Two Month Old Won't Take a Bottle

I would try different bottles. I found that my kids did best with Dr.Browns and Avent bottles just in case you haven't already tried that!

Hi!
My first didn't take a bottle until about 6 months, but I started to loose my milk and I kinda had to find a solution. Does she take a pacifier? I she does, try to find a bottle that matches the pacifier. It worked beautifully for my first (after a LOT of trial and error) and my second never had a problem cause I followed the same pattern. Good Luck!

It is so wonderful your baby is nursing!! Some of these little ones have such a hard time with it, and never can do it. It's a frustrating for Moms that really want it to work. My advice to you would be to just enjoy it. She will be so much better off with you...
Nursing is much more than nutrition for the baby. Let her do what she feels most comfortable with, and adjust YOUR life and schedule to meet her needs.
I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but before you know it...she will not have the same need and the opportunity will be gone.

Hi A.,

I know that you don't want to hear this but none of my kids would ever take a bottle after they were nursed. They just get that warm comfortable feeling being right next to mom and they don't want to give it up. I am not an expert but I would rather be close to my mommy too. I did get my daughter to take a bottle after 6 months. If it is at all possible, I would stay at home with my baby for a while. Sometimes that advice is not really practical.

High A.! Have you tried the breastflow bottles? They are most like the breast out of all the bottles out there. Check them out at http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3393703

I had great luck with them and my son.

hello ok so i use to work at Babies R Us and I would have mothers come in all the time with this verry problem.... the verry best sagestion i have would be a bottle called the Adiri natural nurser its a great bottle its sole perpuse is for switching a child from brest to bottle. its the only bottle out there that is truely shaped like a real breast its verry soft and durable can be washed in the dishwasher. it dose fall a bit on the more expensive side there about 13$ a piece but totaly worth it. I hope this works for you.

Hey A., my little guy is two months as well, and I had the same problem. I was panicked because he was still refusing to take a bottle when I went back to work this week! My pediatrician said he would eventually give in, and he would not starve to death, and not to worry about it, since we know he has taken a bottle in the past before he got smart and learned the difference between the two. I did some research online, and parents kept swearing by the "First Years" "Breastflow" bottles, so we went and got some at Target. He wouldn't take them from us, but that very first day at daycare, he only fought against the bottle for about 10 minutes of fussing and refusing, and then gave in! He now takes this kind of bottle from our daycare provider all day long. (Another friend of mine had the same problem when she was watching her niece who refused to take a bottle, and it took 3 hours of crying and eventually she gave in and took the bottle. The next feeding took 1 hour of crying and she gave in, and then the third feeding she took it automatically. She wasn't using "Breastflow Bottles", so maybe it would have only taken 10 minutes like it did for my little guy.) Just know that they will eventually eat! And get the Breastflow Bottles!

I believe there is some information out there -(possibly from Dr. Sears...) about how feeding from a spoon actually has good results in a situation like this -even at this young. My sons would never take a bottle (or pacifier) either!

nursing her when you get to daycare and nursing her as soon as you pick her up before leaving sounds like a good idea. she's getting a LITTLE older and may be able to "tank up" for a four hour time slot without you. i would never recommend giving up nursing her at the breast completely, as this will eventually diminish your milk supply and part of nursing is the closeness and bond you and baby are creating. another option, if you're really worried about her during that four hour slot, is to have the caregiver feed her from a cup, it's a little more time consuming, but it's worth it for peace of mind. again. . . she can probably go 4 hours without nursing if you nurse her as soon as you get to daycare and as soon as you pick her up. . . good luck!

I am dealing with this same issue. My little girl refused the bottle when I went back to work and would go 9-10 hours without any food. We tried the following, which might work for you: adiri bottle, Nuby breast like bottle, breast flow nipple. We also tried getting a syringe of milk and squirting it in her mouth at the same time we put the nipple in her mouth to get her to suck. We tried spoon feeding her and used a shot glass to cup feed her - both worked well, but are very slow going.
She hasn't ever taken the bottle, but at her 4 month birthday she started to grab for our food and drinks, so we tried the cup again and have been able to get her to drink from a sippy cup - she doesn't drink a lot, but it is something. Our doctor also said we could start food, so we started with runny rice cereal (made with breastmilk) and now she eats rice cereal, pears, sweet potatoes and bananas while I'm at work. I also try and get home early to feed her or run home on my lunch break.
Hope something works out - it isn't easy to deal with.

