I have a 10 week old son & have been almost exclusively breastfeeding. I'm on maternity leave until August. When he was 2 weeks old his pediatrician said we could start bottle feeding expressed milk because he was breastfeeding so well & gaining weight. LO did great switching back and forth. We started having my husband feed him a bottle at bedtime. Then I guess a week after this LO started being awake for longer amounts of time & became fussy at dinner time. So I just starting breastfeeding him exclusively & we didn't use the bottle with him again until he was 5 weeks old; we went out for dinner & my MIL was able to get him to take the bottle, but with some difficulty. A couple weeks later I started leaving him with different family members throughout the week in the mornings while I went to the gym. He ate small amounts of milk with the first 2 people he stayed with. And after that he absolutely would not take the bottle anymore. I start work in the first week of August & am really becoming stressed that LO won't eat while I'm at work & will not be a happy baby for whoever he is staying with.
What we have tried:
- We started with the Avent bottle, which he had no problem with up until he started refusing them. Since then we have tried Playtex Vent Aire, Playtex Drop-Ins, NUK, Breastflow, Medela nipples that came with the breast pump, Parent Choice, Gerber newborn latex nipple, Dr. Brown. Now we are trying Tommee Tippee.
- He has never liked or wanted a pacifier.
- Have tried feeding him with me, with me out of the house, with my husband, my mom & his mom, my sister in law, my aunt, my husband's grandma.
- Have tried with him sitting up, lying in the cradle position, lying on his back, facing forward on a lap, switching the bottle during breastfeeding, outside, in the living room, in his room.
- We tried an afternoon of no breastfeeding & just the bottle. He screamed when the bottle was put to his mouth.
- Now I am trying just offering the bottle during morning feedings when he is calm - placing the bottle to his lips while breastfeeding. Sometimes he's ok with it there and gnaws on it. Other times he starts fussing. When I put the bottle in his mouth while he's dozing off he keeps it in his mouth but that's it. One time he sucked for a few seconds while he was dozing off then spit out the bottle. I've tried putting the bottle in his mouth while he's been asleep.
- I'll still keep trying the current method we're trying, but if it still doesn't work I am considering buying more bottles & nipples off of Amazon to see if he likes those. Otherwise, will we have to resort to using a cup or medicine dropper since I'll be going back to work for 5 days a week for 8 hour+ days?
I am happy breastfeeding has gone so well & enjoyable with us. But now I'm pretty sad he won't eat while I'm away. Does anybody have any advice?? Thank you so much!
