My 11 week old baby stated day care this week, and she won't take a bottle from the day care workers. She's breastfed and they are feeding her pumped milk. My mom is the only one she's ever taken a bottle from well. DH normally has to fight with her to get her to take even a half ounce. I was hoping as she got used to the day care workers she would take a bottle but she normally comes home having eaten only a couple of ounces all day, and she was eating way more than that when I was feeding her. She screams and cries and tries to push the bottle away. It feels like we have tried every trick to make her use a bottle and she just won't. Did anyone else have this problem? Do you have any tips? Do I just need to be patient and keep making her bottles to try at home? How long did it take your baby to adjust to a bottle if they struggled at first?
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Have you tried different nipples? My LO did this as well until I used a nipple he liked. Now he takes a bottle no problem.
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My LO took 2 wks to take a bottle from the nanny when we started nannycare even though she would take one from dad and grandparents. It was tough but she got there! Hang in there
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@Reese: We've tried four different nipples but I'm willing to keep looking. Did your LO immediately take a liking to the new nipple?
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Are they warming the bottle? We had a lot of various refusal issues and the biggest thing we did that made her finally accept a bottle was warming it pretty hot (between 100-105 degrees). Warning: It is a total pain in the ass and now at almost 15 mo my LO still refuses to take a bottle if it isn't at least 100 degrees and I fear that when she's 5 I'll still be warming up milk in a cup for her...... but at least it got her to eat when she was tiny and not eating was scary).
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Here are some tips that may help, including offering the bottle whne baby isn't super hungry or when asleep.
http://www.mother-2-mother.com/bottles.htm
Also scroll to the end of this page to "What if my baby is refusing bottles?" section:
http://thebreastfeedingmother.blogspot.com/2012/07/returning-to-work-breastfeeding-mothers.html -
We had this issue. Warm the nipple in addition to the bottle was a suggestion from our pediatrician. Rock and walk while trying to feed helps distract them, and maybe try using a shirt or item that smells like mom. Also, we tried four or five different bottle brands, and for us munchkin latch are the only ones most like an actual nipple and stretch and pull and mimic breastfeeding.
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@Mae: They do warm the bottles, but we haven't tried a very hot bottle.
@lady grey: I'll definitely look through those links and try anything we haven't tried before.
@dc yoga bee: We tried sending a short shirt I'd worn to daycare and moving while feeding, but I'll definitely try warming the nipple and the munchkin bottle next!
You guys have made me feel so much better about this already. Thank you!
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I had the same problem...DD wouldn't touch a bottle for a couple days of daycare until I could come feed her. Tried different/nipples bottles and nothing worked. Eventually she just figured out if she's hungry, she'll have to take the bottle. Sorry, I know it's stressful!
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My LO's refusal wasn't quite so bad. He started refusing at 12 weeks, I returned to work yesterday at 14 weeks. During his 2 weeks of refusal we did 5-6 sessions where I left home for 3+ hours. During those two weeks Sweetie could never get him to take more than 1/2 oz at most. We tried most things suggested in any/every article I could find including 5 different nipples. We used the one he hated the least when I went back.
Yesterday he ate nothing for the first 4 hours I was gone, but then ate more-or-less normally. Today he ate almost as much as I pumped.
Aside from trying lots of nipples, two things that I think made a difference for us that don't come up in most articles/advice about bottle refusal were:
- giving him a bottle to play with as a toy (we put some bells in it) to desensitize him from freaking out at the mere sight of the bottle.
- feeding him while he was sitting in something (podster lounger or swing) rather than trying to hold and feed him.Every baby is different, but, FWIW, the magic nipple for us was the mOmma.
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I tried to find a nipple that looked the most like mine, which was the mOmma. For us what worked best was mOmma really warm/hot, and "breastfeeding position" until she got comfortable with the bottle.
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@kick641: has it gotten any better? I went back to work yesterday and so far my LO has been only drinking 1/2 oz to 1 oz at a time and really fighting the bottle. I'm planning to try the methods everyone mentioned above ... but in the mean time I'm stressing that she'll lose weight or something
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@rrachael: @kick641: how did your LO's end up doing?? My 9 week old is totally refusing and we start daycare in 3 weeks!
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I am sorry! DD had a bottle strike when I went back to work too! We just stuck with one bottle b/c for us I knew she was just stubborn. We we tried everything under the sun and just be patient. It sucks and your heart breaks when they're hungry! Hang in there!
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@hellobeeboston: I went back to work when DD was 5 months and she flat out refused a bottle for almost 2 weeks before she was consistently taking her feeding from bottles. I was gone for 12 hours at a time which was so stressful. Here is the thread I posted when we were in the thick of it.
http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/refusing-a-bottle-not-eating-all-day#post-2297470What ended up working was really warm (almost hot) milk, a latex nipple with a medium flow because I have a very fast let down. Another thing we eventually figured out is that she will refuse frozen breastmilk unless it is scalded before frozen because apparently I have high lipase but it presents as a metalic taste and smell as opposed to soapy which is what you always hear when reading about it.
I really hope you can get it figured out
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