Mom in Desperate Need of Some Advise

Babies even that young can be taught to drink from a small cup, thereby eliminating the nipple confusion/bottle issue.
Best of luck!

Have you seen the Adiri Natural Nurser? http://www.adiri.com/products_html/natural_nurser.asp
I'm about to order one for my 9 month old. At 2 months she will take a bottle when she gets too hungry. You can try to make it easier on her by giving her pumped breastmilk (I don't know of a single baby who would want to switch from sweet breastmilk to formula) and trying to find a bottle that mimics the shape of a breast. For a while she might start eating more when you're home and that's OK. My son would snack from the bottle while I was gone and nurse a lot when i got home. Since you don't start until February you have time to introduce a bottle now. Gradually get it to the point where she's getting one bottle of pumped milk a day. That way when you go back to work it won't be such a shock. Good luck, I know how hard it is. Nursing after a long day away was a great way for us to reconnect.

ok lady. i just went thru the same exact thing. i tried everything! she would not latch on to a bottle. well, at about 4 months, which is how old yours will be in feb, i started her on solids so i could go back to work. my mil watched her, fed her lotsa cereal all day, and even managed to get her to take a bottle on the 2nd day. the baby wasnt happy about it....she would be swollen with tears when i came home....but she was ok. and still is. she takes a bottle just fine now, even from me. im still BF though. so, if i were you, i would take a break from your efforts, enjoy the holidays, stop worrying, dont go out and buy every nipple on the market. your baby will be fine. she will get hungry enough and take it when shes ready. the first week will be tough. but before you know it, you will be looking back at it like it happened ages ago. trust me ;)

I'd suggest leaving her in a room with someone who is an experienced bottle feeder and having them try. And try. And try. And try some more. She may resist taking a bottle from you or from anyone else for that matter if you are around. We had a hard time getting my older son to take a bottle but his day care provider was able to get him to do so. Also, maybe you are trying too many different bottles and nipples without giving her a chance to get used to any of them. Pick one and stick with it for a while. My 9 month old twins like the Playtex nurser nipple and my 3 1/2 year old son preferrd the Playtex nurser orthodontic nipple. I would NOT recommend starting solids just so you can give her an alternative food.

I went back to work when my son was 9 weeks old. We started intorducing the bottle at 6 weeks and he hated it. We tried MANY different bottles and I was about to pull my hair out. It took about 2 weeks, the Evenflo Comfi bottles (they are angled) and laying him on his side on the Boppy (like he was going to nurse) to finally get him to take a bottle. We also always had someone else (daddy, grandparents, etc) give the bottle in the beginning. Just relax - she'll eventually come around. Good luck!

We heard that having other people feed the baby with the bottle will help. It's amazing, though, cause if you're in the room, she probably won't take it. Babies have a "mommy" sense and can sense you. You should perhaps leave the house or go downstairs (or upstairs) and have your husband feed her. She probably won't drink too much but eventually she'll get the hang of it because she'll be hungry.

J.
Many babies will not take the bottles from their mother especially breastfed babies...some will not even take the bottle if mom is in the room or the house...try offering her the bottle or rather having someone else offer it to her as she will more than likely fuss if it is you....in my day care I have one baby who over this holiday weekend and nursing non stop with mom was very fussy yesterday and almost angry about the bottle but I held her and kept trying and of course she was hungry too and then she took it from me. I think your baby will also do this from someone other than you over time...don't stress too much as babies will adapt well to a situation more than we do mostly and when you return to work she won't have the option of nursing and she will take the bottle more easily then as she will know that is her food source for the time being....when you reunite after working she may just nurse longer or even comfort nurse but if your goal is to continue to nurse than do so by all means and good for you! Don't feel it has to be one or the other many working moms only nurse in their off hours and the babies do great "getting it" as I said before they are more resiliant than we think and rarely if ever does it have anything to do with the actual bottle but rather with who is holding it and her.
good luck
E.

hi! i had the same issue with my daughter when she was that age. what worked for me is having someone else give her the bottle and me not even being in the room. better yet, not in the house at first. she loves you so much and obviously loves the comfort of your breast in addition to the actual milk. shes probably having issues with YOU not giving her your breast. eventually, she may take a bottle from you, but try having daddy give it to her for a while until she warms up to the idea. good luck.

this may seem alittle mean but, wait until you know she is hungry and then only give her the bottle. Becasue she is so hungry she will more than likely take the bottle. I have also heard it is better to let someone else give her the bottle since she equates your smell with the breast.

My son was the same way. It eventually came down to he was hungry, I was not there and he had two options, eat from the bottle or be miserable. He, after an hour or two, chose the bottle. My husband tried to feed him for me, as he would clearly not want the bottle if I was around, and that didn't work. We also tried nearly every bottle on the planet. The only thing that worked was hunger. And I was still able to breastfeed those days I was at home and after work... good luck

Hi,
Have you tired having someone else feed her the bottle? Sometimes that helps.
I have seen a bottle that looks like a breast it's called the Breastbottle Nurser. I've only seen it in One step ahead catalogs and on the web site www.onestepahead.com. It seems to be out of stock so the # for the company is 800-274-8440. Maybe they can tell you when it will be available if you haven't tried it all ready.
Cold turkey is always an option.
Good Luck!!
Rachelle

I can only offer advise that I have heard. My daughter has taken a bottle from the start from me or anyone else and she is breast fed. I am assuming you are trying to feed her pumped breast milk, because if you are feeding her formula that could be the problem. Try having someone else offer her the bottle, but be near by (like another room) so that you can hear what is going on. If she gets upset go ahead and nurse her and try again later. You do not want the bottle to be a tramatic event for her then she will not want anything to do with the bottle. Maby have the person squeeze a little milk into her mouth before putting the nipple directly in there so that she knows what is in the bottle. You can also call the lactation consultant where you delivered and they would be glad to help with suggestions.

Hi, hopefully some one else will have a better idea but the only thing that worked with my daughter was to quite breastfeeding cold turkey and only offer a bottle. After about 20 min of crying she took it and accepted it everytime after that with no problem.
Goodluck I know this is incredably frustrating.
K.