https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:04:45 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2878229 Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:51:08 +0000 LCTBQE 2878229@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LindsayInNY: ugh it's so stressful, sorry to hear you're going through it but you're clearly not alone :heart: from what I could tell there were basically three camps: 1) just had to find the right bottle/temperature, 2) babies didn't like it but figured it out once at daycare and got on board either entirely or well enough, and 3) babies who never got on board and moms had to move heaven and earth to get them fed. I am really hoping you're also in camp 2. Have you tried the Lansinoh mOmma or the Comotomo? those two seem to be the most commonly accepted by stubborn EBF babies, our girl uses Comotomo and likes her milk very very warm. Also want to encourage you about the pacis-- once our girl took to the bottle at daycare, our babysitter was able to get her to take a paci with no problem at all, whereas before she hated them. Now she loves them but doesn't have a crazy attachment, but such a good tool for putting her to sleep or when she's fussy--it would have made early days SO much easier if she had taken one back then. Anyway, never too late :) Let me know how it goes, I'm rooting for you guys. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2878205 Tue, 26 Mar 2019 07:34:50 +0000 LindsayInNY 2878205@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: I’m in the same boat. DD2 is starting daycare on Monday and no interest in bottles or pacifiers. I’ll still be home so at least I can start with shorter days, if necessary and she’s not eating. Going to read over these comments though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2868304 Tue, 22 Jan 2019 21:34:02 +0000 Anagram 2868304@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: yay! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2868303 Tue, 22 Jan 2019 21:32:30 +0000 Jess1483 2868303@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: hooray!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2868295 Tue, 22 Jan 2019 21:03:38 +0000 LCTBQE 2868295@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Update for anyone who cares/needs a success story on bottle refusal: after a LOT of me stressing out and effort and baby refusal and on and on, my little boo started daycare right after she turned 4 months and literally zero problems taking the bottle there from the first day. She drinks a lot less than my son (like 10~oz when he was drinking 16) but it's enough to keep her comfortable, and she's starting to take a little more. Such a relief !! Thank you for all the support and suggestions, it was so helpful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861767 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 18:18:20 +0000 codeitall 2861767@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: She started taking sippy cups around 7 months, but it was a long process. Every day when I picked her up they'd tell me 'she drank a whole oz!' but it took her a few weeks to start drinking 3-4 oz.</p> <p>Honestly, she didn't do badly at daycare, she had a blast watching the other kids, had favorite toys and took naps well she just didn't like bottles haha </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861763 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:09:16 +0000 ShootingStar 2861763@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: Aww thanks 😊. Feeding her formula from the bottle when 2.5m old was a mistake because she wasn’t used to it and hated the taste. So when I tried to feed her a bottle again she had a bad association with it and probably assumed it would taste bad. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861760 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:51:05 +0000 mrswin 2861760@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: Sorry you didn’t have any luck with the latex nipples - DD was not a fan of the silicone ones of any kinds and never really took a paci either.<br /> I thought of one more thing that made a difference which was going up to a to a level 2 nipple. I had a really over active let down so DD was used to milk just kind of flowing into her mouth without having to work for it too hard so when we initially tried bottles she was pissed that the flow was so slow/she had to work for her milk! Babies are very particular little beings! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861753 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:44:40 +0000 Kitkat 2861753@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: lol probably! I will say though that once he got on board with bottles, he was not picky as which one he would take...and pretty much every transition since then has been a breeze - bottles to sippy/straw cups, breastmilk to whole milk, weaning, etc, so hopefully once you’re over this hurdle it’s smooth sailing! