9 month old BF baby suddenly refuses bottle - help!

[SkylarKD]

Our 9 month old is mostly breastfed, but she's been taking a bottle since she was a couple of weeks old. She hasn't had any problems until recently, so her Dad could give her bottles in the night, if I was out, or a babysitter could. We haven't been using bottles very much lately, and she now REFUSES to drink from one - she pushes it away, screams when we come near her with it, and won't even drink a drop.

Because she's always been good with a bottle, we know that it's not a taste issue, or a problem with the nipple, but we don't know how to get her to take an occasional bottle again (Mum & Dad need a night out sometimes!). I don't want to go cold turkey, because I still want to primarily breastfeed her.

Hubby has even tried giving her milk in a sippy cup, but she still pushes it away and cries "mum mum mum".

Help!

[* Paula *]

I would pick a feeding time that you are going to offer a bottle to her and stick with it for a few days.  Perhaps in the morning when she is most hungry.  I would pump at the same time to keep your supply up. 

Offer it to her consistently - perhaps get your DH to do it, so that she does not smell your breast milk.  If she refuses it, fine, don't make an issue out of it, don't offer a breastfeed, and then just offer breakfast.

She may refuse this feed for a few days, but babies do not have the ability to starve themselves, and she will soon realise that if she does not take the bottle she is not going to get any milk, and will start taking this feed.

Hugs I know it is hard, but it definitely will work.

There are also some great tips on the sticky post at the top of the boards on how to get my breastfed baby to take a bottle.

Hope this helps.

Good luck and keep us posted on how you get on.

Paula

[*Mona*]

I would also think this may be related to separation anxiety which often happens around her age.
so maybe it's just that she wants YOU and your closeness and that's why she refuses those bottle feeds.
I'd follow Paula's advice [fab as always] and I'm sure it will help.

M

[grahamsmama]

Do you do EBM in the bottle or formula?  You could always try the other.  I like Paula's advice too.  With my dd#1, we had a really hard time getting her to take the bottle while I was BF, basically just be as consistent as possible and don't make a big deal out of it.