I would really like for my 5 month old to learn to take a bottle. But I am having no luck, I have tried pumping and using formula but neither seem to make a difference. I have also tried using different bottles and nipples but I get the same results with everything I try. I just want her to take a bottle so I can get a much needed break. My son was the opposite and refused the breast but took right to a bottle and formula. Any suggestions.
Try using a sippy cup instead. At 5 months, they can transition directly from the breast to a cup and don't seem to have as many problems with it. Use one with a lid. It will be messy at first, but she will probably accept it better. Good luck.
Nurse her first for a few minutes so she isn't hungry, frustrated, and irritable. Then try the bottle so she associates it with food. Good luck!
Hi E.. Use the formula, use playtex bottles, have someone else give your daughter the bottle when you are not in the house! You are the very last person she will ever take a bottle from, espically if she is nursing well. Good luck and best wishes.
You can also try some other methods of feeding, instead of bottles. You can get special things from Medela called Finger Feeders and/or a Feeding Cup. They are a little bit more time consuming, but many babies do much better on them.
There's also a bottle called Adiri (which you can get @ Babies R Us now) which is shaped much like a breast & many babies take to it well.
And as much as I can totally relate to your wanting some time to yourself & getting a break, just remember that the first year flies by SO quickly & that it won't be much longer AT ALL that your baby will be nursing less frequently & therefor, be less dependent on you. I mean, another month or so & you'll probably be introducing solids!
Hang in there! You'll get a break soon!
WHy not start your daughter on a sippy cup instead? She won't get the sucking gratification, but if she's not taking the botle and you need to get the breastmilk into her, maybe the sippy cup is the answer. I started my kids on sippy cups at 6 months, although the expressed milk was still bottle-fed, I think. Just an idea. On the other hand, the time passes so quickly, and the breastfeeding relationship is something you'll never get back...if she won't "cooperate," maybe bite the bullet a little longer. Her feedings are going to get less frequent as time passes, and you'll finally get that break that you seek! :) Good luck!
Hi E.,
It is probably best to try to get your daughter to take a bottle when you are not in the house. Leave her with your husband or a caregiver and go run some errands. Babies are very smart and if she knows you are there, she may refuse the bottle. I used the playtex drop-ins with my son - they were his favorite type of bottle.
Good luck!
J.
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Just keep trying! Try once a day, at a non-stressful time. Even if it just touches her lips, keep trying. One day she'll take it.
I agree that you could try some of the other methods as well... good luck, this is a tough one.
Hi E.,
My son was formula fed and I swear, I tried ALL of the bottles! The best for us were the plain old Gerber bottles/nipples. Good luck.
a 5 month old is lodenough for a sippy cup. my babys would never take a bottle they were exclusively breast feed so when i needed to let them w daddy so i could run a errond i just left a pumped sippy cup and they would take it as long as mommy was not there.
Well, my daughter is 3 months and takes a bottle from her nana (Only about 4 times). I use the breastflow bottles just make sure that you let the milk fill the nipple before giving it to her. She took it the first time without persuading, but she was younger than your daughter.
Have you tried asking a lactation consultant? They usually have good tips.
good luck!
B.
My daughter was the same way, and refused to take the bottle for anyone. I worried about it for weeks when I was getting ready to go back to work. All I can say is, just keep trying. Having someone else give the bottle was the only way our daughter would take it initially. All the books said, try when she is hungry but not too hungry so that she doesn't get frustrated. My daughter eventually took it at day care when she was hungry enough. Not long after that, she started taking it from me too. The other thing I did, was to mix the formula in with her cereal so she got used to the taste....that really helped. Now we have the opposite problem...she is refusing the breast. Good luck.
J. W
did youtry a sippy cup sometimes they take to that better
see if the baby likes a sippy cup instead. besides that i do not know what else to suggest since i could not breast feed because i had a breast reduction at sixteen and had to bottle feed my son. he is almost a year old and at 7 months did not like the bottle anymore and took very well to a sippy cup.
