OK. So my baby girl is now almost 7 months old and just refuses to take a bottle. I breastfeed but cannot go anywhere for long periods of time because she won't drink from a bottle or a sippy cup. She will drink a little but then just pushes it away. Grandma has tried with me downstairs ans out of the house. I have so many different bottles and sippy cups it is ridiculous. I have tried breast milk, formula and a mix of the 2. Warm and cool. She loves eating her solids but just won't drink unless nursing. Any ideas? And no, hubby doing it does not work. Thanks ladies!
My son refused the bottle too. He was ok with the sippy cup actually as long as it wasn't milk. You can dilute juice and see if she takes that which is important in the summer months. But, you can also try a regular cup. My son really preferred that to sippy cups anyway and was drinking out of a cup by himself at a very young age.
one of the ways to get around this is to.....NOT keep offering different methods. Find one that you want to use AND stick with it! Don't give in, don't break out the breast.....& she will eventually learn that she does not have options.
& I know this is offensive to many BFing moms......Peace.
My son would just change his feeding habits/ sleeping habits when I was away for short periods. Meaning, he's "skip" a meal or two (and add a nap) and then tack on an extra feeding or two at night. It meant a lot of sleeplessness for ME, because he'd only nosh while I was gone, but he got what he wanted. If I was gone for 24 hours or more though, he'd eat/drink like a champ. He just had total faith (until he was actually hungry hungry) that if he waited, I'd be back. And as soon as I was back, he'd spurn bottles again. When I DID leave for 24+ hours, my mum would just use a spoon to begin with, and then he'd take the bottle when he actually got hungry.
My daughter stopped taking a bottle at 6 months. It freaked all of us out at first but we kept trying with the sippy cup and eventually she started using it with no problem. At the same time she was eating baby food and rice cereal with formula (you could use breast milk instead). My pediatrician said as long as she had a wet diaper every 4-6 hours, she was getting enough liquid. Then when she was a year and everyone else was trying to figure out how to wean their baby, we were done. That was nice!
I had the same thing with my 5 mo old. I had my neighbor keep her all day (11 hours) and she refused the bottle with her the whole day. When she brought her back, she handed me the baby and the bottle and I sat down with her and she drank from the bottle. She drank the whole thing. She went to bed and in the morning I gave her another bottle, no problem and then I breast and bottle fed for the next several months. It was just getting over the initial hump and realizing that she will be fine on a strike.
Skip the sippy, she's old enough to start drinking from a cup. Since she's picky about milk from you only, try it with water or watered down white grape juice. It'll take a bit for her to get used to drinking from a cup, but then make things easier.
Both my boys were breast-only - never took a bottle. But I started them with a cup (regular, small cup, no lid) at about 6 months old and by 7-8 months old they were pros. Husband could put breastmilk in the cup and they took it okay along with their other solids. Of course, they wanted me as soon as I got home, but they lasted long enough for me to do whatever it was I was out for.
Keep offering her a sippy with water or breast milk. I found that the sippy cups with no valves (like the take and toss) worked best b/c my daughter didn't have to suck as hard, it just kinda fell into her mouth. also, my day care would take the top off her bottle and put a straw in it, and she would drink from that. My Lactaction consultant assured me that as long as the baby is getting enough to be satisfied during the day, they will make up for it when nursing at night or in the morning. If you that concerned, try contacting a local lactation consultant.
Well just speaking from having 2 kids.
Not all kids will take a bottle.
My daughter, NEVER would, no matter how I tried.
My son, would.
Each kid is different.
I breastfed both.
Bottle feeding and breast feeding, are 2 different things. It requires 2 different methods of 'sucking.' Bottles are just by gravity flow. Breast is by the baby sucking using their mouth/tongue coordination to get the letdown going and to coordinate the flow of the output.
Some babies, just will not take a bottle.
At least, that is how my daughter was as a baby.
When out just give her solids and offer her a sippy, she will be ok. Eventually she will take it, but it may not be until you ween her completely off the breast, just keep trying.
