Will not take a bottle...I feel trapped

My 7m old wont take EBM from a bottle.....
I have been trying persistantly for 2 months and it just is not getting anywhere! I have even tried formula when I started solids thinking she may be more likely to take milk that isn't my milk (IYKWIM)
I'm hoping she will just drink it straight from a sippy cup or cup now I have started giving her water as well during the day.

Any other tricks etc I can try as I am feeling really trapped that I can't go and leave her for anymore than 4-5 hours and she is almost 8months old.
I have also tried other people try to feed her and that doesn't work either......;-(

Why not try a sippy or straw cup instead? They're like toys with milk benefits.
Can you plan half-day breaks away? If she's drinking adn eating other things then you probably can leaver her longer - she'll make up the milk feeds when you're back.

have you tried giving the EBM to her in a sippy cup? - my DD initially didnt like EBM from a bottle so i tried a sippy cup (she was 8.5months) and she took it fine. then one day my DH gave her a bottle of EBM which she took? so not sure what happened but the sippy cup worked first before the bottle did!

Your predicament is identical to one of my friends.
She tried everything you have mentioned and as a final resort, went to Tresillian's for a visit which resulted in bottle feeding.

Wishing you all the best :hug:

Sorry to thread hijack - at what age can they try a sippy cup? Another non-bottle drinker here...

My bub is the same! She will drink water from a number of different containers, but just rejects EBM. I keep offering (DH too), but no success. DH is meant to be looking after DD on Saturday whilst i work, but it is looking more like he will be bringing her up to me for feeds.

CharlieBrown what is Tresillian's?

OceanPrincess she is 7 and a half months and she is just starting to master the sippy cup so I am going to put EBM in it very soon and see what happens!

Lucky I am not at work so its not a major issue but I have a couple of things coming up at night that I don't think I can go to till after 7.30pm when she has her last feed. I reckon she will be hard to feed out of anything other than my boob at bedtime feed as she gets so snuggly and tired and seems to use it as comfort too..

Ughhhh so frustrating cos you know BF is the best thing to do but gosh it can kinda trap you!

Sorry, Tresillian is a NSW organisation...'Family Care Centre' that is a parenting and sleep clinic.

In terms of parenting it prodominately leans on the 'control crying' scale of parenting techniques. However, my friends that have been found the assistance from the midwives positive and encouraging in terms of gaining confidence in their parenting.

I googled 'Tresillian Victoria' and I came across a link on the Tresillian website listing other state contacts.

DD2 is 10.5mths and still wont take EBM, i am going to try a cup with a straw and see how she goes.
At night she is fed to sleep and she doesn't take a dummy so it's hard to leave her with anyone, now she's having 3 solid meals a day plus snacks i am thinking i can work in a chance to slip away during the day, she can have food & water and then a feed when i'm home....

Will be watching for more ideas in case she wont take it.

My DS was fed to sleep but we were still able to go out ocasionally and leave him with his granma. he went to sleep for her (no ebm, wouldn't have it either). He'd often wake again just after we got home and have his milk then.

Funny how they're all so different. Ds has had ebm maybe five times and is fine with it. Have you tried different teats? And different temps?
She will be able to go to a sippy cup now no worries, I think I started ds around 6-7 months.

You can try a sippy cup from about 4months. I found the Heinz basics range quite good but the easiest option is the take and toss cups. No valves with is important. The valves require coordination and a strong sucking technique.

Magmag have good sippy spouts too. They're soft :)

Have you tried expressing and giving it to her straight away? The reason I ask is that once frozen and defrosted, the taste of EBM is different. Had a sip yourself and even you'll be able to tell. Perhaps try her on the fresh stuff and see if it helps her try it.

The work of mothering can seem never ending. It's easy to feel trapped - and this applies whichever way you feed your baby. A baby's attachement to his/her mother is strong. Many mothers of bottle feeding mothers can attest to the fact that their baby very much needs them.
Have you ever tried having anyone else put her to sleep? My babies breastfed for a long time and when I was home I always fed to sleep - it was so quick and easy. But when I wnet out (which was fairly frequently) my husband would put them to sleep without me - and it worked (well at least everyone was asleep when I got home!) Daddy may need to do things differently - lying down with baby or just cuddling them to sleep in front of the TV. Sometimes it's not the drama we think it will be.

4 months hey... Hmm... DS is over that now... Might need to look for some other sippy cup ideas, I think my Tupperware cups are would be too hard for bubs.

Leesha this was me about 3 weeks ago. I was tearing my hair out with a baby who barely slept during the day and would NOT take a bottle, not matter what was in it.

I tried several times to get him to take it, with fresh ebm, defrosted from frozen, room temp, heated up etc... nothing worked. I tried different bottles, teats etc.. When he was hungy, not hungry... you get the picture!

In the end, DH ended up kicking me out with strict instructions not to return for an hour! I went and hid at a friends place around the corner and he tried the bottle. Little brat took it first time! Drunk everything in 5mins!!!! I got a text from DH telling me ds2 had finished it and I literally cried. He then gave him a bottle about 3 more times over the space of a week, then my mum gave him a bottle one evening, then I tried one evening when dh was home to take over if need be.... and he took it!!!

I think the problem we had was that coz ds2 was smelling milk on me and I was putting something foreign in his mouth he just wasn't impressed! Take me out of the equasion and DH had success, he doesn't smell of milk! He fussed a bit the first time I gave it to him, I did it in the evening when he was tired, after a bath so he was nice and relaxed. Now he has a bottle every evening, sometimes ebm, sometimes formula and I feel fantastic! He's still boob fed through the rest of the day and even though I don't often go out without him just knowing I CAN has made the world of difference to me!

