8 Month Old Refusing Bottles

Hi I am a mother of three I did have a situation like this with my first one. It may just be that he is teething or the other thing to you may want to try a sippy cup or drinking from a straw I know they are young but some kids just out grow their bottles sooner and they have cups for babies as young as six months old. Hope this helps.

I'd try a sippy cup, our daughter never really loved the bottle, she never took more than 4 ounces from a bottle at any feeding, so i bought sippy cups to use during the day and it helped a lot. She obviously still had bottle feedings and they went a bit better after that. I think she was about 7 months when we started with sippy cups, just make sure you get the training ones. The other thing I thought I'd mention is that she had an ear infection once and still took her pacifier and never did ear pulling or have any other traditional symptoms except really refusing the bottle. Also when teething she would keep the pacfier, but drink less from the bottle. She was very attached to the pacifier, so no matter what, she wanted it, I wouldnt necessarily rule out teething or something else that could be causing discomfort.
God luck!

Maybe its time to start offering him a sippy cup.

are you warming his bottles? When my twins started teething I had to give then thier bottles right out of the fridge. The cold nipple helped their gums. Do you go on the twinstuff.com board? someone on their might be able to help. It's been so long now, my twins will be 4 in June and are eating like horses now (though one is still in the 5th percentile for weight and one in the 25th - both in the 90th for height).

Hi C.,

My first son, now 16, refused to nurse at 6 months and didn't want a bottle at 9 months. He wanted a sippy cup. He also still used his pacifier until we got rid of it when he turned 2. He was in daycare at the time and was one of the younger children, so I thought maybe he wanted to be a big boy like his peers. Another thought, he was big for his age and was an exuberant eater, shall we say. Maybe the flow of milk with nursing and bottle is too slow. It's funny because he has grown up and still eats the same way, very impatient teen.

M.

Hi C.,
My 13 month old has almost completely given up her bottle and refuses to use a sippy cup or any other such similar device (we've tried 6 different types) and has been this way for several months. She only occasionally takes the bottle or cup from others, and nearly never from us. Since she eats solid food, I have been adding her milk to her food. At every meal she eats some type of cereal--barley/oatmeal, whatever--and I add milk to that, so that by the end of the day she has taken in the amount that she needs to. Our pediatrician said that this is completely fine and that eventually she will decide that she wants to drink again (basically, outgrow the behavior)--after seeing the way the rest of the world behaves. This was very strange to us because our first child couldn't get enough to drink. She was happy to live on milk alone--and still is! We actually have to limit her intake of it. And, in fact, she just asked me for some more.

Have you tried another type nipple? With teeth, sucking may feel different and maybe he needs a change. A sippy may get in the liquids he needs, but the pacifier will give the sucking he needs.

try a cup with him.. my daughter started drinking from a cup at 9 months.. he may be bored with bottles.

I have a 8-month-old girl and she is teething as well. She eats lots of baby food but really doesn't want the bottle. My pediatrician said she is fine as long as she gets 10 ounces a day so it sounds like your boy is at least getting that. I have found she will drink more if I give her a bottle first thing in the morning and before I feed her baby food. This is my third child and one thing I've learned is that once they start having real food the bottle is no longer a "meal". If you think of how we drink throughout the day it makes sense that they only drink a few ounces at a time. Also, a good indicator as to whether or not they are getting enough fluids is to check wet diapers, plenty of wet diapers means plenty of fluids. (Baby food has a lot of fluid in it from the fruit, etc. so they are getting lots of fluids from that as well)

hi C.!
i did have this problem with my now 2 year old. there were times of the day where he wouldnt take his bottle. especially at night. he was definately teething. i would give him some tylenol or motrin and put some oragel on the spots that were bothering him. id wait a minute or two for the oragel to kick in and he would take his bottle just fine.
its worth a shot! i hope i was of some help to you!
good luck!
~R.