Hi A.,

We had this same challenge with my daughter when she was 3 months. We knew that I would be going back to work full time when she was 3 months, so at 2 months we started trying to get her to take a bottle. Nothing. I even left the house to see if that was it and she still wouldn't take it. So March came and I went to work and WORRIED! The day care recommended Dr. Brown's bottles. It took a few days and I would have to go nurse at lunch, but she finally took a bottle at day care. We still had issues with her taking a bottle at home from my husband, but we decided that wasn't a big deal. Good luck!

Here is another option that may work for you, I have had to use it for a baby I used to take care of in daycare and I have used it for my own daughter, syringe feeding. It is easier than it may seem, it just takes some getting used to. All you need is a medicine syringe (as big as you can find) a well scrubbed pinkie finger, and a cup of expressed breastmilk. YOu suck up some milk into the syringe, put your pinkie into the baby's mouth, and when she sucks, insert the tip of the syringe into her mouth and squirt some milk in. Try to aim for the roof of her mouth. You just squirt small ammounts of milk into her mouth when she sucks until she has had enough to eat. It is acctually better for the baby than bottle feeding because it reduces the risk of nipple confusion, and the baby will not get used to milk gushing out of a bottole with no effort so she will not get too "lazy" to nurse effectivly. It is best if you do not do this yourself, have your husband and babysitter try it. When you are wiht your baby you should be able to nurse her, it is not only the breastmilk that is good for your baby, breastfeeding is good for both of you emotionally. Good luck, I hope that this suggestion helps.

Don't give up. I had the same struggle with my 2-month old when I went back to work 2 afternoons a week. Part of the problem is that you only work 2 days, so any progress made on taking a bottle one week is going to be forgotten by the next week. Give your baby a "practice" bottle every day. I still give my 9-month old a bottle almost every day, and he is a pro at taking his bottle now. It means a lot more pumping, so I would recommend a good electric pump (I have been using a hand pump all this time and I spend an hour pumping every day...getting really sick of that...) but it will be worth it. It may take 2 or 3 weeks for her to get really good at it, but if you practice with her every day, she will.

I prefer to give him his practice bottle for his last evening feeding before bed, because then I can pump after he goes to bed. If I give him the bottle during the day, I can't find the time to pump, and you need to pump around the time that he has the bottle, since that makes the most sense for your milk supply.

We use the Nuk bottles, even though he never really took a pacifier, but that nipple was still most familiar to him. The medium (3 mo.) nipple size was better than the small, even when he was younger. We have just barely switched to the 6 mo. size (and he is 9 mo. now).

I would suggest that you use a syringe and finger feed your little one. My son needed formula supplements due to minor deformities in his mouth that made breast feeding difficult at first. We did it that way for almost four months. The technique is putting your pinkie finger in her mouth and then place the tip of the syringe in the side of her mouth. SLOWLY push the syringe plunger down and she will suck. This way you can give her pumped breast milk or formula when you are not with her, and keep breastfeeding when you are together. Be sure to educate caretakers in the technique, and get non-latex gloves for them to use.
Best to you and hope you can get through this.

I'd keep trying. 4 hours without eating a lot isn't really that long, and eventually he'll give in, I would think. Our son did this and the feeding specialist said usually if you keep trying, it works. Hang in there. I hope it goes well. I wish we had stuck with it. The flexibility would have been nice with our son. Congratulations on your little man!

Hi A.,
I am not an expert but this did happen to me also. Since your baby is only two months old I certainly wouldn't give up yet. My first daughter never took a bottle. She refused it when I or her Dad tried and so I just gave up and nursed her for the first year. I was rarely able to be away from her at all. So when my second came along, I knew I needed a different plan. I still nursed, and she still refused a bottle at first. However, I believe the difference was that we didn't give up on it. Feeding from a bottle is much more difficult for the baby and if they think they can get the milk another way, of course they will refuse the bottle. My suggestion is to do your research and pick a good bottle and stick with it. Even if she just gets a little out the first few times, keep using the same one so she comes to know it as a normal part of her eating routine. Hopefully, as happened with my daughter, she will eventually catch on and eat that way. Since she is only away from you for 4 hours, you could feed her before and after and then she won't need that much during the babysitting time anyway.
I hope you find a solution. Take care,
B.

