How Can I Get My 4 1/2 Month Old to Take Bottles/formula?

If you can pump anything at all you can ween her onto formula by doing a mix of the two, but if that is impossible you will just have to keep giving her the formula until she takes it and trust she won't let herself starve.

I always found it was more the nipple (for me, it was NUK and finding the right one that looked/same shape as mine) not so much the bottle. Also the right flow (hole). Some let out too much milk, others not enough.

Also - the position of the baby, so mine were held fine when I breastfed of course (just what came naturally) but we had to hold them much more upright when bottle feeding for some reason. I think because they basically felt like they were choking on the formula. It just went down so much more quickly.

They could control it much better if more upright (like breastfeeding).

The critical other piece was temperature. I know they say to test on wrist (or was it elbow) but I had to warm it slightly more than that - and voila - they'd take it. I was like you - desperate.

That worked.

Good luck :)

Also - get your spouse/partner to do it. If you have a soft top/pajama top of yours that will remind babe of you, that helps too (to hold next to baby to comfort them) - but don't you do first bottles. Get someone else to and it will help baby get used to taking it.

La Leche League was a life saver for me! Wonderful, free, local mom to mom support. Here's a link for your area:
http://lllofindiana.org/find-a-group/indianapolis-and-sur...
Please give them a call, they will have the best ideas and give you tons of caring support. Good luck!!!

It's a shame you used up your frozen milk.
To transition you want to mix a 1/4 formula in with your milk then after a few days increase the ratio to half milk half formula, then 1/4 milk to 3/4 formula and then all formula.
Talk with your pediatrician and see if they have any ideas about helping her transition.
My milk dried up at around 5 months but our son had no issues with taking formula.

It's so frustrating isn't it? I'm sure you're exhausted physically and emotionally. But take heart - she will not starve herself at 4.5 months.

I think you have tried so many bottle types - maybe too many. Stick with the one she did best with, and don't go back to any of the others.

If there's any chance you can pump something, I agree with the comments below about mixing breast milk and formula. The other thing you can try - short term - is putting her against your bare skin so she can feel and smell you, but just use the bottle instead of the breast. Obviously that keeps her a bit dependent on your skin/smell but it might work for the transition. Also try using something soft (a scarf, a cloth) that you keep inside your bra so it smells like you, and then have whoever feeds her use that for a while (putting it against their skin or shirt) until she's really used to the same item and the same bottle. Try to move her more to being fed by others who don't have boobs and she'll get settled in quickly.

I'm not sure if you're using liquid or powder formula, but talk to the pediatrician or a feeding expert about which would be closest to your breast milk given your problems in production. My pediatrician told me o switch fro one to the other (my milk also dried up) - but it was too long ago for me to remember why! But do ask - there may be another helpful hint out there for you!

I know this is hard. Try not to let your totally normal agitation spill over into the feeding rouine - babies pick up on that.

Mine didn’t want the bottle at all. My MIL put a bit of banana in one of those mesh feeders, then the bottle right behind it. Once he got to sucking from the bottle she no longer needed the mesh and banana to get started. Just a thought.

You've tried different bottles and nipples and found the right one. Now try different temperatures and holding positions. My baby would only take a bottle if:
1 - it was in a wide mouth bottle with wide nipple base, slow flow nipple
2 - it was pretty warm (not hot but definitely felt warm when I tested it on my inner arm)
3 - (and this was the weird one that took a while to figure out) he was sitting in a car seat or high chair. He was convinced that being held was ONLY for nursing. If he was being held in my (or anyone's) arms, he wanted it straight from the tap and would not take the bottle. But if he was NOT being held (eg, sitting in a chair), then he would take the bottle.

There is also something called reverse cycling that some nursing moms do if the baby really won't take formula. From the frustration in your post, I'm guessing that this might not be something that you are interested in - you sound like you are considering this as a step towards weaning and this is the opposite direction - but it is an option. Read about it here: https://kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling/

Good luck!

you just have to keep at. mix a little formula into the breast milk and keep offering it.
she's a baby. she'll protest. it's all she can do to communicate.
but she'll take the bottle eventually. she really will.
when i went back to work my husband spent two terrible nights with our first. he didn't want the bottle either. and not having the internet to help us, we weren't smart enough to think of either slowly introducing formula to breast milk, or even to use the bottle before i started back to work. bam. poor baby got the bottle AND formula all in one go.
neither of them had a great time, but eventually everyone settled into it.
use the bottle she takes to best, introduce formula into the breast milk gradually, be patient and stick with it.
i know it's rough but she WILL take it.
khairete
S.