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861749 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:38:26 +0000 yerpie110 2861749@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: Dd2 has always loved doing whatever her big sis doing, from day 1, seriously! She showed signs of interest in food much earlier than Dd1 - she was always trying to steal dd1 snacks and I swear I caught her drooling a few times watching her sister eat. I was actually the one who broached it with the ped. She was a good eater from the start, and thankfully remains that way. Sidenote - dd2 never took a paci either. No fake nipples for her! You'll make it to the other side of this, too, and be able to help another mama someday in the future! :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861746 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:36:32 +0000 LCTBQE 2861746@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Kitkat: hahaha on the equal opportunity hating. maybe you hallucinated the thread from being stressed out :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861745 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:35:34 +0000 LCTBQE 2861745@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: thank you, this is so reassuring, I always appreciate your posts :heart: yep, my son who is Lily's age would drink freaking *anything* from a bottle with vigor. so why was feeding her formula in the beginning a mistake? I thought I had tried everything but actually have not tried walking/bouncing while feeding her, so I will give that a shot tomorrow. and yeah, wish it wasn't the case, but I have much more success with the bottle than anyone else (NOT helpful, haha). what bottle did Lily like the best? </p> <p>@periwinklebee: I know, I know.. it's not cool. thanks for the moral support :) </p> <p>@bhbee: @LBee: @cam: yes, it seems like mood and the *exact . fucking. right. * hunger level are key here. god, where is the eye roll emoji on this thing. unfortunately when she gets too hungry, she becomes frantic (probably her genetic disposition coming from me, poor kid) and then just shuts down and absolutely refuses the bottle. or at least this is what has happened the few times I've left for the day--it goes downhill and gets worse and worse. </p> <p>@pachamama: yes, it does seem that way!! I'm super not into old wives tales and stuff, but in the HB threads and in all the other articles/threads I've read, girls are predominant for sure. weird. </p> <p>@DesertDreams88: yep, this makes total sense on the pumping. my son was never that into nursing, total bottle-monster, and after I returned to work I almost was EP with him. it was kind of a pain but nothing close to this shit :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic/page/2#post-2861743 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:29:26 +0000 Kitkat 2861743@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: honestly, I decided on it because it was cheap and not a lot of parts to wash. He seemed to hate all bottles equally, so I figured sticking with one would limit the confusion.</p> <p>PS-apparently I didn’t start a thread on this, because I can’t find it...I must’ve just read a ton of old ones. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861742 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:22:15 +0000 LCTBQE 2861742@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@yerpie110: you know what, even you saying that just reading my freakout posts reminds you of how panicked you felt makes me feel less insane, so thank you for that :) truly. was your daughter particularly interested in solids that early, or did you kind of force the issue? and def using your tip about blaming the transition to buy me some time (and hoping to end up in the group of people whose kids got on board... woof.) </p> <p>@Mrsbells: @jennlin821: I have totally tried formula, I'm not averse to it in the least--but so far, it's not working. and re paci's, our girl just seems to hate any non-flesh foreign objects in her mouth at ALL. we started on Dr Brown's level 1 and she was doing fine. Then after the rejection, we tried:<br /> Dr Brown's level 2<br /> Comotomo levels 1 and 2 (this one she seems to like ok)<br /> Lansinoh mOmma (same as above)<br /> First Years Breastflow (hated)<br /> Nuk Simply Natural (meh)<br /> Nuk latex (hated)<br /> Similac latex (hated)<br /> Playtex drop-ins (hated)<br /> Tommee Tippee (meh)</p> <p>@Mrs. Champagne: god I wish I could just charge my husband with this and wish him luck, haha. the scary-hot tip I think is going to be a big piece of the puzzle. she seems to get angry when I squirt milk in her mouth (which is super easy to do with the comotomo) but sometimes I can get her going if I shush her SUPER loudly--like it'll jolt her into action. lord, these babies! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861741 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:22:15 +0000 ElbieKay 2861741@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: Yes, now my girls will drink my freezer milk. We usually mix it with fresh since they are going to drink both each day anyway. My stash is about 3mo so I am rotating through it. About 1/3 - 1/2 of their bottle milk is frozen each day while I am at work.</p> <p>We have a nanny, not daycare, so all of their bottles are at home. But I don't ever give them bottles myself. (I hate bottle feeding! So boring! And I like the bond from nursing especially since I am at work all week.) My husband rarely bottle feeds them because I try to avoid pumping unless I am at work.</p> <p>They seem to like Tommee Tippee bottles with Size 2 nipples.</p> <p>Good luck and keep us posted! