Baby Not Taking a Bottle

It's true, if she gets hungry enough she will take the bottle. It's a process of getting her used to the bottle. In my breastfeeding support group, she advised that I not be the one to try and give her bottles. So I had my husband give her a bottle at night, after a few days she took it. I don't think the daycare is being rude or mean by saying that. If the baby won't take the bottle, they don't have many alternatives left and they were just saying hey if she gets hungry enough a bottle is an option. But the parents need to try and get her to take the bottle every night to make it easier for the daycare.

I don't have an answer, but I'm curious about this as well. I have a 7 wk old that refuses to take a bottle too. Both my husband and my mom have tried giving her one, both when I'm home and while I'm not and she still won't take one.

I'm anxious to hear any suggestions you might get for your friend.

It's definitely a possibility that she is over stimulated. Also it's probably that the baby is missing mommy. I know even just over the weekend my older daughter was having her bday party and my 3 month old refused to eat from anyone trying to feed her a bottle and refused to sleep unless I took her inside and rocked her. It was all too much activity and too much to be held by people who normally do not hold her.

I don't particularly like the daycares response though. Sure babies will get hungry enough that they will eat...but I think they should try to comfort the infant more the first week or so since this is all new to her. :(

This mom needs a copy of Balancing Breast and Bottle: Reaching Your Breastfeeding Goals. (amazon) The book also has a website: www.breastandbottlefeeding.com. There is a section devoted to nipple shape and how it will influence a baby's willingness to bottle-feed. There is also a chapter (and appendix) devoted to overcoming a nursing or bottle-strike. A must have book for moms returning to work. Actually, best to buy early before introducing any bottle if possible. :)

Unfortunately the daycare is right. If your friend hadn't gotten her to take a bottle before she went back to work then the baby is going to reject the bottle until he/she gets hungry enough. It is heart-wrenching. If there is any way, I would tell your friend to take another week or two off and work on the baby taking a bottle before she puts him/her back in daycare.

Good luck to her.

I can give you a different point of view here. I worked in daycare for years before having kids of my own. There were several children that hadn't had a lot of experience with bottles before daycare. I remember one little girl in particular that we'd literally have to have one person devote hours at a time to her (which is difficult with a room full of infants) because she would NOT eat from the bottle. It was so heartbreaking because she would just scream and cry and fight it, the only thing she got would be whatever she accidentally swallowed while screaming. It literally took months before she would take a bottle from us. She did great once on solids though. Unfortunatly when you have your child in daycare they can't get all the one on one attention the entire day. There's only so much a caregiver can do when there are 5-10 other little ones to take care of as well.

The only thing is to offer her the bottle as much as possible at home, which can be hard when you want to nurse your baby. The other option is to have the daycare provider try dropping milk into her mouth with a medicine dropper, and also experimenting with other bottle nipples

my daughter refused a bottle period. she never took one. she did drink out of the soft sipper cups though. I don't know what the difference was for her but it was enough.
perhaps she needed enough of a difference from mom to be comfortable with the decision. ? anyway she's 4 now, and still knows what she will and will not do. lol.

their answer with a 3 month old baby really bothers me though. I wouldn't leave my kid with someone who had that for an answer. hopefully she has alternatives. ? or can talk to someone higher up.

Has the baby ever taken a bottle before? It's a pretty big deal to get a breastfed baby to take a bottle, unless they start in week one or week two. So that would have been my advice to this mom planning to go back to work (which I did at three months, with all three kids) -- start early (which I didn't do, with my middle one).

But now this baby is three months, and has never taken a bottle? That's a really difficult job to throw at someone else! That poor caregiver! Believe me, that little one will protest like mad. I'm in agreement with the daycare. They just have to get so hungry that they eat! You can lead a baby to a bottle, but you can't make her drink. Just because baby wouldn't eat doesn't mean the daycare wasn't doing their best to comfort and help baby in a new situation. If not, I could be upset at them. But not because the child wouldn't eat.

With my middle one, the baby, the nanny and I were all in tears the week leading up to my return to work. With my son, we tried every kind of nipple, we tried pumped breastmilk. We tried a formula sample. I was seriously really to call the pediatrician to ask when I needed to bring him in for IV fluids. He would not take that bottle. Finally, we put cold water in it. That seemed to be what he needed to suck just a little bit. Once he got the hang of it, he would eat when he got hungry. But he never liked the bottle, and graduated very early to a soft tipped sippy cup, drinking pumped breastmilk. (he never would drink the formula, either)

Has she taken the bottle at home?? It could be that she is over stimulated at the daycare. Ask the daycare to move to a quieter room with the lights low. Have one of mommy's shirts with her that so she feels more comfortable. Also warm up the bottle more then luke warm.

If you know that bottle feeding is going to happen, it helps to start them off from the first few weeks of life outside the belly. Parents can both do this and spend time bonding. Pump lots of wonderful milk so they still get all of the immune enhancing properties without bunches of soy or synthetics.
Baby should get used to the feel of the bottle and with other family members helping to feed baby, the transition should be much smoother. Since daycare has already started, maybe try pumping and have other familiar family help make the adjustment. Good Luck! This is only the beginning. If all else fails just remember, getting hungry enough to eat is something we are faced with as adults and we do okay.

I sent my eight week old to daycare after she had only taken a bottle for like 10 seconds from me. She seemed to take it just fine there. (I didn't tell daycare that she hadn't taken one, so they just did what they normally do with babies). Also, she is just starting, everything is new, and yes, sometimes it just takes a bit. She doesn't know what is going on. She won't starve herself, but I have heard of babies that don't eat at daycare...they would rather wait. That is unusual though, so tell her to just give it some time.