We've been going through this for months now... Tried from early days but has only ever taken 1... I have purchased EVERY type and style of bottle i can find and nothing. I have tried sippy cups, spouts, straw type teats and actual straw cups...
I am contemplating a trip into work to extend my ML til the full 12 months.
I feel your pain! My DS flat out refuses as well. I have tried different bottles (even bought an Adiri one that is supposed to be like a boob, cost $25), sippy cups, straw cups, normal cups...nothing has worked...he just wants boob!!
I left him with a baby sitter last week and ended up getting a phone call to come home, Jack screamed for over an hour and just would not drink from the bottle. As soon as I got home he fed fine from the boob.
Jack drank fine from a bottle a few times when he was a few weeks old, but I dont think he will do it again!
Sorry that I haven't been any help, just want you to know you are not alone.
By the way, I have a freezer full of EBM if anyone wants it, LOL.
A few suggestions - keep trying lots is the main thing!
Try lying him on the floor on a cushion, and lying down next to him. He has to make a "kissy mouth" for bottle drinking - so keep the bottle further forward in his mouth than you would put a nipple. Don't let him get too grumpy - put 20ml EBM in the bottle and try for 10 minutes and then go back to the boob. Keep trying a couple of times a day for a few weeks and he will hopefully get the idea. Can you get him sucking on your finger and then swap it for the bottle?
At this stage his tongue thrust reflex is pretty strong - so his automatic reaction is "get that plastic thing out of here".
good luck - it took us a couple of months to get to the point where he will take a bottle from someone else and drink 100ml (and he was a bottle fed bub for the first month or so....)
If your bub really really doesn't like a teat, maybe a small cup (medicine cup or shot glass) could be an option. Medela also make the "Soft Cup Feeder" that attaches to a bottle and delivers small amounts of milk that is managable for bub...maybe an ABA breastfeeding counsellor would know more about these as they are specially for bubs who have breastfeeding difficulties, and to avoid nipple confusion and then enable subsequent successful breastfeeding. They are pricey but might be easier for a child care worker to deal with? (link to look at them is Soft Cup Feeder)
All the best - my son was exactly the same and it ended up being too traumatic for all of us, so I decided not to return the casual work I was considering.
I also feel your pain, my DS never took a bottle and still doesn't to this day!
Made returning to work very stressful..
Lucky for me though he now drinks from a sippy cup but only when I'm not around, other than that it's booby or nothing!
I hope you get something sorted soon.
xxx
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