Hellobee Boards

Before other advice (and I do have suggestions), have you tried tasting the milk? Especially if you are having frozen milk given to him? I have high lipase in my milk and after 5 hours (the time varies for many women), it tastes metallic and like soap and is just gross. Freezing doesn't stop it. I can treat the milk and then it tastes fine. It should taste sweet and light

Whether or not that's the issue, I have advice. Just the first thing to check. I spent months trying to get LO1 to take a bottle before realizing it was just gross.

@jill_a55: if he's starting to learn that bottles are gross, he may continue to reject even fresh pumped. I do hope that isn't your issue, but it's something to rule out. Once I fixed the issue with LO1, we still had to try tons of tricks to get him to take a bottle, because he thought they would be gross.

I didn't have a bag issue, but I've heard medela and ameda have caused issues for some people, so I was checking. Lansinoh is supposed to be better though.

Some things to try if that isn't the issue: feeding in the bath, feeding outside, having someone wear/hold something that you've worn, feeding in a different position (eg sitting up on someone's lap facing out), if you are really desperate, feeding with the tv on, trying to feed when lo is asleep. Continuing to try other bottles

@jill_a55: My daughter did exactly the same thing when I went back to work last September...for almost 2 weeks she refused to take a bottle. There were a couple of issues.
1. I had high lipase in my milk so she wouldn't drink any of the frozen stash I had built. My high lipase didn't present in the typical way, it wasn't soapy tasting but instead had a metallic taste which my husband noticed.
2. I had over supply and a very fast let down so my DD was used to fast milk lol. She refused so many bottles we tried probably because the flow was too slow. We ended up finally having success with the cheap Gerber bottles with LATEX nipples
https://well.ca/products/gerber-first-essentials-bottles_63106.html

Before buying more bottles I would suggest that you try scalding some milk to see if if a lipase issue. I ended up being able to keep freshly pumped milk in the fridge for up to 48 hours but if I needed to freeze if it had to be scalded.

I'm so sorry. I know how stressful it is to go back to work and have your baby refuse to eat

I hate to say this, we went through this for over a month, we tried every brand of bottle, frozen/fresh milk, different bags, ect. Finally I had some samples of formula in my diaper bag and out of desperation daycare asked if they could try it and I said yes, whatever to get her to eat, and she took it immediately. So we ended up switching to formula from a bottle instead of breastfeeding. (she was unable to grasp going back and forth, and it was more important for me to get her to eat than to breastfeed at that point.) She refused breast milk for anything but the source, so I just had to cut off completely.

DD was stubborn and we struggled with the bottle for a while too. We never changed bottle type; I knew she was just stubborn. I just kept offering, kept offering, try ALL the tricks, and eventually she took it. After that, she actually had a nursing strike where she only took the bottle and not the boob!

We went through this and I was terrified when I went back to work. There were a few things at play. One was that I did in fact have excess lipase in my milk. So I had to throw away my frozen stash and start scalding it before freezing. The other was just lack of trying while she had been at home, possibly combined with the fact that I had a fast let down. We tried several bottle types and nipple flows at home and none really worked better than the others.

What ended up working was...going to daycare and leaving her there. I don't know why it ended up being so easy, but she drank almost nothing the first day (which was fine because I only left her a few hours that day), about half her milk the second day, and by day 3, she had no problems at all. Daycare claimed that they got her to drink by giving her a pacifier first, then quickly switching in the bottle (although oddly, my LO wouldn't even take a pacifier until daycare, so I'm not really sure why this worked).

I hope it ends up working out for you as simply as it did for us!

Oh, one more thought. I k ew my milk was fine with DS2 because I scalded it, but he was struggling and I figured out that he'd only take it when it was pretty warm. So maybe try different temps?

For A we had to pick a bottle type and then just commit to working with that bottle. Once that was settled, we warmed the milk until it was almost too warm. Then I would nurse her and DH would sit next to me with the bottle. Once she was settled in, I'd pop my breast out and he'd pop the bottle in. She'd usually get a few sips in before she got pissed. Then I'd just pop her back on the breast. Rinse/Repeat. She actually took a bottle from me better than anyone else, go figure. It really only took 3 sessions like that before she took the bottle alone with only minor protest.

I was never able to get DD to take a bottle. I started her on a straw cup as soon as she turned 6 months. She'll drink breastmilk out of that with no problem.

@Foodnerd81: The Zoli. After 4 months of constant use its starting to leak though. We bought a munchkin one on a whim at the grocery store and DD has a harder time drinking out of it.

@Mrs. Pickle: we have some munchkin ones that really are better for older babies, too hard to suck out of. I think they all leak, especially milk, after a while. Maybe I'll try that one. Everything else she has is a hand me down from big sister.

Y'know...... my DD2 has been exclusively formula fed from 2 weeks old and we are going through the same thing (4.5 months old). She fights and fights when I try to feed her. The only way I can get a bottle of milk down her is to swaddle her, lie her in her bed, and feed her on her back. She will also take milk in between spoons of baby rice, sitting in her bouncy chair - I got 7oz down her last night using that method.

@jill_a55: We just went through bottle refusal before I went back to work with our 3 month old! It was so frustrating.

We tried seriously every bottle they sell at Target, Walmart, and a few from Amazon. The winners for us were the Mam bottles. We had to start feeding him in the Boppy, not holding him. And the milk had to be body temp or warmer. And we held the bottle horizontal and got him to just check it out for a while without milk pouring down at him, which seemed to help. The first feedings took FOREVER and if he got too frustrated I'd just nurse him and try again the next time.

I didn't switch to pumping, but what I did do for a few days once he was sort of taking a bottle was "bottle boot camp." At the start of at least 3 feedings a day I'd get him to take half an ounce by bottle, then I'd nurse him. I figured half an ounce here and there for a couple days wasn't going to tank my supply, but it really helped him with bottles.

He's been in daycare for 2 weeks and takes bottles no problem now.

@jill_a55: I'm sorry things haven't improved yet. Have you tried scalding the pumped milk before feeding it? I was adamant that it wasn't soapy but my husband insisted it smelled and tasted weird. As soon as we scalded the milk things got sooo much better.