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861737 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:09:41 +0000 LCTBQE 2861737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Kitkat: SO SO BADLY do I want us to be you. Yes, this is exactly what happened with us to a T with the daddy MOTN feeds/STTN feed drop/later rejection. I feel so foolish for not keeping up the bottle, but my first kid was a bottle maniac so I just never anticipated this problem. Did you decide on the playtex bottle just because he seemed to reject that one the least? thank you for writing, gives me some hope! and can you send me your post if you can find it?</p> <p>@codeitall: wow, this sounds.. not fun. how old was she was she started sippy cups/straw cups? did she take to them quickly once introduced? how was she not a total mess at daycare when not eating all day? </p> <p>@mrswin: thanks for the link--we actually tried these! reject-o :meh: and I tried the latex nips that come with the pre-mixed Similac for Supplementing, too. That was our pediatrician's suggestion, she said the pre-mixed liquid was like a baby milkshake--also rejected. I wrote above that because of your post and some others I tried super hot milk on Monday morning (before I ate shrimp... jeez) with huge success. Small victories, I guess? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861735 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:00:08 +0000 LCTBQE 2861735@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sorry I didn't reply sooner! She was absolutely miserable yesterday (and still kind of is)--I spent the entire day walking her around while she burped and hiccuped and farted and cried. And then I did it again all night last night. She has been having a lot of trouble even with *nursing* since yesterday morning--I am wondering if it was shellfish or something else in my dinner Monday night (shrimp curry with broccoli and some other more innocuous veggies) that is the problem. </p> <p>@Anagram: you are the best, thank you for taking the time to write this out. this sleep/paci/switcheroo thing sounds like an absolute nightmare :meh: my girl detests paci's with a burning passion, I have tried 4 kinds and she has never accepted them from day one. I wish! but gaaahhh I don't know how you could have even gotten her to sleep with success if she was so hungry. It sounds like the level that @Jape14 told me about with her daughter. I have a very delicate political situation at my job that I kind of urgently need to attend to (and actually have already extended my leave by almost six weeks) so the medical leave thing is in my back pocket but only as an absolute last resort. good to be reminded of, though. Our summer babysitter has just withdrawn from college for personal reasons and is starting back with us doing pickup from this daycare--if I really really need it, I think I can get her to sign up for full time taking care of the girl, at least for a while--so that's in my back pocket, too. I really would like to keep my 2-year-old boy in daycare, though, he's super social and I think he'd be bored at home or doing like a morning playgroup thing--that's why I'm really reluctant to do a full time nanny, because I think I'd essentially be double-paying. But he will graduate to a preschool in September anyway, and as I've written, I'm scared of our daycare already, BUT the waitlists around here are literally 10 months. Net, I am going to keep your good nanny experience in mind and try to be flexible if that is just going to be better/easier. Re parents/help--I've seen you write before about how awesome your mom is :) our parents are difficult but my best friend is somewhat around and is amazing with our kids, thank god for her. and my work has a nice transition back program where I get a handful of days off in the first few weeks. So it isn't like I would be out on the street instantly if the girl just refuses to get on board at the daycare, but it would be quite a lot of money and re-jiggering and favor-asking. Oy! so what did your amazing nanny actually DO to get your #1 to eat? did she always do the deep-sleep trick??</p> <p>@Pollywog: ugh I hope so much we're like your other son. and is the 90% a real statistic?! please say yes, haha. I'm glad your first boy could make it without too much weight loss but sorry you had to stay up all night in reverse-cycle land. right now the girl still seems so tiny and immature, but I'm hoping she shows an interest in solids before six months. </p> <p> @ElbieKay: still have no idea how anyone manages twins :heart: ! since she started her strike around Halloween, my girl has taken like either zero or 2-3 oz when I've been in the city for medical appointments (when I'm gone 6-8 hours)--so I could absolutely see her replicating the experience at daycare. I do hope that like some people have suggested, the environment will snap her out of it, at least a little. your post is so uplifting and optimistic, though--it sounds GREAT to be stressing about milk production instead of this :) that is a fuckload of freezer milk. I think I have about 400 oz and recently discovered high lipase, so, eh... did you girls start in on your freezer stash after they got over the bottle problem? how are they with bottles at home? and what kind do you use? