Getting My Daughter to Take a Bottle Consistantly

Updated on June 07, 2007
A.W. asks from Sunbury, OH
15 answers

My daughter is 11 weeks old and has been pretty much strictly breastfed. I have in the past couple of weeks been trying to have my husband give her bottles of expressed milk to get her ready to go to my babysitters. She has done pretty good until this past Friday night she screamed until she wore herself out then slept until I came home and nursed her.

My question is I have Avent,playtex,and evenflo bottles are there any out there that would maybe work better for her?

My two other children switched from breast to bottle with no problem what so ever I guess number three is going to be my problem child!!!!

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J.D.

answers from Dayton on

Try Buster Brown - some babies seem to prefer them because of their shape. Use a slow-flow nipple. Also remember if they absolutely refues the bottle, it is possible to get milk in them by spoon or small cup (just takes some patience!)

Best Wishes!
J.

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M.N.

answers from Columbus on

My daughter was the same way - the only bottle that I found that she would use is a bottle from "The First Years" called the Breastflow bottle that you can find at Baby's R Us http://www.learningcurve.com/product/detail/Y1131A1

These bottles are wonderful they are very much like the breast - they come in two different sizes - 9oz and 5oz and have two different nipple stages for milk flow. They are also interchangeable with the Soothie bottles also made by "The First Years" - the Soothie bottles have the same nipple shape as the Soothie pacifier so if your daughter uses the Soothie pacifiers you may want to check out that bottle as well (you can find this bottle readily in other stores such as Target and Walmart).

Finally - I found that my daughter like her milk warm so it took awhile to find the right temperature that she would drink her milk at - remember breast milk is always the right temperature.

Good Luck,
mel

1 mom found this helpful
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K.M.

answers from Columbus on

Dr. Brown's bottles are supposed to be really good, but I've never used them myself and I'm not sure what's different about them.

Also, maybe it's the type of nipple she doesn't like. There are rubber and silicon nipples- some babies only take one kind & some only take the other. Try different shaped nipples as well.

Good luck. I hope you figure it out soon!

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C.F.

answers from Rochester on

It may not be a problem with the bottle. She probably just wants Mommy. Usually they say to introduce the bottle between 4-6 weeks so they get used to it, so if you have more kids you may want to introduce it earlier. You could try a different bottle, but actually, just picking one and going with it might be a better choice. I've heard the Playtex Nursers are great for going between breast to bottle, and you can drop the breastmilk bag right into the bottle. Use whichever bottle she has had the most success with so far. I think because she was doing well until Friday, that she just wanted you, and it didn't have to do anything with the wrong nipple or bottle.

On the days that she flat out refuses the bottle, you could try cup feeding. It is time consuming, but it gets the job done and is better than having a screaming infant that exhausts herself. We use cup feeding in the hospital for babies that are breastfeeding but can't quite figure out how to latch on, or bottlefed babies that are having difficulty learning how to suck on the bottle. I had to do this with my daughter, too. Start with a very small cup, like a medicine cup, and refill it as you go, or as she gets better at it you can try a bigger cup. Basically you hold her so she is sitting upright, and tilt the cup so she can reach the breastmilk with her tongue. Some kids will lap it up with their tongue, and other kids you have to slowly pour small sips into their mouths. Another option is dropper feeding or syringe feeding. You fill the syringe (no needle, obviously) or dropper up with formula (use only a little bit in the dropper because it's hard to control the flow), and put it in the side of her mouth in the back. You can get medicine cups and syringes from the lactation consultant at the hospital you delivered in. You can also use the medicine dosage cups off of the tops of adult meds like pepto bismol, cough syrup, etc. This is very time consuming, but hopefully she will take the bottle. Just keep introducing it-have your husband give it to her when you are home but not in the room, that way if the bottle feeding and cup feeding don't go over, you can go ahead and feed her. Also, talk to the lactation consultant at the hospital where you delivered her. They are free and have great advice. She may have other ideas for you that you haven't tried yet. Good job for breastfeeding! Good luck!!

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K.B.

answers from Cincinnati on

My sisters child will only drink from ONE type of nipple. That's the good old fashion cheap bottle regular nipple. She refuses to drink from any other nipple or suck on a pacifier. The lactation consulted suggested to me that if you were going to bottle and breast feed, find the nipple that is most similar to your breast/nipple shape. It can be a big change for a baby, give her some time to adjust.

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N.D.

answers from Cincinnati on

we used dr browns. after 2 weeks of using them we found such a difference from when we used other bottles, that we switched to those exclusively.

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C.F.

answers from Toledo on

Hello,

I am a daycare provider and i have a 6 moth old that would not taking anything. Her mom bought everybottle under the sun, but nothing could replace moomy. So her mom would come over 2-3 times a day to nurse. She is now taking a sippy cup and moomies visits have dropped down to 1 a day! But as a provider of child care it is very important that you try a bottle. My family never even tried until they brought her to daycare! My other kids take Dr. Brown bottles and even a bottle i believ it is called "Breast" Bottle, it is shaped like a breast and shold up to 5 oz. the only place I have seen it is online or in One0step ahead catelog. It has worked on some of my kids. But good luck!

C.

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J.C.

answers from Cleveland on

The Playtex nurser always worked best for me, but I had the opposite problem. I couldn't get mine to take the breast. They both ended up on Playtex. Good luck

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E.S.

answers from St. Louis on

I bought a bottle called the Breastbottle Nurser and it is specially for breastfed babies. I bought it on Ebay but you can also buy it from onestepahead.com. It's about $15 I think, but may be worth a try. Hope it helps!!

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D.S.

answers from Dayton on

Soothie makes a great bottle that are just like their pacifiers. My daughter is strictly breastfed and will drinlk out of them no problem. They also have a very small hole in the nipple so she has to work for the milk just like she does when she is nursing.

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B.M.

answers from Columbus on

i had a similar problem with my daughter. The plastic sleeve inserts with the yellow plastic nipples, wonderful! They mimic the feel of real breasts.

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A.M.

answers from Cleveland on

Hi A.,

Try Dr. Brown's bottles. You can purchase them at Babies R Us, Target and Walgreens. I also breastfed my daughter when she was younger

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K.J.

answers from Dayton on

I work a few days a week and we have also had problems with bottles. My son only seems to like the platex nurser and they have to be fast flow nipples. We started out with the slow ones and he would have nothing to do with them. Also, my husband has to make sure he gives him a bottle before he actually starts to seem hungry because once he is hungry he gets frustrated with the bottle because it doesn't seem right to him and he will refuse it. Also, even on the days that I'm home, my husband gives him a small bottle at least once a day to keep him used to it because if he hasn't had a bottle in a few days he tends to refuse it the next time he has one. Good luck!

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W.S.

answers from Cleveland on

I had a hard time with my daughter and the lactation consultant told me to hold her like I was breastfeeding and just keep trying to gently give her the bottle (be respectful, don't put it in her mouth unless she "asks" for it or allows you to) and she cried for 45 min but then took it finally. It sounds like your daughter didn't go that route, though. But I'd say just keep trying.
How soon do you have to go back to work, is there any way you could afford to delay it?

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