Hello,
My almost 3 month old son won't take a bottle. I am freaking out because I am leaving for a girls weekend Sept 12-14 and I am leaving my 2 year old and 3 month old with my husband. He has taken a bottle all along but usually only 1 a day from dad because he is sleeping so much and dad works afternoons. I have tried every bottle/nipple possible. The problem is he won't even give the nipple a chance. He just screams something awful and won't even try to suck it. I know not to be the one to give it to him and also I know not to be anywhere near him or he'll want me :-) But please any suggestions would be so helpful. I hate to think that I decided to do such a wonderful thing by breastfeeding but now am a prisoner and can't leave my son. Thanks so much for your time.
Thank you to everyone for your advice :-) My mom is down here to help me for the week since I leave next weekend. So far so good, my hubby was able to get him to take a bottle if he was sitting in his bouncy seat in front of the tv to distract him....also I can't be anywhere in the vicinity. Thanks again for everyones kind words to know I am not alone.
J.
J.
My daughter would not take a bottle at all if she could smell me anywhere in the distance. My mom could get her to take the Dr. Brown's bottle only at the begining, it was the only one she would take. Try having your husband feed him or someone else when you are not home, it is amazing how easy it is for them to pick up on your smell. How this helps, Dr. Browns were the last bottle we tried, and it worked.
J. just so you know its totally normal... it takes practice. When I put my 5 month old in daycare as our plan B until we found the nanny he was adamant that he wasnt going to drink a bottle! I tried every combo as well! I would pick him up and he had only 3 oz in 9 hours.... well he survived it and learned bottle. But he did love sippy cup too and could do it real early - he is 12 months and doesnt do bottles any more just sippy and breast. Ok so my point is that he will be fine.... there is sippy cup (which will probably make him mad to start!) spoon feeding, lid feeding, syringe feeding (super easy) and any/all methods coupled with a binky will get him by. But I guess you have to let yourself know that nothing will be perfect and he will cry a bit while trying to tackle the other feeding methods. So ultimately it will be up to you if you go, but as I mentioned there are ways! And yes if my little guy even smelled me he would not want the other method... :)
J. ~
You could always try cup feeding .... use a medicine cup if you have one, it's easier because it's small. Sit the baby up in your lap, put a cloth under his chin because they make a mess, tip the cup so that it touches his lips, don't pour it in, he should lap it up, kind of like a puppy or kitten, you can tip it up a little so it drips in some if you need to.
Also, you could call the lactation consultant (email me for the number of the one at Wyandotte Hosp. if you want). We sometimes use a curved-tip syringe to drip in into the babies mouth, or hold it so the tip curves up, lay it along your thumb and let the baby suck on your thumb, this way he will control how much he gets as he sucks.
These are methods we sometimes use for babies when breast-feeding isn't going so great in the first few days.
D.
____@____.com
Well, maybe you should skip the girls weekend until your baby is older?
My LO did not take a bottle either and we used something called a softfeeder from Medela which is sort of like a spoon or shovel but it was very frustrating to use. I could no longer breastfeed at all due to meds I was taking so she had to take something. I'm sure your son will take something while you're away but it will probably be pretty hellish for your husband because it was an awful week for us. She eventually took a bottle after a week but like I said breastfeeding was no longer an option. Sorry I don't have anything more encouraging for you.
On another note, I am in Dearborn and have an 11 month old. There is a mom's group for Dearborn/Dearborn heights that I belong to. Only $20 per year and we have lots of moms with 2 to 3 year olds and several of them have had new babies in the past few months. Email me ____@____.com if your interested in moms group or want to anything more about the softfeeder. I may have one around that you could take a look at.
wow - Nice B.K. That was helpful.
Anyhow - you know I feel your pain J.! I was gonna mention the cup feeding (I think it was Donna that mentioned it?) - that may work. And I do agree with others - eventually he will give in when he is hungry enough, but I know it's easier said than done. If you do end up going that route I'd see if someone was around to help hubby with Kylie cause Jordan is going to eat up hubbys time. I was never in a situation where I HAD to figure it, so I just caved and was pretty much a prisoner :( I'd mainly go places I could find some where to nurse (dept store dressing rooms are a God send- lol).
Just keep working at it I guess - it's not any easy thing to work through.
This might sound crazy, but have you tried a sippy cup? I'm not sure a 3 month old could do it, but maybe it's worth a try. We struggled getting our 2nd daughter (who is now 11 mo. old) to take a bottle as well. My relatives assured me (when I had to leave for a night) that if she got hungry enough, she'd take it. That advice didn't make me feel any better, but I believe you're doing a wonderful thing by breastfeeding your baby. This time in your and your son's life won't last forever, and you'll be glad you continued to nurse him when you look back on this time. Has someone other than dad tried to give him the bottle? My dad (baby's grandpa) had more luck for some reason than my husband when we were struggling with it. Good luck and I hope you have a great girls weekend!
My son would not take a bottle either, and had no real choice. The day I went back to work he screamed a bit at first, but then hunger over came his stubborn nature and he did eventually eat. He always preferred and ate more when it came right from the source, but would eventually eat not mater where from in the end. Good luck!
