Baby Rejecting Bottle

My breastfed baby also rejected the bottle at 2 months. I don't have any advice about getting her back on it, but I can tell you that at 6 months old, my daughter was able to use a sippy cup. The Take and Toss cups have the best results for us and other babies I know because the spill-proof cups require too much suction for beginners and the transition cups seem to have too much flow. So, even if you can't get her on the bottle now, have paitence that by the time you go back to work, there will be other options. Good luck!

What is in the bottle? Pumped milk or formula? If it is milk, was it frozen and maybe past its time? Or maybe it was something you ate that gave it a strange taste or smell? If it is formula, maybe she doesn't like the tase. Have you tried mixing breast milk and formula?

It sounds like she was doing really well at first and all the sudden stopped. Is she cutting teeth? I would go back to the original bottles and nipples and maybe look for a faster flowing nipple in the same style. I remember my daughter always let me know when she needed to go up a stage in her nipple. I would slowly and steady keep trying once a day to get her to take a bottle. Don't make a huge fuss, if she wont take it, don't try to force it. I would also try to contact your dr and or a lactation nurse in your area. They sometimes have some really great ideas. Also I think they should be made aware before you start solid foods or do anything drastic at 3 months, so it wouldn't hurt to give them a call. Best of luck. My son would not take a bottle and my daughter would not take my breast, so I am experienced in your frustration and fear. I ended up moving my son straight to a sippy cup, but I think at 3 months you will have little luck at that and I probably would not even try. Maybe at 8 months.....but you don't want to try something new, right when you are returning to work. I am feeling your pain....I would start by trying a nipple with a faster flow or enlarging (gasp I said it) the hole in the nipples you have a little. and if that does not work make some phone calls.

My son never excepted a bottle - when I went to work - which was only a day or two a week for a few hours he was perfectly content to starve until I came home! People didn't believe me at first. I've talked to other moms who experienced the same thing. When you return to work, your baby will be 8 months old - should be eating some foods- maybe feed her right before you leave and when you come home - she can have her foods when you are at work.

If she will take a sippy cup, you would be much better off. NOt having to wean from a bottle is a good thing. YOu can even still breastfeed some of the time. Like mornings and evenings and that would be a very special bonding time. Babies don't need bottles they desire the soothing from the comfort of sucking. So if you keep that as you're job at night and in the mornings I think it will make extra special for the both of you
V.

hi D.. i know you said you tried different nipples... there are so many different kinds out there! every baby is different... but my daughter switched back and forth well with playtex nipples. its been a little while so i appologize i cant remember the exact name... but they were the wider/ fatter type... not the long skinny one. maybe someone else remembers the name? sorry! i bought mine at target. if i used other bottles, my daughter would reject it, but the wider playtex nipples she did fine with. also... i was wondering, are you giving her breast milk in the bottle, or formula? if it is formula, she could be rejecting it b/c she prefers the taste of your breast milk. so maybe pump and see how that goes? i hope you find something that works!

I couldn't get my daughter to take any bottle when I first took her to daycare (9 wks old). That day, she was fussy, but she took the bottle because she had no choice. That day was so hard on both of us, but when she was really hungry and knew I was there, she took it.
My son was completely opposite. I tried the bottle, but to no avail. I was in grad school at the time, and my husband would try to give him a bottle and he outright refused. I'd be gone for 6 hours at a time and he would scream the whole time. I tried every single nipple out there, and even bought a very expensive bottle shaped like a breast. Didn't work. But, I gave him the sippy cup at 6 mos. and by 8 mos, he was a pro with it.
I wouldn't worry about it too much right now. At 6 mo, offer a sippy cup, and by time daycare starts, she'll be able to drink out of the sippy cup, essentially skipping the bottle all together.
The key: make sure you offer juice and breastmilk in the sippy. Formula just won't cut it because its not sweet enough.
Hope this helps you feel better.

Try going up to the next size (i.e. flow) nipple. She is big enough that she might want whatever is in the bottle to come out faster. This is the age when our breastfed daughter started rejecting the bottle. When we went from the 1 up to the 2 she started getting the milk faster and was fine.

Hi D.,

Congrats on your new baby! I wouldn't worry about her not taking the bottle right now. Is she not taking it from you or from other people? Have you tried leaving the house? Some babies know when you are around and want their food only from you if you are home. They are even smart enough to know if you are in the next room. Try leaving and having someone else give her the bottle.

