All of a Sudden My Baby Won't Take a Bottle...........

Updated on June 21, 2009
S.P. asks from Dublin, VA
9 answers

I'm nursing my 10 week old son and I usually give him a random bottle of formula here and there. Just in the past week, he is refusing to take a bottle. I don't understand because he has had a bottle every since he was a couple days old. Has anyone else had this happen?

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M.M.

answers from Washington DC on

I had the same problem. Try getting someone else to give him the bottle for a while. My son refused to take it from me and would refuse to take it from anyone else if I tried first. I finally got my husband to give him the bottle while I was out of the room and he took it like a champ. We did this a couple of times before he started taking it from me too. Good luck!

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A.S.

answers from Washington DC on

have u tried the bottles that look and feel like a breast to the baby like the adiri and the nuby natural touch i used them for my son and he loved them you can get them from babies are us for like 10-12 dollars just make sure when you clean them u put them back together or they will drip
good luck A.

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B.H.

answers from Norfolk on

Hi there,

Yes, it's common for a nursling to stop taking a bottle. Mostly because they don't retain a "memory" quite like we do, and the motor skills it takes to drink from a bottle aren't the same ones it takes to nurse. Nursing is more about pressure points, while bottles require a different type of sucking.

For more help, go to www.kellymom.com

Just out of curiosity, why are you using formula if you're breastfeeding? No judgement, just curious! :)

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K.S.

answers from Richmond on

I would suggest trying a different brand of bottle or nipple. Some babies are finicky about that. Our nurse recommended Avent to avoid nipple confusion - it's supposed to be more similar to breast feeding for them. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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A.W.

answers from Washington DC on

YES - we had the same problem (at the exact same age) with our son taking a bottle of pumped milk. I posted on here, and people gave me some good suggestions. If you click on my name, I think it will take you to my file and you can read the post and answers. Unfortunately we didn't find the right solution in time. Now he is eight months old and hasn't taken a bottle since 10 weeks - and I work full-time! It was a real challenge racing back and forth at lunchtime to nurse him until he started eating enough cereal/solids to make it through the day. I think for us the problem was not switching to a bigger nipple fast enough. He was a fast eater and my letdown/flow was fast - we should have switched to a medium or fast-flow nipple sooner so that it would mimic the flow of nursing. Maybe you can learn from my mistake! If nothing works and you really need him to take some pumped milk or formula, we had some success with a spoon (messy but gets the job done). Sippy cups don't really help because the baby needs to suck, but you can start trying regular cups around four months. Good luck.

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J.S.

answers from Washington DC on

My now 16 week old son did the same thing, lasted a little over a week then, suddenly, back to normal. My ped said it was normal, possibly the baby just wanting more "mommy time". :-)

1 mom found this helpful
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J.S.

answers from Washington DC on

Hi I'am 28 with two children of my own and my son did the same thing. In fact I was afraid that I would never be able to get back to work in fear that he would starve. Babies learn to manipulate from the day they are born. It's the only way they can show you what they want. He is getting smarter :) I tried holding my son very close as if I was nursing him and that didn't work. In fact I was never able to feed him a bottle until I was done nursing him all together. However someone else was able to feed it to him no problem and I usually had to be out of sight for that to happen. So I would see if anyone else could get him to drink his bottle or try introducing it at a time when he is not too hungry or sleepy

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

At around the same age DD wouldn't take a bottle. The LC said this was common and keep trying (have someone give the bottle when you are out of the house). We got past it.

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S.M.

answers from Washington DC on

That happens. Give it a break for a few days and try again. Let someone else give the bottle, make sure he is pretty hingry but not frantic, and leave the room or house if you can. He will probably take a botttle again, but it may take days or weeks of trying. They are smarter than they look :)

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