I Need My Baby to Take a Bottle (Hes Breastfed) So I Can Have Alone Time. How?

Wet the nipple of the bottle and dip it in a small amount of sugar. Not enough to upset his tummy but just a little bit so that it tastes sweet, and he will start to enjoy and look foward to taking the bottle.

Hi K.,

Congratulations on breastfeeding so well. Chances are that when you want to take a break you will have to be out of the house. Babies know that you are around and won't take second best if they know that they have a choice.

Good luck!

I'm sorry I dont' have any suggstions. I have nursed both of my sons, both of them took a bottle fine until they were about three months, and then they wouldn't take one again until they were old enough for sippy cups.

You might try the Nuby cups. Sometimes they work. Sucking from a bottle is totally different than nursing from the breast. With those Nuby cups all they have to do is bite down a bit and it will release some liquid.

Also, have someone else try, when you are out of the house, or at least out of the room. If the baby can smell you then all bets are off.

If all else fails, nurse the baby a LOT leading up to when you are going to leave, then just make it a short date. Your baby should be fine for 2-3 hours while you get away!

Oh man, my son was so stuborn when it came to bottles. At 3 1/2 months old I had to go back to work p/t, and he still wouldn't take a bottle. I ended up giving him a sippy cup that he would drink out of, but he wasn't consistent with it. However, he wouldn't drink from a bottle at all, so it was better than nothing. I bought every brand and kind of bottle/nipples that I could find and he still wouldn't take them. Everyone (including our Ped. Dr.)would say that he would eventually drink from one if he was hungry enough, but he wouldn't. He would go 8 hours of not drinking any milk/water, then nurse off me ALL night long. It was so stressful on me, as you can imagine. Anyway, I finally found a bottle online called the Adiri nursing bottle and it is the only bottle he would drink from, he took a liking to it instantly. It was a little expensive for a bottle, but it was so worth the money. He would drink 6 oz from it at a time. We used that bottle exclusively for about 1-2 months, then introduced the Dr. Brown bottle to him and he took it without any problem. Now he drinks from the Dr. Brown bottle and sippy cup without any struggle. I breastfed him for 10 months and he is now 11 months.
Hang in there and just find what works for you and your baby! Good luck

K.,
I'm a mom of three and all of my kids were breastfed and hated bottles. I never did make any progress with my first son. He never once had a bottle, not even juice. With my twins, I had to figure something out to make them take the occasional bottle of expressed milk. I realized that I was nursing them what seemed like constantly and I needed to let them work up a bit of an appetite. I'd watch the clock and make them go an hour without nursing. A couple days later, two hours...and just kept going until they were at 4 hours in between feedings. Once they made that adjustment and got used to waiting to eat until they actually got hungry, I started to work in the bottles. They'd be so excited to eat that if it came from a bottle then so be it. It worked for both of my twins, hope it works for you. I know it's tough being the "human pacifier". Good luck!

Have you tried experimenting with different brands/types of bottles and nipples? My daughter would not take the Dr. Brown's bottles when I first tried to get her to take a bottle (at 3mo. old). I tried the Advent bottles next and she took that without any problem. She eventually was comfortable enough with a bottle that I was able to use any bottle for her. Good luck!

Try a variety of bottle nipples. I have 3 kids BF all no bottles..they refused to take them. I adjusted my hours around there feeding schedules to get breaks. I would go to the daycare and nurse on my lunches. It will get easier once he starts eating food. By the way I am nursing my 9 month old and she is the same but she eats solids and as time passes I promise it gets better. Try nursing him laying on your side with a pillow between your knees for your back. Good Luck!

S.

Hi K.,

I had alot of trouble getting my son to take a bottle as well. When he was 3 months old I knew I too needed to find a way to make sure he would eat if I had an appointment and his grandma was watching him so we went and bought a wide selection of bottles and he turned them all down. I was desperate and so we bought him a tippy cup figuring it couldn't hurt. "Nuby" makes a sippy cup with a soft spill proof top that a small child can use because it works well for a child that mouths and sucks and is soft so it doesn't frustrate a child like the hard tops that feel so foreign to little mouths.

Good luck!

I had a daugther like that!
We tried all bottles, different brands, went short of the breastbottle, but by the time we thought of the breastbottle, we were tired of trying, and just waited it out. We tried my milk, almond milk, etc (never formula). She refused it all. We tried with me feeding her, with DH doing it, leaving her at my parents...Nope, not happening.

So...we did go out a couple of times, i think we started when she was 4 months,at night, right after she went down, and KNEW we only had a couple of hrs. it was stressful, and I ended up not enjoying it, because we'd get the 'call' to come back.

But we just waitedBy the time she was 7 mo or so, it was easier to leave her, because she could have some solids to tie her over. I actually found out that she knew exactly how to work a bottle when I put diluted juice in it, and she drank it like a pro. But she wouldn't touch ANY milk-like substance in it.

We offered a sippy early too, at around 8 mo, and she drank fluids, water, very diluted juice from it *only* when I wasn't there.

So, while I don't have a solution for "how to", i can't tell you that it won't be long before you can stretch those periods, and go out for much needed "me" (or "us") time.

the only thing that i can tell is to stay patient and keep trying! he is only going to be this little once and believe it or not this helpless baby stage really does fly by.. stay strong and stay patient, if you get frustrated so will your baby!