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861511 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:46:12 +0000 cam 2861511@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This sounds really hard, I hope you and daycare are able to come up with a workable solution :goodluck:</p> <p>Just wanted to add that my 3m old would almost definitely refuse a feeding after 1.5hrs, and he does not refuse politely. If I try to feed him when he doesn't want it, he screams bloody murder </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861508 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:32:27 +0000 hellobeeboston 2861508@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: i already wrote on your wall, but try not to stress too much! Your baby won't starve, if she is hungry enough, she WILL eat.... </p> <p>It sooooo much easier for me to say that on the other side of it, but having gone through it, it all somehow worked out. My LO did eventually take a bottle months after starting daycare, and while his weight dropped a little bit, it was nothing crazy.</p> <p>I will say, we did buy this finger feeder thing that he would eat from, if you want I can ship it to you - but it was a total last resort. My husband got my LO to eat that way basically by sucking on his finger that had a tube attached that the baby ate through. It's crazy, but we were in full on panic mode and we figured we'd try it. Luckily we didn't need it since we realized the baby would eat very soupy oatmeal mixed with breastmilk from a spoon and that's how he ate for a few months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861505 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:07:01 +0000 pachamama 2861505@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: anecdotally, it seems like girls have more issues with bottle feeding. My friends who had girls had more issues. Two of them both at 9m just straight rejected nursing too. Weird right? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861481 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 10:14:04 +0000 LBee 2861481@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I mentioned this before on another thread, but both kids rejected if they weren't hungry. My daughter in particular was super finnicky about bottles. I think it was 100% personality. </p> <p>My son refused bottles and finally was okay with the joovy boob. Weird name, but it worked. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861480 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 10:10:24 +0000 DesertDreams88 2861480@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>glad to hear you had some better success! Yeah I think the nursing session 90 min earlier was the reason. At that age both of my kiddos were going 3 hours between most feeds, whether it was bottle or breast. Once I went back to work with both kids, we switched over almost exclusively to pumping because it was just to confusing to time things otherwise :-/ (like being engorged when I got home, but she just had a bottle so not ready to feed, etc;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861475 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 09:48:41 +0000 bhbee 2861475@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: I’m glad it’s looking a little better! I think you’re right about hunger. My same age baby is ok with a bottle at the right temp but would definitely refuse if she nursed 90m prior. She will always latch if I offer but bottles are only of interest when hungry. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861474 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 09:44:55 +0000 periwinklebee 2861474@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: I seriously hate that they make you feel like this - life is stressful enough. I can understand the daycare provider being upset if parents are showing up late or just totally dropping the ball, but struggling with bottles, potty training, naps, etc are pretty much what kids do, and they should be working with you, not making you feel as though it's totally on you or else your kids are getting thrown out... I would be SO stressed if I was worried we were going to lose our childcare over LO's normal behavior (thank god we had a very detailed contract and the only grounds for termination were not paying or consistently showing up late. ) I really hope she continues to improve! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861473 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 09:37:57 +0000 LCTBQE 2861473@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Litebrite: :heart: :heart: thank you. this made me laugh. </p> <p>@pachamama: oh god, yeah that's how our daycare's communication style is, too. I would think they'd tell us if she went all day without eating at ALL just because then she'd be a pill about sleeping. I hope so much we can be like you guys and have it more or less work out. </p> <p>@crazydoglady: thanks lady :) at least she sleeps!