My six week old daughter has been breastfeeding and will not take a bottle. She has taken bottles in the past when she was having trouble latching on but now that she is breastfeeding well she won't take a bottle. I'm worried because I will be returning to work soon. We've tried just about everything and every kind of bottle. Does anyone have any secrets that have worked for them??
Hi A. -
I would go buy a couple of different bottles with different nipples. Some babies prefer one to another. Also, if possible have a family member feed her her bottle. Some babies are not happy with a bottle after nursing from their mom but they get used to it.
Hi A.! I had this same problem with my daughter when I was going back to work~she wouldn't take a bottle from her father even if he was wearing one of my shirts {which was advice from so many moms!} I went and bought every kind of bottle, expensive ones, tilted ones, bagged ones etc...but in the end the nipples I found that were actually in the 'discount' section of Babies R Us were the ones that worked!!! When she finally started taking the bottle, I was looking at the nipple and realized that it was very similar to the shape and size of my own~I highly believe that this was the sole reason for her finally taking to it! Just remember that during the trials of finding the right one she may not eat a whole lot, but she will when she realizes she needs food in her little tummy! Be patient, and Good Luck with this!
A.
Hi A.,
I'm sure you've already done some research about this, but I'll repeat the 'standard' answers.
1. Get out of the house at bottle time! Have someone else feed baby and make sure she can't see you, hear you, smell you.
2. Try the advice below and try all the nipples out there. Both my kids liked the NUK ones best, but every baby is different, and baby can sometimes be different from feeding to feeding.
3. Try to get the milk at EXACTLY 98.6 degrees for the first few times (not in the microwave, I'm sure you know!). Temperature can sometimes be what's putting baby off.
4. As always, visit Kellymom.com
Is there any possibility of bringing your baby to work with you for a couple of months? There's a growing movement of women and employers using this technique, and it works really well. Here's some information:
http://www.momsrising.org/BringingHumanity
http://www.parentingatwork.org/help.html
Hope you figure it all out!
Don't stress too much, as this will pass. My son went through this phase for about a week. I had to feed him with a medicine dropper. He didn't take much from the bottle, but he did eat when he was finally hungry enough. I tried switching bottles - and eventually he just liked one - but I think by that time he was just growing out of the phase.
