My 8 month old daughter is breastfed 1-2 times a day during the week and takes usually 2 bottles a day from her caregivers while I am at work. My mom has her 3 days a week, hubby 1 day, and sister in law 1 day a week.
Yesterday when my sister in law had her, she refused both bottles, pushing them away and becoming angry. She did take a jar of babyfood from SIL though. My husband tried a bottle again when he picked her up and she wouln't take the bottle from him either. When I got home I also tried with no luck. I breastfed her and she accepted that but since I had just pumped I didn't have much in me so I tried the bottle again and she wouldn't take it. I poured some breastmilk in to a plastic cup and she accepted that happily.
Has anyone else ever had this happen? I am hoping it was just a one day thing but if this is a common phase I want to be prepared and have a plan in place to be sure she eats while I am at work!
I'm not sure if this is related, but she has also been quite crabby every day this week so far when I get home from work, very clingy and cries if I put her down for even a second, or if I leave the room at all. So I think she is starting the separation anxiety stage, but would she be refusing the bottle from that?
Late addition since there have been several questions - she does not appear to be sick. She has no temperature and her mood has been good except for at eating time when it comes to the bottle. She does have two lower teeth in that have been there for over 2 months now, so maybe it is time for the top ones to come in but so far I can not see any sign of new teeth coming.
Thank you everyone for your responses. I tried giving her sippy cups and regular cups more too but on some days she would reject them all, and on her worst day she even rejected the breast. I tried looking to see if she had more teeth coming in but it was hard to tell. After about two weeks she seemed to stop rejecting everything and went back to normal. This morning I noticed her top two teeth are in, so I am thinking that might have been the problem. So she is still on the bottle, but because of some of the advice I decided to keep the sippy cup for water and juice and she is really enjoying using that.
Thank you all for your responses.
Hello,
Has she started teething yet? That could be it, and she may just feel more comforted from you. But just a thought;)
When my breastfed baby reached about that age, she refused to take bottles as well. She would only take a cup of pumped milk from her father or caregiver unless it was straight from the breast from me. She would never return to the bottle again. I never saw this as an issue and never interfered with anything else and she was certainly getting enough milk from the cup.
I wouldn't worry about it and just go with what works for all of you. :)
I agree, maybe an illness. You could try giving her Tylenol or something, maybe Tylenol Cold 30 minutes before feeding her. Another thought...when my daughter was "outgrowing" the nipples on her bottle and she could suck faster than the milk would come through she started refusing them and getting really mad. When I bought faster flow nipples she took them easily again.
If she took the cup in place of the bottle, I would say this is a great opportunity to wean off the bottle. If a regular cup makes you uncomfortable, then offer a sippy cup, but I would simply say goodbye to the bottle with a smile on your face. There is no reason she needs the bottle. I know my parents took my own bottle away from me when I was about that age because I insisted on hitting myself with it...not sure what that means =) But it resulted in a sippy cup.
Good luck!
Give her the sippy cup. Dont force her to take a bottle if she is able to get enough liquids from cup and breastfeeding. P.
Hi. It sounds like her mouth is bothering her. Is she teething? If she takes the breast and moms milk from a cup, I'd say that the bottle hurts her mouth. Just let her sitters know that she will drik from a cup!
Oh.. and about the clingy thing. Do you have a sling? She could be feeling crummy if she is teething. Put her in the sling and go about your buisness.
I hope she feels better soon so things can get back to normal for the both of you.
I would check for teething especially with the clinging, she might not be feeling all that great. You could also check in her mouth, a friend of mines little guy had thrush but the white was rubbed off inside his mouth so she couldn't tell until she saw just red spots and he refused to drink anything.
Also the nipple might not be giving her enough and might be making her work to hard to get to little so if she likes a cup good for you. Otherwise get the nipples that are in stages and go to the large opening one. Wean her off the bottle and you don't have any problem. My oldest wanted nothing more to do with a bottle at 10 months old. It was great. Good luck. Hope it helps
I would agree with using the sippy cup. Sounds like an easy time to wean her off. All four of my children were off the bottle by the time they were 10 months old. Is she sick though? Sometimes a cold or an ear infection can lead to not being interested in the bottle because of the added pressure.
Check for an ear-ache or a tooth coming in. M.