I read that you've had other people try but have you been around when this has happened? I left the house when ds2 was asleep so I think it was a case of out of sight out of mind. But I was close enough I could have been home in 2mins if needed to!

Good luck! Hope she takes ebm for you soon! :)

I don't want to highjack, but some of your replies make it sound like it so easy. My bub won't take EBM from a sippy cup or any other cup. She won't take it from me or DH or my MUm or another mate who has tried. She won't take it if i am there or away. I've left her for 5 hours and she still wouldn't take it. She is fed to sleep and just won't go to sleep without boob, even though we've tried many methods (non-cc) to try to get this happening. I have expressed and DH has tried giving it to her straight away (i wasn't in the house), tried cold, warm, hot.... cup, spoon

I am looking for suggestions, i hoping i can find something that works. But just cos you found something that worked, its not going to be the magic solution for everyone and every bub.

Kate, I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. I was totally suprised when it worked for my ds2, I didn't expect it to and I guess I was hoping it would be as easy for you. Sorry :hug:

I have no more suggestions to offer. All the best with getting your baby to take a bottle.

No Kate - it won't. And some babies just won't (clever little monkeys they are!!!) My DD did not easily take EBM. DS1 took a bottle and a dummy. DS2 takes an EBM bottle on occasion (he was in NICU for a little while) but refuses a dummy. He has started to refuse a bottle and he is almost 5 months.

DD would not take bottle or dummy. At 4mo we started the sippy cup path and DH tried to be the one to do the feeding. Nope. No luck. It took until about 6mo and persistence to get her to take anything and her reluctance meant I was delayed in going back to work too. Close to 9mo because she was BLS and not drinking much. The take and toss cups were our success and the Heinz basics too. Anything with a valve didn't work - too much (and a different type) of sucking. DD is still BF. Tandem feeding with her baby brother. She still loves her boobie and who can blame her :)

Thanks for the suggestions girls! I have tried fresh and frozen EBM and Formula.....she took one bottle of formula but then wouldn't have a bar of it after that....and i found it constipated her ;-(

Doodlebug I have left the house and ended up having to come home cos she was beside herself then I felt bad ;-(

She has taken random bottles here and there since about 5 weeks old but she is very hit and miss. Then the last two months she refuses it full stop. Just pushes the teat out with her tongue then gets all upset! I have the close to nature bttle and teat and a hundred diff teats from my first bub and nothing works!
I even virtually starved her one whole day because I refused to give her my boob and only offered her a bottle which she never took. So she had no proper feeds all that day. Then I got the guilts up and thought I'm not doing that again!

Barb she is a funny little thing..happy as larry if I'm out and the minute I walk in the door she sees me and starts whinging and "mummm mmmm mummm". so she def knows where her milk comes from! I think poor DH gets a bit miffed....I have now started getting DH to resettle her at night when she wakes so she doesn't get fed back to sleep...I was just getting too tired from doing this! and she is pretty good and goes back to sleep...however last night she just would not settle and
I got up and took over and fed her!

My DS was born with a cleft lip and couldnt breast feed so I spent 9 months expressing and bottle fed it to him. This seriously was a big job but i tell you what I much prefered it because I had a life! This little miss makes me feel trapped and Hubby and I can't even go out for dinner together or do anything because of this problem!

I'm def going to try the sippy cup and Michelle the take and toss are a great idea!!!!!

Any other suggestions I am open to trying and will keep you posted with my progress so other mums might get something out of this thread and all your good advice ;-)

Oh and she has never had a dummy either so I was thinking this may be why she doesn't like anything else but nipple in her mouth..lol

Angus wouldn't take EBM from a bottle at all. Not ever, so I understand your angst! I went back to tafe one day a week when he was 6 months old and he would last the entire 6 hours I was gone without a drink so I'd be ready for loads of feeding when I came home. I was really quite full anyway so he did get a huge drink to make up for it. I don't recall there being wakeful nights and he never got dehydrated.

He did start on a straw cup by accident because I caught him stealing a drink out of his brothers when it was left on the floor. I can't remember what age but I do remember he wasn't crawling so before 8 months. I think it had to do more with him mimicking his brother than my idea so maybe you could try getting one the same as Mr Mischief and see what happens! One I noticed with mine is that they copy the older ones and do things a lot younger than your first did so there is a good chance that yours will do the same.

:hug:

My DS would never take it either and had random EBM bottles from about 4 weeks old but then refused. Some children just won't and I don't believe that forcing them is a good move. I feel it is just as distressing as CIO. There were times where I had to go out and I was late for a feed but he was fine and DH had a bottle there to offer but I never ever tried to force it. And he self weened at 12 months but had he not I would have survived.

Dd2 never took to bottles which was hard to get used to and it was a battle to keep her weight up.

Ds has been great but I have learnt if the hole in the bottle is to small he cracks it and won't go so sometimes I have to make it bigger.

Most babies will take a sippy cup from about 4 months, and a straw cup from about 6 months. For those that won't, you can feed them by holding a cup up to their mouth - all babies can feed from a cup from birth, but of course it's more time consuming. Another idea that works for some mums is to put a flannel over the sippy cup and have them suck through the flannel. Sounds odd but I know a few people that's worked with.

Also, as a few posters have mentioned, after the early weeks, babies can go for a few hours without a feed if need be. If you really want to go out, it's fine to do it sometimes and your baby will be ok. It sounds like you are getting past the most dependent phase so hopefully things will be easier for you soon :hug: