Very Frustrated, Help Please!

[nattymarsh]

Hi all, my daughter is now 20 weeks old and I am feeling very frustrated because she has been refusing to take anything but my breast for 10 weeks now.  She was bottle fed ebm and breastfed right from birth with no problems, but at about 10 weeks she started to refuse the bottle.  I have read all 10 pages of tips on how to get her to take a bottle and tried everyone one of them (except cold turkey) and nothing has worked.  I've even tried bf her with a nipple shield on to get her used to the feel of drinking out of silicone or rubber...no luck.  I've had some success with a sippy cup with the valve removed, but she will only take a couple of ounces and then wants the real deal, I think she likes the sucking motion.  (She wont take a pacifier though).  We try everyday with ebm and I'm starting to get emotional about the whole ordeal now.  She doesn't get upset at the bottle, she just chews on anything I put in her mouth.  I'm not sure if I can try the cold turkey method without feeling extremely guilty...but I really need some me time (and more than an hour or two away spent wondering if she's at home crying because she's hungry).  Please any suggestions!

[LŠuren]

Hi Nattymarsh and welcome to the BW boards 

{{{hugs}}} to you, I know it is very frustrating getting our LO's to feed, we have up and down periods of taking and refusing milk - it is very stressful.

Are you using teats on the bottles that closely resemble that of your own nipples? What size of teat flow are you using? Has she been refusing a bottle for the last 10 weeks or just off and on?

Lauren

[nattymarsh]

I have tried several different teats (probably 10 or 12).  She started out with platex and at about 8 weeks refused that one so I switched to a nuk orthodontic and she liked that for two weeks and since then no luck with any of them, at any time.  I even bought the adiri breast bottle and she doesn't like that either.  I've also tried slow flow, medium flow and fast flow teats, and have tried altering the teats on my own to make them flow differently.  I really don't know what else to do except maybe go out and buy any other different teats I can find?

[LŠuren]

Have you tried a sippy cup? Some breastfeed babies go straight from breast to sippy.

[LŠuren]

nattymarsh
I am going to move this to the breastfeeding board, the ladies there will be able to offer you more help.

Goodluck. 

[nattymarsh]

I've tried a sippy sup and have moderate success with that.  She will take a couple ounces out of a sippy cup (no valve) but will not take enough for a feeding. 

[daisymelan]

Have you tried the haberman feeder?  Lots of moms in your situation have found success with it. 

You say you have tried everything.....  have you tried doing it at night when she's sleeping for the dreamfeed? 
Have you tried different temperatures?
Different ppl offering her the bottles in different places??  Preferably not one she associates with nursing.

Did anything change around the time she started refusing a bottle? 

[LŠuren]

nattymarsh
I was going to recommend the Haberman as well, we used it for months. The bottle is a bit pricey but may be worth a shot - I have 4 or 5 here that I don't ue any more. But I don't think you live in the UK 

[nattymarsh]

I'm not really sure what the haberman feeder is, how is it different than other bottles?  As far as prce I spent $37.00 on the adiri breast bottle (which didin't work), so I really don't mind spending a bit of cash if I can find something that will work. 
I've tried different people, places, temperatures... I think she started teething around the time she refused the bottle, there has been alot of drooling (but no teeth yet!) 
I'm not sure if this is what you mean by the dreamfeed but I've gotten up in the middle of the night before she wakes up and put a bottle in her mouth; I get no response. 

p.s. I live in Canada

[daisymelan]

It may just be the teeth that are putting your little one off, but you never really know what they are thinking.

You can find out about the haberman feeder when you go to this site.  It is loads on the http://www.babywhisperer.com website.   Or you can just google it and find more sites dedicated to it. 

A dreamfeed is just as you described, generally it is given 4 hours or so after their last evening feed.  Some babies will happily take a bottle at time. 

[Nay - Mateo's Mom]

Where in Canada are you? Since I know of a place that sells the Haberman Feeder here in Burlington - Ontario.
Also, have you tried the Dr. Brown's bottles? The nipple/teat is much softer, my DS liked that bottle better at first.

[nattymarsh]

I'm in Nova Scotia.  I do know a store that sells Dr.Brown's though, I'll take a trip there tomorrow!

[Shdef]

http://www.pixie-baby.de/index2.html?hersteller_nuby.htm

http://www.nuk.de/produkte/mahlzeit/flaschen/firstchoice/flaschen.html


Two links to help with the great bottle strike!

The first one is special because the baby actually chews the teat and then milk come out. The second one is the shape that is closest to the nipple

[nattymarsh]

Thanks for those links.  I have both the nuk and nuby teats and those are actualy the two that she is the most receptive to.  She chews away on those for quite a long time, but will not suck.  She doesn't get upset or cry at the bottle, it just seems like she's forgotten what to do with it.

[Petunia]

She doesn't get upset or cry at the bottle,

Phew!!!!  That's wonderful that she's not actually adamantly refusing the bottle.

I wouldn't recommend trying cold-turkey just to get her to drink all the milk you know she needs from a bottle.  I think you would end up with more problems than you started with.  You're just trying to get her to eat for someone else so you can be away occasionally.

Have you investigated other ways to feed expressed breast milk other than with a bottle?  You can also cup feed and syringe feed a baby.  The point is to get the breast milk into them, and the bottle isn't the only way to do that.

Here's a good place to start:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alternative-feeding.html