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861470 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 09:32:55 +0000 LCTBQE 2861470@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: yeah, you know our deal with our daycare :meh: basically half of my anxiety is that I'm frightened of them at this point. Plus as you know the boy is mid-potty-training AND is dropping his nap and I just already feel like no matter how warm and polite and fucking *trying hard* I am, I don't want us to be the difficult family. Ugh. good to know that someone at your daycare figured it out with their lil fusspot. </p> <p>@peachykeen: right, so everyone on the internet seems to fall into about three camps on this: 1) we just had to find the right bottle/milk temp/etc and then everything was fine, 2) your camp, it wasn't great but daycare forced her to get on board and it worked out eventually to a livable degree, or 3) my baby NEVER took a bottle ever and I had to quit my job/work from home at great sacrifice/etc. We're not in #1 and I hope like hell we will be in #2. this thread is giving me a lot of hope that we will be since she will take the bottle *sometimes*. Thank you so much for your post, it is encouraging :heart: </p> <p>@DesertDreams88: because of your comment and @peechykeen's comment on milk temp, I went extra extra hot yesterday (I was doing 105-ish, I went hotter) AND trotted the previously-rejected mOmma back out--and she drank almost 4 oz from it **totally** without incident, it was amazing--you would never have known there was any problem. then this morning, I presented the same deal except instead of her STTN and waking to drink, she woke at 4:45am and had a big nursing session until 5:30am--almost complete bottle rejection. I also tried the Comotomo again this morning when she rejected the mOmma, and it was about the same. I got her to take 1 oz with enormous effort, finally gave up when she started getting freaked out, waited 20 minutes and nursed her, and she didn't take much even nursing, although she was very happy to latch on. So based on this and also looking back over success days and failure days, I think it's a witchy combo of her hunger level and mood first, followed by bottle type/milk temp, followed by environment. I'm almost certain that the rejection this morning was because of the big nursing session 90 minutes prior (right? that must be right). </p> <p>@caitcat: oh my gosh MSPI issues sound so, so hard. the MAM is actually the last bottle that I still haven't tried, besides this Australian one called the Pigeon that is insanely expensive and looks just like the mOmma :meh: that's an interesting suggestion to have a daycare-specific one. I think I'll keep that in my back pocket just in case we make no headway here in the next couple of weeks (she's starting there Jan 2). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861462 Tue, 11 Dec 2018 08:57:28 +0000 LCTBQE 2861462@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thank you SO, SO much for the responses, everyone! It really talked me off the ledge--it helps so much to know I'm not alone here with this issue and the suggestions and ideas are so reassuring. Didn't get a chance to respond yesterday and now the baby is waking up as soon as I opened up my laptop, but I'll write back soon :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861418 Mon, 10 Dec 2018 22:24:03 +0000 ShootingStar 2861418@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Lily went through bottle refusal too. We had given her a few bottles in the beginning and it went fine and two months later realized she wanted nothing to do with bottles. We went out to Buy Buy Baby and bought like .5 different kinds of bottles. I might have ordered one from amazon too. </p> <p>I realized I had made a few mistakes at the beginning - like I fed her formula because Declan has always taken them interchangeably. *Sigh* stupid me. </p> <p>So here’s what worked for us:<br /> - Found a bottle she’d kind of sort of take a sip from<br /> - Fed her when she was hungry but not starving. Yes this is kind of like drowsy but awake - hard to f-ing figure out. Basically it amounted to giving it a rest if she screamed too much and got too hungry.<br /> - I walked around and bounced her like mad while offering the bottle. It was very tiring but worked. Oh and most people say dad is better for bottles, but I’ve always been her favorite and had more success.<br /> - Gave her freshly pumped milk, warmed up. Declan would drink cold freaking formula or anything else for that matter so this was new. </p> <p>The first couple days of daycare she didn’t eat a ton but she ate. Then once she started getting used to it we had more flexibility with the bottle type. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861412 Mon, 10 Dec 2018 21:48:39 +0000 maddyz 2861412@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My work situation allowed me to often nurse at lunch. But ds2 was not into bottles and made up the difference at night with lots of nursing. Eventually he would take more from a bottle during the day but he never drank as much as ds1 did. We weaned in August at almost 2 years old and I just took the bottles away last week. It's been a hard shift for him yo so eating at night because he's always had a lot of milk at night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bottle-rejection-panic#post-2861363 Mon, 10 Dec 2018 16:24:18 +0000 jennlin821 2861363@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What bottles have you tried? We tried 6 different ones, and she liked the tommy tippee the best, and like the comotomo... so if she's liking the comotomo maybe try tommy tippee. </p> <p>Also, I would try different flow nipples. I wonder if she doesn't like how hard she has to work on the 'newborn' nipples, if your breastmilk flows out fast and easy. </p> <p>Take care of yourself. She will not starve. She may cry and be angry but she will not starve. Perhaps trying formula in a bottle and see how she takes it - fed is best, for momma too!!</p> <p>Does she take a pacifier? does the pacifier brand have bottle nipple of similar shape? </p>