I struggled with both of my kids taking bottles. My second is 5 months old now and it took a couple of weeks at the sitters to get him to take a bottle (he would go from 9ish to 5 ish without eating more than 2-4 ounces). Finally, the sitter got him to take a bottle and now he eats from her. I echo some of the other sentiments and keep giving it a try. 2 months isn't that old and she may give in a take a bottle yet.

Best of luck,
M.

I'm a first time mom who is breastfeeding also. Most days out of the week I can work from home or take my daughter with me, but one day a week I leave her with my mom and whenevr my husband and I go out my mo watcher her. I pump and freeze my milk. My mom got my daughter to take the bottle when she watches her by dipping the nipple in my milk first. Now she doesn't have to do it anymore. We use avent bottles. I also agree with nursing her before she goes to daycare. My daughter could go for four hours once a day without food when she was one month old (although she was napping).Good luck

I lived this and all i can say is, if she is in anyway as determined and stubborn as my little breastfeeder was, you will lose this battle, lol! My daughter would not take a bottle, she just wouldn't. A few times her aunt could "shove" a breastmilk filled bottle quickly into her mouth upon which she would suck for a short while but usually not very long nor repeatedly. She would hold out until I got home and that could be hours. I enjoyed breastfeeding and just realized that I had one who knew a real nippy from a plastic nooky, lol. I never used a pacifier with her either, however, I am not sure that had anything to do with anything. I am told the best thing to do is to alternate the way you are now trying to do. Again, it didn't work for my little one and I just gave up the battle and enjoyed the experience. She would take juice from a bottle and I started her on a sippy cup as soon as developmentally appropriate, but milk had to be directly from my breasts or she wouldn't have anything to do with it!

Good Luck!

you can try a sippy cup - without a valve - be sure they let milk flow slowly. If she takes a pacifier - a syringe with a stub of a feeding tube may work. A pacifier with gravity feed with feeding tube may work.

If she is only there 4 hours - and only twice a week - I wouldn't sweat it at all. She won't starve for that short of a period of time. Just a little cup with an ounce would be plenty to satisfy her until you get back.

Don't feel pressured that she "won't take a bottle" - instead feel assured that you are offering her the best nutrition and nurturing available. (no - I'm not bashing formula feeders - it is just an overwhelming scientific fact that human breastmilk is the best source of infant nutrition possible)

Okay, this may sound a little silly based on the age of your daughter, but try a NUK Orthodontic sippy cup. I do infant daycare and have a 6 month old here with the exact same problem as your daughter. The only way I can get her to drink is to either use a bottle and squeeze a little milk into her mouth and let her swallow, then repeat, or I can use this particular type of sippy cup which must feel more like a breast in her mouth. It still requires that she suck, but it is the only one that she latches onto eagerly. You can use a pump so that it is still breast milk from the cup, but use that for daycare and daddy and still nurse when you are able to at home. I hope that helps.

Hi A.,

There are a lot of suggestions out here, but I will add my two cents. I use the Breast Flow bottles. My son took to them right away, although now when I have had to travel (he was 10 months) he refused a bottle from my husband. He still took one at daycare, but would go more than 12 hours without a bottle just to have control of something. I don't think that your 2 month old is to that point yet.

I think that the main part is the 2 days a week at daycare. What days does she go? When my son started daycare, they only had Mondays and Fridays available and he was a wreck. He screamed the whole time, and barely slept. When we were able to move to Monday - Wednesday, the consistency REALLY helped him. He became a happy baby there - although he still barely sleeps because there is too much to do! Even though I sometimes am able to work from home, I still have him go to daycare to keep his schedule.

Also, there are a few kids at his daycare that either can't take a bottle or won't. One mom would come at lunch to feed, but the other kid just waited it out. If she is hungry enough she will eat, although she can probably go 4 hours without breaking down and taking the bottle. If she had to go 8 hours, she would probably end up taking the bottle.