My LO is 16 weeks and I have been EBF. I tried to give her a bottle 3 weeks before daycare started but she refused it and my dh was at work so it was just me. Anyway she started daycare this week and has only been taking 1-2 oz throughout the day. When she gets home she nurses for a little bit, but she never acts like she's starving. She nurses for about an hour before bed, but this has been normal for her. Basically, her mood and eating habits seem to be the same but she's not eating during the day! Her diaper is pretty much dry for 6 hours :(. If you EBF how long did it take for your LO to get use to the bottle and drink more? She has a doctor appointment next week and I plan on bringing it up if she hasn't improved.
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She never did.
She went to work with me so I didn't have to push the issue too hard. I introduced a straw cup at 6 months and she took BM out of that.
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It took about a month after starting daycare (we also tried for several weeks beforehand) and a whoooole lot of patience and love from her daycare teachers. They were great and kept persisting with the bottle, but also made sure she stayed fed with medicine droppers, tiny spoons, etc. Honestly, it was really rough and my LO definitely reverse cycled to get what she needed overnight. I hope you have better luck!
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Two weeks.
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4 months. He refused more than 2 ounces from 8 weeks until 5.5 months. He reverse cycled and stayed in the 80th percentile weight wise. After 6 months he was drinking 12-16 ounces a day.
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Never. Eventually we got him on a Sippy cup but that was 6 months+.
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My god these tiny creatures are stubborn!! Hope I'll be in the same camp as @t.h.o.u.
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Another vote for straight to sippy cup and even that was tough. My oldest was born small and fell off the growth chart and refused more than 1-2 oz from the bottle when I returned to work so I extended my leave and eventually just stayed at home. Whoever says babies won't starve themselves is crazy!
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Mine never did, it was hard!
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Never. DS is 11 months, nurses every 2 hours, and has never taken a bottle or pacifier. We tried a bunch of different bottles, but eventually decided not to push it since I SAH. We had the best luck with a MAM nipple, but he still didn't drink enough from it that I would count it as 'taking a bottle'.
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About two months. I did introduce a bottle early-ish at about 4 weeks, and had someone give a bottle every other day or so. But at about 2 months old, she decided she strongly preferred BF and started refusing the bottle. It took a lot of patience and persistence from my mother and my nanny (both started watching her regularly the month before I went back to work from FMLA leave and continue to be her caretakers) to get her to eat at all, and she'd take like, one or two ounces, then wait it out till I got home. She nursed a lot at night during this period. Eventually, though, she got used to it, or got hungry, and started consistently drinking enough during the day from the bottle.
At this point (8.5 mos), she'll take a bottle from others, but for a long time, only grandma or the nanny could get her to drink from a bottle.
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@dragonsword: so so stubborn! I just kept telling myself I was proud to have a girl who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to insist on it.
But really, I was soooo worried.
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It took LO1 about a week at daycare for her to fully get used to it. We started trying the bottle much earlier though (although we had limited success).
Does your LO take a pacifier? Apparently what worked for our daycare was to give her a pacifier, then quickly switch it out for the bottle. They had to spend several days tricking her with the pacifier before she'd take the bottle alone. Oddly, my LO didn't even take a pacifier before starting daycare (they introduced that too) but somehow this worked.
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For those who did a soppy cup, which one did you use? My 4 month old won't take a bottle either...
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Following. DS is on his 4th week of daycare and bottles are still hit or miss. He refuses more often than not, and when he refuses they spoon feed him, but I have a feeling a majority of the milk ends up on his clothes when they do that since he goes through 2-3 outfits a day 🙄
Reading some of these responses is making me want to try a straw cup though...I didn't realize some babies took them so young.
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@dragonsword: We did have to start to scald my pumped milk because I think the lipase was an issue.
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@LAZB: We had the best luck with the basic gerber/Nuk ones that are kind of hourglass shaped. I removed the stopper in the lid so the milk would just flow into his mouth without requiring him to suck. At about 9 months we started using the spillproof/sucking insert.
Eta photo
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@catlady: she never would take a pac from us but did for her daycare! She didn't drink anything all day at daycare today but took about 2oz from my husband when she came home. She definitely knows what to do, she just refuses to do it.
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With DD1 took a few weeks! She was stubborn. I go back to work next week with DD2; we have given her aborted here & there and she took them with some resistance
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We used these although the reviews seem pretty bad saying it's hard to get anything out. Maybe they changed the top because we didn't have issues.
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@Jennibenni: @skipra: thanks, we will try both
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Something shifted in my LOs mouth/gag at 4 months and after that he took a bottle like a champ. But before that.... we ended up liking the NUK bottles because the nipple kinda goes up to the top of his mouth and i think that helped him gag on it less. Now (almost 6 months) I am pretty sure he would take any bottle, but I haven't really tried. We went through a few weeks of all night nursing to make up for not drinking during the day.
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@skipra: We had some of those and my son couldn't get anything out. My husband and I both tried and had a hard time as well, it was crazy! They must have changed something.
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My LO caught on Day 2 but Mondays were like starting over again for the first month.
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My Dd actually took bottles while in the NICU but refused them at 9 months old after I was home for two weeks of winter break and only Ebf. For the month of January we tried just about all bottles and nipples on the market and all sippies. She refused every single one. Screamed harder and harder each time we kept offering. She would only take 1-2 oz from a straw cup, Any straw, any cup. Some did get on her clothes. But after a month I just gave up the fight. She nursed a lot more at night rather than sttn like she used to. We just gave her oatmeal cereal mixed with pumped milk and more solids.
It was so stressed about it until I decided she's just as strong willed as mama and I probably wasn't going to win that fight so I gave up and just accepted that I would have to just wake to nurse.
Hang in there. Good luck.
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DD started daycare at 12 weeks and took a couple of weeks before she was drinking much from a bottle. She never drank as much at daycare though, and often just waited for me.
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I just wanted to update in case anyone does a search for this. It took my LO 3 full weeks for her to finally take the bottle as a normal feed. Like others said on here, she reverse cycled for a bit and that was kind of crazy. She would take 2 oz at daycare max and wait until she got home. I think what helped was once we got home from daycare her first feed would have to be a bottle. She would take only 2 oz for me as well, but I kept offering all the way up until bedtime, she would finish it and then nurse to sleep. It was a tiring time (like most baby transitions) but I'm glad we finally got through it!
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My DS hasn't taken one at all we just started introducing a sippy at 5months but it's a work in progress. My DD started a sippy at 4 months and did great with it. She also never would take a bottle.
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Something clicked a bit after 4 months old and lo started taking the bottle but wouldn't drink very much. It's taken until 6.5 months to get get him driving enough during the day to stop the all night snack-a-thon.
She went to work with me so I didn't have to push the issue too hard. I introduced a straw cup at 6 months and she took BM out of that.
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