BF Baby refusing Bottle - Any ideas?

[Jus]

Hi there,
my BF DD has been given a bottle of EBM a couple of times a week with DH. She's never really liked it, but has taken it. I'm just about to go back to work - fortunately only 1 day/wk. We tried a practice run today (altho i stayed home to work - aargh) and she pretty much refused the bottle. She's had spells of being fussy on the breast as well, but is going OK with bfing. Over the last month she's refused the EBM more often.

We've tried a variety of teats etc with no real difference in success.

Am wondering about whether to just let her go & have a bad day once a week when I work or whether to only offer her the bottle for a couple of days straight until she takes it.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks heaps!!

[MantaRay]

Jus, I have a few ideas. Firstly, I have noticed with my boys that they always seemed to drink EBM better when I wasn't there. Also, they would tend to drink a little less EBM and then make up for it with a longer feed or an extra feed in the afternoon. So it is probably worth giving it a try when you're not there and see how she goes. Secondly, I am not sure how old your DD is, but my boys never really took a bottle, so we went straight to a cup. Most bf babies can drink from a straw cup early on, also there are different type of sippy cups to try. It might be worth trying that for you too.

There have been a few threads on here recently for this problem, and it always seems to work out, so try not to stress too much. I know how much I worried with each of the boys but they were both fine.

[Barb Glare]

HI,

Babies usually show themselves to be quite flexible little creatures. I think she will cope better than you think! I don't think that you should offer her the bottle til she takes it - sounds like you could have several bad days. Nor assume she will have a bad day every week - she will quickly get the gist of it. How old is your little one now?
I would suggest you get a hold of the Australian Breastfeeding Association's "Breastfeeding, women and work" Only $5 and packed with hints and tips on going back to work
Regards
Barb

[Jus]

Hi there,
Thanks for the tips. DD is 4 months old (18 weeks) & has had a bottle along the way.

We think she'll do better without me around. Unfortunately I had to be here the other day, but DH has had a little more success when I've not been around with the bottles. I don't mind if she doesn't eat much & then makes up for it later, as long as she's going to be OK.

I guess my other great concern is that DH has a nice time with her, rather than a screaming bub all day (which she was the other day) - however, I think this was due to lack of sleep as well, so have encouraged him to focus on that, and just offer her the bottle and remove it if she gets upset.

We were also given a sippy cup with a soft spout so we'll give that a try. I've already been introducing her to a little cup of water to get her used to it, so we'll persist with that so maybe she can drink some milk from a cup. I'll look out for a straw cup for her.

I'll look into the ABA Booklet because I've found their other booklets really helpful.

Thanks!

[Nai]

I had this problem when DD was about 7 months old and I also found that she did better if I laft the house for the whole day. She didn't drink much or sleep much for her first 2 feeds and naps but after that she seemed to click that if she didn't take the bottle there really was nothing else and she took to it with gusto. I still BF her until 14 months so it didn't disrupt that side of things at all.

Now my problem is getting her OFF the bottle

[~kellie~]

when using a sippy cup, are there any ones out there that are better than others for BF babies who don't like bottles?

[Jus]

I was wondering that too!
We've been trying a normal (small) cup, and I'm also going to try the Tupperware bell cups - I've heard the curve keeps baby's tongue out of the way (DD still only 4 months).
We've got a Heinz baby basics sippy cup that looks good as the actual spout is soft, so less likely to hurt DD.
Everything we've done so far doesn't get much in (just boiled water at this point), but DD seems to enjoy it - which is my main aim at the moment.

Would love to hear if there are any particularly good cups.

[MantaRay]

I used to find the mag mag cups (by Pigeon) great for Jack, and the bonus was that you could use the same cup with both a straw and sippy top. But they have changed now and I don't like the spout top so much. Tom pretty much went straight to a straw cup which is common for bf bubs. We have a couple of different ones, but the big colored ones (I think they are Tommee Tippee) that you can get at Big W, Target, supermarkets etc are the ones we use the most. The take and toss ones you get at Big W and Woolies are good too, but Tom didn't really drink from one until he's mastered the straw cups. I think it can be trial and error as all bubs are different.