Help!! 5Month Old Stopped Taking the Bottle

Hi,
I had the same issue. It took my baby two weeks of trying and not eating during the day at daycare but, she finally went back to the bottle. We tried every bottle and everyone trying. There are a lot of things we tried and you can try. Try facing your baby out, bouncing, a quiet room, other people etc. Finally, she ended up taking the bottle from me, facing out, bouncing. She wouldn't take it with breastmilk either. I had to get her to take it using formula. Now she will take either.
It was too hard for me to do on my own so, I had daycare to help. I'm not sure if that is an option or if there is someone that can try it everytime.
Good luck - he'll end up taking it if it is the only option. He won't let himself starve, you just may have a little screaming.
D.

Hi R.,
It sounds like you aren't in a situation where your baby really needs to take a bottle, so if you haven't had to give one, I'd say don't. It's not necessary to give a bottle just for the sake of giving one. Babies should associate just breastfeeding with mom - if he's with you, why the need to give a bottle? If he's with daddy or a sitter, he'll realize that you're not there. It's normal for babies to want the breast from mom.
Goodluck

Someone else has to give him the bottle when you are not around (go to another room, and don't even peek at the door). If he smells the breast, he won't be interested in the bottle.
And you have to be persistent, it may take a while to get him back into the swing of it, so just be patient. He will do it eventually. But again, it's imporatnt that someone else besides you gives it to him.

I think the Breastflow bottles are really good. Also, I think your little guy will be happier taking it from someone besides you. My husband had much better luck giving a bottle to my son than I did!

Be patient, and keep trying. He'll get the hang of it again!

I know what you mean, my third son hated the bottle and preferred breast, but you know it's healthier, cheaper, convenient, quicker and less cleaning (cleaning bottles can be a pain in the neck). Your son may not want a bottle ever because of security, closeness, warmth and smell of you, or he may want it wait another month but if you really want to give him the bottle, just try it every so often, but don't expect him to take it, though. He feels loved and secured with your breast. Enjoy it if you can, I miss doing it. I didn't enjoy it with my second son because of alot of problems for me, but I enjoyed it with my third son.
Every babies are different when it comes to ages of taking sippy cups. I think 5 months is too early. There are different kinds of sippy cups. They have one with longer sprouts, so shorter ones, so with preventive leaks under the caps. There are so many and take it slow when he gets older. Enjoy him when he is little because they will grow up and they grow up soooo fast. Have fun, any more questions, ask and we including I will answer based upon our experiences and opinions. :)

you can start him on a sippy cup at anytime, just watch for spillage after it's in the babies mouth and he goes to let go of the cup (hope that makes sense).
also, have someone else give him the bottle, not you, if possible. the smell of you is what the baby is after. also, if he gets hungry enough, hel'' take the bottle. however, i recommend that you stick to only one nipple and stop confusing the little one with the constant changes.
hope this helps.

My first daughter did the same thing and I have now given up on my 6 month old. My ped told me to introduce the sippy cup around 5-6 months. She would play with it at first and would drink a little but was on it no problem at a year. I tried the Take & Toss cups because they don't have a valve and are easy for them to hold. As far as feeding when I was away from her, she took enough to get by while I was away or had some cereal.

On the bottle front, I do find that when #2 won't take the bottle, she is not necessarily hungry but wants the breast for comfort. I have had her take the Playtex Nurser with a new nipple they have that adjusts to their sucking more like the breast. Every sitter (although we don't often have a sitter) has had her take it when she finally got really hungry, then ate and fell asleep. I am trying to introduce solids now to help, too. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss more.

Good luck!

Hi R.... how cool, that's my daughter's name. My R. is now 10 years old, but we had the same problem when she was a baby. We didn't give her a bottle until she was 5 months old. I had to go back to work and she absolutely REFUSED to take a bottle. We decided to wait her out and "make" her take the bottle when she woke up in the morning. Well, after about 2 hours of screaming and crying (she was screaming, I was crying :)I gave in. We ended up calling a lactation consultant who gave us the following advice.

Do not try to force your baby into drinking from a bottle. Continue to nurse for feedings. Stop nursing when your baby is satiated. In between feedings, give your baby the bottle to play with. She said that all babies will bring the bottle to their mouths while they are playing. When a few drops of milk hit their lips, they will realize the milk in the bottle is the same as nursing and take the bottle.

She advised that someone else feed my daughter and that I should not be in the house (or at least out of the room). My husband did this with my daughter a few times and it worked! I wish I could remember more, but it was so long ago. I do remember the anguish of being unable to get her to take a bottle, though. My advice... try this, or go see a lactation consultant. It was well worth the money to have someone give us advice.

Good luck. This will be a distant memory soon... replaced by bigger and better questions :)

-L.