need a bottle in the long run, but just an option for a tired and stressed Mum.