K.,

Welcome to the world of baby. My children never took bottles, which means I never had alone time! It goes by so fast, just enjoy it! It gets better, soon enough he won't be breastfeeding anymore and you'll have more time. Hang in there!

C.

Hi K.!

I understand about wanting to have some time to yourself, but I just wanted to warn you about what happened to me. At four months I tried to get my sone to take a bottle so that I could get out, etc., and it worked pretty well. The only problem was that within the next couple of weeks he ended up weaning himself and didn't want to nurse anymore! I was so upset because it was really special to me and I realized that I had messed up a good thing (he was an excellent nurser). So maybe just think twice about trying to get him off the breast unless you are really desperate? As others have said, once this stage is gone you will REALLY miss it, I promise!

When my daughter was still breast feeding I let her come into our bed and nurse at night. You may try lieing down to nurse. I may help releive the pain in your back. As for the bottle, I suggest taking the time to "shedule" time with your husband. That wait until the baby falls asleep after feeding and then take the ubby for some alone time. Even if you just want to go to coffee, you should have a two hour window to do want you want to.

Hey K.! I have a four month old and we are kinda having the same exact problem. She absolutely refused to take the bottle. (But like you said, a break once in awhile sounded nice.) I asked the DR and she said there isn't any special trick, some kids never take the bottle when they are breastfed. But I figured there had to be a way to get her to take a bottle once in awhile. (LIke you, I was givin her breastmilk in the bottle.) Anyway, I figured I would try different bottles. Each nipple is different and maybe there is a nipple ur son would like better. I am not sure which bottles u use. But my first daughter used the Avent ones with No Problem, but my 4 month old did not want to use those so I went and bought a Evenflo "Elan" She was alot more receptive to that and I was impressed because the nipple does seem really similar to the breast. Well, I Hope something works out for you!
T. :o)

I had a similar problem with one of my twins. At a couple of weeks old, we gave them pumped milk in bottles with nipples designed to reduce nipple confusion- all was fine until I went 2 or 3 weeks without pumping and giving any bottles at all, then (about 5 mo.) she magically forgot how to suck on a bottle, and acted like she didn't know what it's purpose was!
Neither have had a bottle since, til they were about 11 mo old, they discovered an old bottle and it is a toy that is funny to them. THey play/chew/drink water out of it.

Because of this bottle trouble, about 6 mo old we started giving them sippy cups- the kind with the rubber-type sipper , not hard plastic, and it has little handles- after about a week or 2, they were good at them! They mostly did jice & water from them. Then at 1 yr old, my son still was waking up to BF in the middle of the night, so to break him of it easier, I started pumping a little and giving him breastmilk in a sippy cup in the middle of the ight- he would take a few sips, come to terms that he was getting no "real-thing" and go back to sleep- took about 1 week of this and he stopped waking at night!
Good luck!

Hi K.,

Johnson and Johnson's Healthflow is a great bottle to try. Sometimes babies are picky about things we don't think about so maybe trying different types of bottles may do the trick.

I am 36 and had 5 kids. I never had a problem with any of them switch from the breast to a bottle or when they started on formula and then real milk (guess i got lucky cosidering I had 5 kids and no probs). I have heard you need to wein them from all of that I just went from breast milk (they used a bottle sometimes too)to formula without weining and went from formula to real milk witthout weining. I guess i had it easy. this might sound kind of mean but you can give him a bottle if he doesn't take it keep trying to give it to him without giving him your breast and he will get hungry enough and drink out of the bottle. you can try putting it in his mouth and squeezing so of the milk out then he might start sucking on it. I was at a friends house one day. I had a nine mounth old and my friend had a baby 1 year older than mine. he son was drinking out of a cup with a straw and he handed it to my daughter and she drank out of it so imidiately when i got home i through her bottles away and from then on she drank out of a cup and never cried for her bottle.

K.

when i went back to work, my son was 3 months old, he is 5 mo now. but i bought those expensive bottles that breast fed babies "will take" nope, didnt like it one bit!!
so i went to walmart and i found this one
http://www.evenflo.com/Homepage/ProductList/tabid/203/nav...
its textured and has raised "bumps" that imitate a nipple...and he uses it with no problem!
hope this helps!

Hi, K.!
I am sorry it's hard right now. i have 3 boys and breastfed all of them. I can tell you how crazy it can get. Don't give up, things will work out you'll see.
Try having your husband give the bottle. It may help and you might even get "me" time. It helped and got my husband helping too.Even if it was for me to get a quick shower. He felt more connected with our sons. It helped us out in the end.
Good Luck!! take care.

As others have suggested, get someone else to feed him to give you a break. My baby NEVER accepted a boobjuice bottle from me...she'd look at me like I was daft because my boobs were right there! But she did take it from my husband, which let me get some much-needed rest in those first few months.

My 4-month old son is just the opposite from most, he'll take a bottle of breastmilk from me, but not from anyone else! Which of course, doesn't help any when I'm at work... We just keep trying, but some babies just don't want anything other than the real thing. What if you tried going out for a date or whatever and had a set time that your caregiver brought your baby to you to nurse? That way your baby would still get to nurse, and you wouldn't have to worry about "getting the call" because you knew when to expect him.

-A.

Make sure someone else is feeding her. If you offer the bottle, the baby will smell your milk and refuse the bottle. Hope you get a break!

my friend had the breastbottle from
onestepahead.com
she said it worked great for her