My 3 month old daughter has exclusively been fed on breastmilk. She started refusing bottles at 7 weeks and after 5 weeks of trying everything we have completely given up on bottles. (She seems to push bottles and pacifiers out with her tongue regardless of the type of nipple, who gives it to her, what time of day , etc.) I know it would be ideal to just breastfeed all the time anyway, but not being able to give her a bottle once in a while has often caused agony for her as well as her caretakers if I need to be away from her.
We know it's probably too early for sippy cups now, but according to everything I read it's probably our only hope in the future. At what age can sippy cups be started for breastfed babies refusing bottles? Are there any obstacles for breastfed babies we should know about? Is it harder for them to adapt to a cup than a bottle-fed baby? Your experiences would be much appreciated!
If you haven't already, you could try Adiri bottles. They are as close to the shape of a real nipple as I have seen and they are designed to prevent nipple confusion because the latch is the same with the bottle as it is on the breast.
I can only give you my experience and hope it helps you. I've never dealt with a baby who totally refused the bottle, though some have resisted it more than others. First let me tell you I'm speaking as a childcare provider, not just as a mother. My most recent dealing with the transition was with our now 2 1/2 year old grandson. He was breastfed and when his mother went to work, she brought expressed breast milk in bottles for him. We started offering him water in a regular cup at around six or seven months of age. I'm not a fan of sippy cups at all and have read that dentists tend to agree with me. What I started with for our grandson was one of the little heavy glass cups that you can get the Kraft specialty cheese spreads in. It was a perfect size for him to put his little hands around, and sturdy enough that we didn't have to worry a lot about it being broken. I would hold it but encourage him to hold on and begin to learn to guide it toward his own mouth at the same time. It didn't take him long to catch on to the process of drinking from that cup, and once he was able to hold it on his own, we began introducing other cups... still real glass! Only after he had pretty well mastered drinking from a real cup, we purchased some of the type of cups that have the lid and straw so that he has a water cup that he can get to when he wants it without having to ask and yet we don't have to worry about a lot of accidental water spills. Those cups are strickly for water and he drinks his milk or juice still from the glass cups, except when he want's to feel really grown up and has "coffee" milk with us as we are drinking our coffee. That's just milk in a coffee mug, but it makes him feel really special.
You may be feeling like using real glass rather than plastic is dangerous, but when I was a child, my parents had the choice of real glass or a tin mug to teach me. I figured if it worked for me, I could surely make it work with the children I care for, and we've been using glass almost exclusively in our home daycare for the past two years, and the only glasses that have been broken so far are two that I happened to bump with my elbow while working at the sink, and knocked them to the floor. The children haven't broken any yet! And if they do... we'll simply have them keep away from the broken glass until we get it cleaned up.
I had the same problem starting at the same time! My girl is now 6 mo. and still no solution. I talked at length to her pediatrictian. I have tried many different bottles to no avail. Sometimes she will drink an oz. from one but it takes awhile and is frustrating. I have tried the avent and tommee tippee sippy cups even though they did not work for me so much. I even tried formula. Same thing, sometimes she will drink a little, but not more than an oz. I started her at about 4 mo. on cereal mixed with breastmilk. Now she is eating plenty of solids--2-3 times a day. I am luck to work so close to home so I am able to nurse at lunch. She only nurses 3 times during the day as a result. She wakes up at about 6:30, but she also likes to sleep a lot. She goes to bed at about 7:30. Lately I wake her up around 10pm and nurse her again just so I can be certain she gets enough fluids. Good luck and just keep at it. I know it is so frustrating but you are doing the best you can with the situation!
I exclusively breastfed both of my children and then went straight to sippy cups, totally skipping bottles. But, I am fortunate to be a SAHM so it didn't pose any problems of having to leave them with someone else or whatnot. I didn't try to start the sippy until a little older than your daughter. I first introduced it at four or five months, but they didn't start to drink much from it until sixor seven and they didn't drink much from it on their own until almost nine. Then from nine to twelve or fifteen months I weaned off breastfeeding to just sippy cups. This worked for us. I think you can introduce the sippy whenever you want, but your daughter may not take to it for a while. It may also depend on how much you encourage it. We were pretty relaxed about it. Every child is different and so is every situation. You gotta do what works best for you.
We had the same situation with our daughter. Around the same time we started solid food, I started her on drinking from my cup. She would always watch me, so she was interested. It was messy, but I kept it to water. When she seemed ready to try a sippy, I used the Nuby with the sipper spout. There are a bunch out there, buy a few and see which one she gets the hang of. Now, at 15 months, she loves the Nuby with the flip up straw. She still breastfeeds before naps and bedtime. The good thing is that you won't have to wean her from a bottle, but weaning from breastfeeding may be harder.
she pushes those things out because of the tongue thrust reflex (its an instinct not her being difficult)... AND, drinking from bottles/sippy cups is a totally different "sucking" technique... not the same as sucking from a breast. Thus, nipple confusion and her thrusting out her tongue. AND because she is so young... their tongue reflex is still very strong. And it possibly will be until much older... some babies at even 6 months old, still have their tongue thrust reflex for example.
I used the "MAM" brand bottles and nipples for my son. I LOVE this brand and it is BPA free. You can get it from www.amazon.com
TOO early for sippy cups.
each baby is different. My son would take a bottle, my daughter would NOT. I breastfed exclusively.
all the best,
Susan
This is very similar to th sitauation I was having with my baby a few months ago. He refused to take the bottle, and after sooooo many different bottles and nipples, I gave up. Luckily Im SAHM, so I don't have to worry about leaving him with anybody. Drinking from a sippy is very different than drinking from a bottle. My 7 1/2 month baby drinks from a sippy cup but doesn't know how to turn back to drink from it yet. I don't think it's early for you to try on the sippy cup, my co-worker, whose baby happens to be born the same as mine, was going back to work, and at 3 months, she tried bottle feeding her and the baby refused, so what did she do? Started on the sippy cup, but the baby didn't drink very much, so she would also syringe feed her baby (it was tough though). But eventually and with a lot of patience, her baby took the sippy cup. And the first few weeks were very hard for her and her baby, because it was a big change for both of them.
Try introducing the sippy cup little by little. and have a looooooot of patience. She will soon get the hand of it =o)
P.S. if you do go for a sippy cup, buy the one with the soft/rubber spout
Remember, we can tell you what we think, but it's all up to you and follow yours and your daughter's instincs.
Good Luck
Is the bottle formula or breast milk? If you're pumping breastmilk and having caretakers try that, that might be easier/better. If you are doing that already, it just might be too early/too difficult to give a bottle. I know you've tried different nipples but curious if you've tried Gerber latex nipples w/fast or medium flow (extra ventilation for colic). Hang in there. You will receive some great advice from these moms!
My twins were exclusively breastfed, and I began to worry about sippy cups. When they were six months old, we would give them a sippy cup with water at every meal. They'd throw it on the ground, or try to suck, but not much happened. We used the Nuby cups, which are supposed to be good for breastfed babies, and around nine months of age they started drinking water. When it was time to transition to cow's milk, we had no trouble at all.
So, not all is lost! It may be easier than you think it's going to be.
I have no real tips but I wanted to let you know you're are not alone. My son never took a bottle and although I planned to go back to work at 4mts, I didn't go back even part time until 9mts when he was regularly willing to drink water from a sippy cup.
