Reintroducing bottle

[kdgqueen]

My baby is 11 weeks old tomorrow.  For the first 8 weeks, she would take a bottle of breast milk just fine.  Two weeks ago she decided she did not want the bottle, only breast.  I need to be able to leave her with my husband to feed her......what should we do???

[Mariek]

Hi

What problem are you having with the bottle? Is she just flat refusing to take it? You could try a few different bottles until you find one she likes, or try a faster flow teat.

love

[zayandme]

I may have to disagree a bit with marie- If you go with a faster flow you may run into the problem of your lo not accepting the breast (particularly if she is textbook or touchy). I would wait and try a couple other things before you go to this.
Have you looked in the newest baby whisperer book about this? I don't know if she speaks to this at such a young age, but her "method" of reintroducing the bottle worked for my little one- who had stopped taking the bottle at 6 weeks and was 7 months when we finally successfully reintroduced the bottle.
We, too, tried many different bottles and nipples and wasted what seemed like gallons of breast milk down the chin and chest of a very upset little one. I'd try Tracy's method, because for us nothing else worked.
HTH

[kdgqueen]

I did try Tracy's method from the new book.  My husband fed her from a bottle all day on Sunday.  It was slow going at first, but she eventually was eating 3.5 oz at a time.  We are trying to give her 1-2 bottles a day, but it is still a struggle.  She just loves mom better!  We decided to stick with the Avent bottle and a stage 2 nipple because that is the bottle she was using when she went on her "bottle strike".  Today was better.....she ate 3 oz from a bottle fairly well.  We just have to be diligent and consistent.  We were giving her bottles during the night feedings several weeks ago and we figured that when she started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks and dropped those night feedings, we quit giving her a bottle regularly and she just got used to having the breast all the time.  We'll make it!  Thanks for the advice.  : )

[zayandme]

I know some days its just hard. Glad to hear you're making some progress!