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Hi Mamas,
This is my 2nd day back at work, and my husband is at home with our 3 month old daughter. I've been pumping milk for my husband to give her in a baby bottle (we're using the Dr. Brown's with the newborn baby nipple (size 1 I think??). He just called and said she won't take the bottle and is screaming, he's been trying for an hour. What to do? We introduced the bottle i(with pumped milk) in March when I had to be gone for a day and she did great, unfortunately we didn't keep it up and went back to exclusively nursing. I told him to heat the milk up, to try a different baby bottle, to try a medicine dropper and a spoon with milk- anything to get her to eat. What are your suggestions?
Thanks!
L.
Thanks everyone for all your wonderful advice! The baby finally got hungry enough around lunchtime and did take the bottle, but she had to be sitting up with the bottle horizontal. I'll get the level 2 nipples to try them too, since my husband says it takes her 45 min. to get through a bottle (but she nurses in 15 min.).
He will survive. So will she.
Have him keep trying.
Oh to be a fly on the wall.
Have him express a little milk out of the nipple on to her lips, def make sure its body temp too.
A day he wont soon forget... but when she does finally get hungry enough to take it, he will feel so accomplished.
Tell him to get on Mamapedia, we will support all day, lol.
Have him press the nipple against the corner of her mouth so that it will cause some of the milk to drip into her mouth and get onto the outside of the nipple. Ususally, if she realizes that what she is wanting is inside, she will automatically react and start sucking.
Another trick is to have him drape one of your shirts over himself between him and baby. So that she can smell you (your clothes). Have him try and hold her in the same position as when she is breastfeeding.
I exclusively breastfed DD3 for 6 months and then it took me 3 months to get her to take a bottle. I bought every single bottle on the market and tried every trick, after 3 months of crying (both her and I) i read a trick online that worked, have your husband cut his pinky nail as short as possible, then wash his hands xtra well, then as she is trying to feed her the bottle have him insert his pinky into baby's mouth so she starts to suck on it, then after a few seconds have him slide out his pinky slowwwwly and sneek in the bottle. This was the ONLY way i got her to take a bottle. and I didn't have to do it anymore after the second day. The thing is that she wants to feel skin in her mouth, not rubber or latex, so this will gratify her and she probably (hopefully) wont even notice when u sneek the bottle in because she'll be too busy feeding. Please let me know if it works for you, even if ur hubby wont try it, you try it, you'll see :)
How about if he puts one of your tshirts over his chest while he feeds. Or your pillow case? Maybe if she smells you, she will calm a little.
Advise him to swaddle her - hopefully you have a miracle blanket for a snug swaddle and help her calm down. Have him hold her like this http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoKgZT... with a paci or his finger in her mouth to give her a calm suck then try with the bottle again. He should give her a bottle at least once a day - you should NOT bottle feed until she is used to HIM doing this.
It is okay for him to place her in the crib safely for a few min while he collects himself if he is getting overwhelmed he needs to be calm in order to calm her.
My baby wouldn't take a bottle while in a nursing position. He felt that if he was lying in a cradle position, he should be nursing. My husband found that he would take a bottle when he was sitting in his bouncy seat (no expectation of nursing there). And, the first few times he had to put breastmilk on the outside of the nipple and even squeeze the nipple a bit when it was near the baby's mouth so that he would figure out what was inside. Good luck!
Try a different nipple. With my daughter there were some kind of nipples she just didn't like.. Maybe the flow is too slow???? I'd go to Babies R Us and just buy 2 or 3 different kind of nipples with a regular bottle (never tried Dr. Browns but I think you have to use the Dr Browns nipples with their bottle system??) Good luck. By husband watched both our kids while I worked (he is self employed and works at home) and I remember him calling me saying she is screaming but won't eat.
nope, don't flip around on the bottles. Stick with the Dr Browns & she'll eventually latch on. Trying a variety will simply confuse her. :)
The trick is that Dad/Baby need to develop their own system...not stick with yours. This way, your baby will develop adaptability.
As others have suggested, she may not be hungry. She may be gassy. It's up to Dad to figure it all out!
I got the NUK bottles/nipples that are for babies that are mainly breastfed. They worked better, I hated the Dr browns ones. If baby gets hungry enough she will eat, babies wont starve themselves, so try not to get too upset and tell your husband to.hang in there.
I agree with changing the nipple to a 2. Also, the lactation consultant at the hospital told me 3 bottles to try since the nipples mostly resemble the breast. I can't remember the other 2, but she suggested Playtex Drop Ins. Since that's what I had and planned on using, I didn't listen to the others. My sons took the great while breastfeeding.
try the size two.
The holes in the size one are super slow - wife and I had the exact same issue you two have. Two's did it.
ETA - also have him burp her and also "burp" her for gas (child sitting position on lap, palm on chest and slightly pressing stomach, and 'burp" her lower back)
ETA2 - and Ditto Grandma T - I'm a dad and i figured it out. :) (but he's very welcome on here)
Is he sure she is hungry? She may have a gas bubble and not be hungry.
Sometimes it works to take the baby to a different room or even outside for a minute or two. Change what they are looking at and it changes their attention and they calm down.
My daughter did this for three weeks when I returned to work. As for those that say she'll eat when hungry enough, this isn't always the case!
We tried a variety of things. The bottles didn't matter one bit for us. Here are the suggestions I was given:
Put your nightshirt around the bottle when feeding.
Use a syringe.
Breastfeed with a nipple shield (gives the silicone feeling).
Have the baby sitting completely upright, like she's sitting on her own (this is the one that finally did it for us).
I called lactation, la leche league, and the pediatrician to get as many suggestions as I could. Lactation sent me a flyer in the mail full of about 100 different ways to try to get a breastfed baby a bottle. Good luck!
