Won’t take a bottle

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Won’t take a bottle

Forum -> Parenting our children -> Infants

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amother

Sat, Nov 05 2022, 10:41 pm

My baby has been taking a bottle since she was very very young. I BH have a lot of pumped milk I give to her babysitter while I’m at work. So for the past few months every day she eats a bottle or 2 and nurses.
She just had an ear infection, and getting her to take the antibiotics was brutal. We had to force her mouth open in a certain angle so that she was forced to swallow it. It was horrible. We weren’t even sure how much was going into her mouth versus being spit out. At a certain point we just took her to the doctor and gave her an antibiotic shot instead. The problem is that since we started giving her the medicine she has refused to take bottles. My assumption is is that the syringe with medicine being forced into her mouth traumatized her and she doesn’t want anything like it near her mouth. She’s fine with her paci though. Because of this, though, she can’t go to a babysitter, because she only nurses. The babysitter tried many positions and ways to get her to eat and she refused. I need to work, and bringing her to work is not an option. What do I do? I tried giving her a bottle myself while I knew she was hungry and she refused to let it go in her mouth. Any milk that came out she let dribble out of her mouth even though she was hungry.

tichellady

Sat, Nov 05 2022, 10:44 pm

sounds horrible. I’m sorry. have you tried a cup or a spoon?

amother

Apricot

Sat, Nov 05 2022, 10:49 pm

My advice is keep trying. Don't give up. Maybe a different bottle type or a sippy cup would work? Something that doesn't trigger that memory for her of the medicine. This sounds so hard I'm sorry!

Shoshana Rose

Sat, Nov 05 2022, 10:54 pm

if she is old enough, you can try mixing the pumped milk with baby cereal and spoon-feed it.

BrisketBoss

Sat, Nov 05 2022, 10:55 pm

tichellady wrote:

sounds horrible. I’m sorry. have you tried a cup or a spoon?

Was gonna suggest this too. People think of regular small open cups or even spoons as being a more mature thing but they're easy to use with help. Even brand new babies with feeding troubles do well with them.

tichellady

Sat, Nov 05 2022, 10:58 pm

there is a bottle that is like a paci. I think it may be hard to clean well but I think some people get new tubing. maybe worth trying. also talk to her about what happened with the medicine and validate her. try giving her the bottle with music and swaying with her in a calm atmosphere

amother

Sat, Nov 05 2022, 11:16 pm

I’ll try the spoon/cup idea. I can give her baby cereal (haven’t started that yet but she’s old enough) but that won’t keep her hydrated. Pretty sure the babysitter tried a different bottle type as well. I’ve tried feeding her with a bottle when she was very calm, and we were outside (which she loves). She straight up refused.
Which bottle is the paci one?

amother

DarkRed

Sun, Nov 06 2022, 8:58 am

amother OP wrote:

There is a paci used for meds not necessarily as bottle that I've used in the past.
I don't know if it's the one the other posters are referring to, but here is the one is used:

https://www.munchkin.com/the-m.....D_BwE

amother

Lilac

Sun, Nov 06 2022, 9:20 am

I had a similar experience. This book might be helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/Your-Ba.....r=8-2

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