Hello supporters! I have a 3 month old baby who really struggled with breastfeeding initially. He couldn't latch on without a nipple shield. We used a nipple shield for 2 months when I was finally able to wean him of that. For those 2 months he was also getting a bottle of pumped milk each day. When he stopped using the shield I stopped giving him a bottle because I didn't want him to revert or get confused. However, I'm preparing to go back to work now and need him to take a bottle! As a side note he has found his fists in the last few weeks and LOVES to suck on them, he seems to prefer the skin-to-skin contact. I am open to any suggestions!
Just to let you know what we've tried so far:
Dr Browns and Breastflow bottles
My husband feeding him, me feeding him
Me leaving the house while my husband tries
Morning bottle, night bottle
Giving him the nipple throughout the day just to practice
all to no avail!
Please help!
My breastfed babies (3 to date!) all preferred the MAM bottles. The nipple is more "flat" than most, which seemed to work well for them. Best wishes!
First off, congratulations for sticking with the breastfeeding! It can be so hard in our bottle-pushing society, especially for the women who experienced difficulty with it to begin with. But you're doing a great job & it's so worth it! I went through the same thing with my son - I'd worked SO hard to exclusively BF, & didn't want to introduce a bottle b/c of potential nipple confusion, and then after the first 6 weeks, still didn't give him a bottle, because I didn't see the need & I knew it helped build up my supply if I just fed him on demand. When he was 10 weeks old, I tried introducing a bottle, since I knew I'd be going back to work in 2 weeks, but he wasn't having it. I tried everything you tried & nothing worked - I was completely panicked. I seriously thought he was going to starve my first day back at work. But you know what? He didn't. He eventually got hungry, & he gladly took a bottle from the sitter. It was never a problem after that. So all my worrying was for nothing. :)
I'd highly recommend reading up on this on kellymom.com. It's THE best breastfeeding resource I've found online, with accurate breastfeeding information. As a working & pumping mom, I found it invaluable. I started experiencing supply issues shortly after I returned to work & then again at 5 months, but I got through each time, mostly thanks to kellymom & encouragement from other BFing moms online. You can do this! I wish you the best of luck & feel free to message me with any questions.
~A.
My daughter never accepted the bottle. When I went back to work after four months, I was unbelievably stressed to think of her not eating during the day. We tried EVERYTHING. And she went to my MIL's during the day so I had a very dedicated caregiver!! Then I read something that Dr. Sears wrote (I think it was in his Baby Book, or perhaps it was his book about nursing, I'm not sure). It said that some babies just will not take a bottle and will actually wait until mom gets home and then begin power-nursing. Sure enough, this is what our daughter did. So I'd get home from work and the nursing began!! We shared a family bed and she nursed throughout the evening and during the night. Hey, I'm not saying it wasn't without its issues -- I had a baby attached to my breast almost the whole night -- but she never lost weight, continued gaining and all was well. Except for the fact that I was a tired mess the next day :)
My daughter is 3 months also. When she was around 2 months, we started introducing a bottle of pumped milk. Progress was slow, a little better each day. It took 2 weeks for her not to fight it; she still prefers the breast and will not let me bottle feed her.
We also tried a couple different bottles (namely, those ones that advertise being similar to breastfeeding--she hated them). We were successful with the regular ol' Playtex drop-in bottles and slowflow nipples.
Gnawing on fists probably a sign his 2 bottom teeth are budding.
Good luck.
Good luck to you on this one! My now 11 year old went from breast to cup. He never would take a bottle. I went back to work when he was 4 months old. I had to nurse him before we left the house, when we got to the sitter, come back on my lunch break, when I picked him up from the sitter and then had to go directly home. He had just started 1st stage foods by then so that would hold him over in between. At about 8-9 months he would drink water and juice from a sippy but never milk until we were off the breast completely.
Honestly the only thing that worked with my son was to only offer the bottle. It got to the point that he was hungry and finally took it. We had to, because it got so bad that my husband had to bring him to me at work so I could nurse. We finally said enough was enough. Once he got used to the bottle, it was fine to go back and fourth.
We had great success with the Playtex drop-ins.
SASSY MAM BOTTLES! My breastfed daughter only took these and I plan to use with number 3! You can find them at Babies R Us and online, the are expensive but worth it.
with my son who I breastfed, I used the "MAM" brand bottles, from Amazon. It is not found in stores. It is widely used in Europe.
It is a great bottle, BPA free, natural nipple, and my son loved it, as did I.
My daughter on the other hand, would NOT take any bottles whatsoever. Though I tried....
Is he now latching on properly??? to you?
we tried the breastflow bottles with little success. The ones that finally did it was the Avent. Not all the fancy stuff, just a bottle with the larger nipple, somewhat similar to mom. DS did great using bottle during my work hours and right back to nursing at home, no confusion.
My daughter was stubborn and we had to try four different brands of bottles before we finally found one she would take. She liked Evenflo because, at least from what the packaging says, it's the most like a breast. Good luck!