Also, are you giving her formula or breastmilk in the bottle? As babies get older they learn that they like and dislike certain things - so if you are giving her something other than breastmilk in the bottle, then she might "know" the difference.

I wouldn't worry about it for now. By the time you go back to work when she is 8 months old, she will be eating solids and will be drinking from a sippy cup. At that age, even if she refused milk from any other source than you, it will be OK because she can nurse in the AM and PM and drink water during the day along with her solids or drink milk from a sippy cup. There are many babies at 8-10 months of age who's mothers work and the babies only nurse when they are together and just drink water during the day. So it won't be the end of the world if she decides not to go back to the bottle.

Also - during her growth spurts- I know it feels like you can't keep up - but her asking to nurse is the best way to tell your body to make more milk - so I would nurse her exclusively as much as possible - but especially during a growth spurt. You want to make sure your body is getting those important signals to increase it's milk production.

congrats again on your new baby.

J.

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Hmmm..I just wanted to respond but I'm sorry I have no other ideas that you have not tried. Have you talked to your pediatrician about it? I think you should. Maybe she/he will have some ideas. Good luck.

my grandson did this. my daughter gave him a sippy cup and he was fine

Have you tried "Breastflow" by Learning Curve? They are designed to mimic breast feeding and reduce nipple confusion. I have had to supplement my 2 month old and use these. He won't take any other bottle. The bottles can be frozen to store breast milk and are dishwasher safe.

Hi D.: I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. Keep trying to give a bottle a day (maybe try giving it to her yourself... for some reason my baby at around that age would take a bottle from me but not from anyone else... maybe it was a comfort to know that at least I was still there with her). By the time baby turns 6 months old, it will be like a whole new world for her, with solids being introduced and juice... and then you can keep trying to give either a bottle or sippy cup. My now 1 year old refused a bottle, too, around that same age... one day she was taking it, the next day she wouldn't. She especially wouldn't take breastmilk in it (I guess she wanted it right from the source!!!).

My cousin who breastfed went straight to a sippy cup with both her boys. I would try a sippy cup next. If you aren't going to go back to work until the baby is around 8 months, you have plenty of time. She may also decide to go back onto a bottle once a day once she starts eating cereal, fruits and veggies.

Personally, at this point, I would try the sippy cup if you need to go out and leave her with someone else. If you are with her most of the time, I would just breastfeed her for now and then try the bottle or sippy cup when you begin feeding her solids between 4 and 6 months.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your little girl.

Hi, D.!
First of all, congratulations on your baby & your wonderful choice to nurse her!

I see that you've gotten a lot of advice. Most of it is very good. Some of it (2 in particular) was aweful (starting solids or switching to formula).

I would suggest that first, you read "Nursing Mother, Working Mother" if you have not already. It is quite likely that your baby will do something called Reverse Cycling (I think that's what it's called!) when, basically, she won't really eat much/at all while you're @ work, but rather "save herself" for when you get home & possibly increase nightime feedings (co-sleeping may save your sanity if you're welcome to that).

Also, I encourage you to start going to La Leche League meetings in your area, if you don't already. They're free & a priceless resource for fact-based information, support & ideas.

Lastly, you can try giving her the Adiri Breastbottle, if you haven't already. Many "picky" babies will take that more readily. You can get it online or right at Babies R Us. My EBF son actually took it really nicely.

I wish you the very best of luck in your continued success at breastfeeding your baby!
A.

First, congrats on being able to stay home until she's 8 months old. I would not worry about her taking a bottle when you go back to work. She'll be eating cereal and baby food by then. She might even be able to use a sippy cup.

In the meantime, I don't think anything's wrong. Maybe you remember from your older daughters, I noticed with both of my children (daughter almost 6 months and son 2 1/2 yrs) that 3 months is a time when a baby leaves the "newborn" stage behind. My kids smiled a lot more, seemed interested in their environment, and responded to sights and sounds much more than before. I suspect that your daughter's rejection of the bottle is a part of her "discovery" of her world and that there is a cause and effect relationship between things. She surely prefers breastfeeding to the bottle. I suspect she has figured out that if she fusses when given the bottle, she might get you instead or eventually? Don't worry, keep offering her the bottle and I'm sure she will take it again eagerly. For the short term, I would recommend that she be given a bottle only when you are not home, it will be easier for you and her because there won't be an option to have mom instead.

Good luck!
R.