Author Topic: I would like to use a cold turkey method to reintroduce bottle to 12 weeks old  (Read 1711 times)

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Offline AnnalynRN

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Hi all,

My son is 3 months old on Dec. 1st. He’s EBF. We introduced a bottle at 7 weeks but he was refusing it but I finally able to make him take it at around 9-10 weeks old. He was taking 2 bottles a day of EBM then at 11 weeks he started refusing a bottle with hysterical cry. It’s been almost 3 weeks once his last bottle that I gave him and I would like to reintroduce it again because I’m going back to work on January 5th. I’m hoping his colds will get better soon, we are on day 3 of his colds and so far better that the firs time he got it at 5 weeks old. By the way, my son was able to take EBM from playtex drop ins, warm, laying on his side with head slightly elevated. If I do a cold turkey route, what do I do at night if he doesn’t take a bottle during the day (I’m hoping and praying that it will not last more than 10 hours). Do I still breastfeed him before bed time? He usually do a night time feed at midnight and 4 am if he’s down at 8 pm but sometimes he just need 1 feeding at 1 am. I am ready for this little one to take a bottle I feel so claustrophobic, restricted, unable to be away from him for more than 2 hours, and my work is 12 hours per shift, 3 times a week plus 1 hour commute. My mom will be watching him but I’d like to make sure he can take a bottle before my takes over during the day when I’m gone at work. I don’t want to rely on the thought that my mom can give him a bottle. I guess I’m just nervous to leave him knowing he may refuse to eat while I’m gone. Please help.
I’m also scalding my milk because I tried giving him a thawed frozen breastmilk and he made a yucky taste and won’t suck a bottle. Eventually if possible I’d like him to be on formula because it is so hard to squeeze a pump session as a nurse during the day and I have to scald my milk right away because it turned soapy after 2 hours or when reheated at second time.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2017, 12:55:37 pm by AnnalynRN »

Offline Erin M

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Hi there!  If you can absolutely avoid it, I'd try to skip the cold turkey route -- it really is so traumatic for your LO...and for you as well.
However, it does sound like you really do need your LO to take a bottle!  When my oldest was needing to take a bottle, we would try it in a very low pressure situation before each feed - I would just offer it (preferably before she became hysterically hungry, thank goodness for EASY) and if she didn't take it, I wouldn't worry about it, put the bottle away, and try again next time.  You only need to put an ounce or so in the bottle (you could even use formula) because he probably won't end up taking it anyway.  ::) However, with my oldest, she eventually did start taking the bottle and we never had trouble with it again.  A friend of mine had an EBF baby who also wouldn't take a bottle - and after a few days of refusing at daycare, he did eventually take it.  It kind of also depends on how your mom will cope with the screaming baby (if he's still not taking it at that point).  If she's good with being able to wait it out and ignore him being upset, it's pretty much like doing cold turkey then, as opposed to now.  Not to say that you can't do it at all, but there are a lot of reasons why you might want to try something else instead.

Here are some tips from LLL for encouraging your baby to take a bottle.  https://www.llli.org/faq/bottle.html

((((hugs)))), this definitely isn't easy.

Offline *Ali*

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Agree with Erin, cold turkey isn't recommended these days as it can lead to dehydration.

Have you considered cup feeding?
Cadan Dec 2009 and Colby Aug 2011