I've never tried giving DS the bottle myself - it's always someone else who tries and usually when I'm not at home. Even if he took it from me, though, it wouldn't be much help as I really need him to take it from someone else.

Loula - didn't see your post yesterday - he's not on solids yet - he's only 22 weeks (18 adjusted) - and shows ZERO interest in putting anything in his mouth but a boob - OH - or his hands. He occasionally will put a toy in his mouth but not that often and for not that long - he's not into exploring things with his mouth like some other babies I've seen - but then again, he's the youngest baby in my mothers' group so I expect he'll start soon. I feed him 3 hourly during the day and when left with someone else he only starts getting fussy around the 3 hour mark and that's when they try the bottle. My MIL has been great - she's tried all those distraction things you mentioned as has my husband - it does keep DS from going crazy (meaning stretching out the time until I get home but the longest it has been is an unplanned 4 hours). and he will not take a dummy...at all. He can go 7.5-8 hours at night without a feed (not all nights, but recently some nights) - but I try to keep him really well fed during the day.