help- 3.5 month ds won't take a bottle!

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Infants

Help- 3.5 month ds won't take a bottle!

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mommee

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 8:05 pm

I'm nursing my son and I had given him bottles occasionally-although infrequently(I guess too infrequently) and it seems that now he won't take bottles at all! I can't go out anywhere for too long with him not taking a bottle...any suggestions, pleeeeease?

mcmom

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 8:11 pm

So sorry no suggestions, but in the same situation. Had SIL wedding would've been easier if he had taken bottles, but we managed somehow. The only thing you can do is keep trying.

BeershevaBubby

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 8:11 pm

Why can't you nurse him when you're out and about?

cubbie

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 8:16 pm

dd2 wouldn't take a bottle, the thing that worked for me was to buy the avent silicon nipple guards, I nursed her like that for 2 days so she got used to sucking on silicone, then after 2 days I offered her a bottle and she took it no problem.

mommee

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 8:17 pm

I can nurse him while I'm out-although that's not so convenient-the problem is, for example, tom. night I wanted to go out with my DH for a nice evening in the city, but I can't leave because of the baby Sad

mommee

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 8:19 pm

thanks for the advice cubbie, I think I'll invest in some of those ASAP!

mommee

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 10:17 pm

another question though-was the bottle you gave her formulla, or you pumped it?

cubbie

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 10:24 pm

mommee wrote:

another question though-was the bottle you gave her formulla, or you pumped it?

At first pumped milk, but when I was trying to give her a bottle, we tried, different bottles, pumped milk, formula, water, me giving it, dh giving it with me home, dh giving it with me out of the house, anything just to get her to take a bottle, but nothing worked. Once she did take a bottle the switch to formula wasn't a big deal. I had to get her to take a bottle as by two months as I had hardly any milk - not enough to get through the day and night, but I had some frozen bags of milk, which I used at first.

Marion

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 2:09 am

DS#2 also refused a bottle. NOTHING helped. And I refused to go out and buy 18 different bottles; he was going to use what I had already. In the end the only thing that worked was time. He finally started taking a bottle around 6 months. And yes I was working during that time; I had to get him into a place I could pop out to nurse.

mimivan

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 2:24 am

YUP! I've been there

number 1...took a bottle for a little bit and went on a bottle strike when I went out to work so I quit the job and stayed home with him

number 2. didn't even try it. Nursed him while working from home...then sent him out at 8 months and went for nursing breaks.

number 3...(now 3 months) told myself I would train him to take a bottle early, but was too lazy. He did take a bottle once when he was desperately hungry but it was my milk. He will kind of sort of drink from a bottle if totally desperate (formula) but from one of those special bottles that are shaped like a nipple. (expensive, I hope I dont' lose it)...But the last two times he just cried and refused to take it. I'm thinking he just doesn't like formula and may try it again with pumped milk...but I hate pumping only because it messes with my supply (and I have to plan all the time)..but I think it would be worth it.

e1234

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 2:53 am

I'm in the same situation.
my baby did take a bottle after he was born (my husband gave him a few times during the night)
now when I'm starting him by a babysitter and feel like a dishrag as he is nonstop nursing - he refuses the bottle..
The only thing I can advise is having someoen else give it to me. - from me he'll never even take it at all but from my husband or babysitter he'll take a drop if he's hungry (and he doesn't see or hear me)
Amazing how smart a 3 month old is!

EvenI

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 3:36 am

I had this problem and it was resolved in the end. Here's the story, in case it helps:

We had the problem from about 4 monhts. I needed to go to work. We had given him bottles occasionally, but he started to refuse them. I tried Avent and the Playtex Nurser to no avail. I tried my husband giving the bottle with me out of the room, my mother giving him a bottle every day while she was visiting for a week. My milk. Formula. The poor baby went crazy with everything. He went to a babysitter every day for a few weeks, and she managed to feed him a little once or twice, but mostly he objected royally. (I kept picking him up after not so long so that he didn't get too hungry or hysterical.) Then I switched babysitters, largely because the babysitter didn't want to deal with the problem any more. The new one tried a bottle of the type that they have in the hospitals for newborns (in Israel). After that, he took the very cheap simple bottles that you find everywhere in supermarkets and chemists that have a very similar shaped nipple to the hospital ones. (The hospital bottles are glass and the nipples are latex). I left the baby with the new babysitter one day and went off to work and he was absolutely fine for the first time. He was about 5 months at that point. She was a very warm babysitter with a very good attitude (prepared even to try a spoon!).

Others have told me that they had this problem and just kept trying different bottles until they found one that worked. You may as well start with the cheap ones. You could be lucky.

For what it's worth, I feel for you. This can be very frustrating and worrying.

EvenI

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 3:37 am

BTW, he is now 14 months old and loves bottles.

mommee

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 8:03 am

I have tried different bottles with formula though. I'll have to try pumping. Do you know where to get those bottles shaped like a nipple?

sky

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 8:08 am

I had this problem. I don't think you can solve it over night. We spent about 2 weeks giving him a bottle everyday before feedings. I like the bottles with the disposable bags. My baby loved the nipples on those. But each baby is different.
They say dh should give the bottle at first but for some reason my baby wanted it only from me. Maybe he associated me with food?
You have to keep doing it consistently. At first he'll refuse it but hopefully after enough tries he'll relize that you mean business.

EvenI

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 11:40 am

Perhaps you could try leaving him with your husband or a babysitter just after a feed and going out but not going far away. When the baby gets hungry, the babysitter can try to feed him a bottle. If he/she cannot she can call you home. I guess it's important that you think about who you are leaving him with to minimize the trauma of getting hungry and finding mommy's missing.

Maybe if you can do this a few times as well as having your husband try to give a bottle once a night while you try to sleep and trying different bottles, you'll crack the code somewhere along the line.

I tried to do quite a lot of research when I had this problem, and I didn't find that anyone had any magic answers.

If you don't need to leave him so that you can work, maybe you can relax a bit about the problem. After all, it won't be too long before he's able to skip a feed at night and it won't be too long before he's eating solids and even if he never takes a bottle, you can skip bottles and move onto cups soon enough.

EvenI

Tue, Nov 18 2008, 11:46 am

mommee wrote:

I have tried different bottles with formula though. I'll have to try pumping. Do you know where to get those bottles shaped like a nipple?

I don't know which bottles you are referring to, but perhaps you mean the Playtex nurser? The nipple is made of latex and they claim that it is designed for the closest type of sucking to nursing. They promote it as a good bottle to choose if you want to avoid nipple confusion. They don't specifically promote it for babies who refuse bottles, but you might have success with it. If you can't find them in a store, maybe their website would give information about retailers.

There is at least one other bottle out there that is also claimed to mimick nursing in one way or another. I don't remember any names.

levial

Tue, Dec 02 2008, 1:25 pm

Two things to try:

1.) Wear a t-shirt for a while and then put it aside for DH to put on his chest while holding the baby (mmmm smells like mom)

2.) When your baby nurses, there is contact with his cheek and your skin in addition to the latch on. The nurse at the hospital told my husband to hold one side of my dd's cheek with fingers, typically the side where the baby's head touches the side of your body while giving a bottle, so that it feels more natural.

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