Seeking Advice on Getting My Daughter to Bottle Feed Again.

I am sorry to be a few days late, but I have a couple of suggestions that might help. I am a lactation consultant and have had this same question many times. Will she suck on a finger or a pacifier? If so with a tiny feeding tube slipped in along side the finger or passy, she may be able to drink your breast milk from a syringe while sucking on the finger. For some reason, the finger especially is not so threatening. The other important thing to remember is that the baby already has her personality and it is important that you try to analyse that as well. Sometimes when the mom, dad or caregiver is desperate to get her to take it, the baby will resist more and more the way some toddler do when trying to "make them do something". Offering the bottle a in casual playful way, or without any force or determination may help. Maybe make the bottle a peek a boo game or rub her lips with it and blow bubbles. You get my drift. Take some of the stress and pressure away and it may resolve itself.

Hello, Our little grandaughter also had a hard time getting used to the bottle. She was breast fed right after birth. However, she needed heart surgery and was then put onto a feeding tube. When it came time to get her onto the bottle (she couldn't tolerate the breast milk and was on fat-free formula) she refused it. My daughter was very patient and tried different types of nipples. Eventually, she was sent home from the hospital with a feeding tube. After trying many types of nipples, my daughter found one that our grandaughter would use. Try the ones which are like a mother's breast. The ones my daughter uses are called Breast Flow by The First Years.
Good luck with your precious little girl.
K. K.

Just keep offering it to her, maybe when she's not starving so that she isn't frantic? She will take a bottle when you are gone at work, I had the same fear, but with you not there and consistent care from another caregiver she'll be fine. She'll know that with you she gets to nurse, and with the nanny she gets a bottle. They don't let themselves starve!

try a faster flow nipple on the bottle...that works

Hi P.. Well have you tried changing bottle nipple? I know when they are infants they want the feeling of a natural nipple so maybe thats what she needs. Give a try hopefully it will work = ) ..

Good morning P., I would just keep working with her, hold out on the breast as much asd you can, or have specific times you breast feed like at her bed time, so she gets used to a different routine, I'm a daycare providrer and I had a baby start that was exclusively breast feed except on occasion so the dad coukd bond with feeding as well, but it wasn't enough, the first day was so hard cause would not take the bottle, i tried holding in different positions, tried siging to him while trying to feed him nothing worked, I e-mailed er and told her she was going to have to cone nurse him, but she didn't have a break until lunch, I told her he couldn't go that long, so i told her I was going to try him on some strained apples sauce just to get something in is tummy, boy did that work he loved it, but it filled him up til his mom could come nurse him, tis is what I'm told it is, I could be wrong, but every nursing mom has a destint sell that her baby familarizes her with, and that's why it's hard sometimes to get a breast feed baby to take a bottle, I have had a couple young daycare moms tell me their doctors told them. J. L.

Just keep trying...I know it's really hard to hear them cry, but just keep trying...

Eventually she will take it. If she's not by the time you go back to work, your day care provider should be used to baby's adjusting to the bottle all day and be able to coax her into it. And...it's awful, but if she gets hungry enough, she'll give in. Also, make sure you stick with the same nipples that you always use. Babies are creatures of habit and like the same nipple...my youngest wouldn't even take it when I switched to a higher flow nipple...he wanted the one he was used to...I guess it makes sense, it's not like my boob has a "fast flow" or "slow flow" switch!

Good luck!

-M

The same thing happened to me when my daughter was about 10 weeks. She'd taken a bottle a day of expressed breast milk nearly from birth, and just stopped one day. I called the pediatrician after she'd refused the bottle for about 3-4 days, and the pediatrician said that it's very common for babies to do so at this age (even babies who were used to the bottle). She instructed us to feed her ONLY with the bottle until she took it, and said that it should take anywhere from a few feedings to a few days to get her to take it again. We did, and she was taking it again within a day.

The pediatrician also said that there's a time pressure - ie, if we didn't get our daughter back on the bottle then, then we could have lost the window of opportunity. So, it was a brutal time getting her to take it, but well worth it.

If you haven't already, I'd encourage you to call the pediatrician to get their read, or call the Pump Station - they'll probably have good advice, too, and will dispense it over the phone.

P.,
I nursed my daughter and she never took to the bottle. I tried everything and every different type of nipple/bottle/you name it. Be careful trying a nipple with a faster flow, as that is not how it is when baby nurses. They get used to having to pull the milk from the breast and if it gushes out from the bottle, that will def. turn baby off to the bottle and make her feel like she's choking.

Anyway, my daughter never took my pumped milk from the bottle. She went to my mom's house at 4 months while I worked and my mom could only get her to drink about 2 ounces of milk a day.

So I did some research ... I'm a big fan of Dr. Sears and his books. Dr. Sears said not to worry about it, that some babies will never take a bottle, but will alter their nursing needs and power-nurse when mom returns. This is exactly what my daughter did. So I'd get home from work and we'd begin. She power-nursed all throughout the night, so I was one tired mommy during the day, but we shared a family bed and this made it easier on me. At your daughter's age, I highly recommend a co-sleeper that attaches to your side of the bed. Baby is safely out of harm's reach, but right next to you.

Anyway, I wish you much luck. Don't worry, babies are very adaptable!

Will your work allow you to breastfeed there? Could the person taking care of her bring her in once or twice a day to feed? Or is it possible to pump at work? There's an excellent article in Mothering Magazine's May-June 2008 edition about encouraging employers to protect breastfeeding. Try looking it up on www.mothering.com. According to the article, many employers are unaware of the needs of lactating mothers who are their employees, and of the benefits to eployees and employer alike of creating an environment conducive to workplace pumping. It's worth mentioning that ear infections, which keep mothers home from work for one to two days each year, can be reduced to two-thirds by three-fourths by feeding a child breastmilk. Studies show that workplace pumping/breastfeeding programs actually save employers money in decreased absenteeism and increased productivity. Good luck!

Hi P., I had to breastfeed my daughter for almost 2 years. Since the day she was born she would not take the bottle, even with my milk in it. Oh, and I bought all kinds of nipples, and even waited till she was really hungry and even then she would rather go to sleep than to take the bottle. But thank God I did not have to go to work, I am a stay at home mom, but even then it was hard, I did not go anywhere without her for that time. i say just keep trying to introduce the bottle, hopefully she will take it. Maybe you should leave her with the babysitter for a couple of hours and see if she takes the bottle. My Dr. mentioned one time that babies are very sensitive to smell, specially mom's, so if you are not around... Oh, leaving the baby with your husband will not work either because baby will even sense you in him. Like I said, I did that but even that did not work, but hopefully it will with you!!! God bless you!!!

The others have already made good suggestions and you can find a ton on the internet. But, really you just have to keep trying and attempt to not let it stress you. She will eventually take the bottle, though maybe not until you go back to work.

Both of my daughters refused, the second one even worse than the first. After I went back to work, our poor nanny suffered through a lot of crying but just kept being consistent in offering.

One trick she came up with to keep my daughter from getting too hungry while I was gone (before dd finally caved in and took the bottle) was to get a syringe (not the kind with a needle!) from the pharmacy. She would fill it with breastmilk and then squeeze it out into her mouth. (We also tried spoon feeding milk and sippy cups as bottle alternatives, but neither of those worked nearly as well as the syringe.)

Good luck -- it will work out!