Transitioning to a Bottle

One last idea is to try having him use a cup instead of a bottle. My son needed a cup at first because he didn't want anything other than my breast. It took about a week, but he started to use the bottle. Now he drinks from anything with liquid. We also used the Dr. Brown's bottles with the premie nipples to make the flow more like my breast. Good luck!

Are you using formula or pumped milk? If you're using formula try pumping some breast milk and see how that works. Also, how long have you been trying the bottle? Perhaps he just hasn't had time to adjust yet?

My son took a little coaxing and he wouldn't take a bottle at all if he was tired, but that was only at the beginning. With time he took to it pretty well.

I hope you find something that works. Good luck.

J.

H.:

Have whomever is watching your baby to either put on or lay over their shoulder your pajama top. It works well. Whomever your daycare provider is, it is their job to get him to take a bottle. It might be a rough transition for a bit but eventually your son will take the bottle. Have you also tired having him sip his formula?

Good luck.
N.

Hi H. -

I haven't read the other replies so I hope I am not just a repeat.
I Just went through this same thing. My 5 month old was TOTALLY refusing the bottle when I went back to work. It was the most awful thing to go through, for him and for me. I would drop him off and he would go for 4 hours before I came to pick him up (I was coming early of course), fiunally my daycare provider (an amazing woman with a ton of experience, sha also took care of my now almost 3 Y/O) told me that I had to just let him go, for 6 or 8 or more hours and when he was hungry enough, he would eat...I called my pediatrician who told me the same thing, and also told me that it could take 11 hours or more and that I would not harm him by doing this. It was awful, the first day I went to get him after 6 hours, I just couldn't stand to think of the poor guy so hungry and sad..the next day after 6.5 hours he took a couple of sips, and as they were giving him these sips I showed up (not great as he was just starting to do it) so the next day I held of for over 8 hours and when I got there he had taken 3 oz...it got better and better AND he still nursed when he was with me. SO, my advice (given from others), you have to let him go through this, and he will take it when he is hungry enough and ready. I would chat with your pediatrician as well, just to see what they say. But, as hard as it was for me, and it was HARD, this worked and we were happy with in a week!
Good luck to you both and hang in there - This too shall pass!

T.

Hi H.!

Just a few months ago, we were in exactly same situation and i posted on here looking for advice. Here's what worked for us:

1) if your boy gets frustrated with the bottle, don't keep on pushing it on him...You need to make sure he has only fond association with it

2) The best is when someone else is trying to give him a bottle, your neighbour is a good choice. Most kids don't want to take a bottle from their moms

3) Let him play with a bottle nipple even when he's not hungry...explore it, take it into his mouth, get used to it *this one was a biggy for us!*.

After a weekend of playing with bottle nipple and just suckking on it...Our 3 months old girl started taking a bottle without a problem after a month of previous fighting...In the beginning we would also turn on classical music and gently rock her in a car seat..but now she is soo used to the bottle that she sometimes has problems switching back to the breast when i get home.
Mostly important don't give up...he'll take it as everyone said...i almost lost any hope, but at the end persistence and gentleness did the trick

Btw, Adiri bottle didn't work for us...sure it's shaped like a breast, but it's impossible to warm up a milk in...and it's too big for the baby to play with. The one we had luck with is Born Free, it's also a BPA free bottle...and trust me i bought every bottle on the market when we were struggling to get her to take a bottle..at the end it was not a bottle at all.

Hope this helps,
-J.

Hi,
I had the same problem with my daughter. It helped if I left a shirt I had been wearing for who ever was going to feed her. It seems to help if they can smell you.

Hope this helps

Hi H.,

I had the same issue with my son. i went back to work a bit earlier, but still, the week before I was back at work, he was still refusing the bottle!

What worked from us was a combination of things... The old fashioned latex nipples turned out to be all he would take... I don't know if it is the color or texture or what, but it made a difference. Second... despite what I was advised, we had success with ME being the one to give him the bottle. It worked when i would pump directly intot he bottle then feed him immediately. After a couple of times of this, he would let me hand him and the bottle (still latched on) to someone else. After a couple of days he would take the bottle from anyone.

Good luck,
T.

What a tough sitatution. My kids would only take the Playtex bottles with the plactic liners...dont know if you have tried those. My girlfired had a little one who wouldnt take a bottle eithr and they went right to a sippy cup at about 5 months. (The beginner ones of course) that worked for her. Not sure how PC that is, but i know it worked....Good luck!

I had the same problem with my daughter when I was transitioning with her. Having someone else give her the bottle didn't work.... After many frustrating attempts, I had to bottle feed her myself in the beginning until she began to become more comfortable with it... I think it had to do with the bonding/nursing thing. I would BF in the evenings/nights and bottle feed in the day... I noticed that when I would give her a bottle first thing in the morning instead of the breast, she was much more willing to accept it then and other bottles during the day... Don't know if that will work for you, but after many frustrating attempts to wean my daughter it's what finally worked for me...

Hi H.,

I had this very same problem with my son. My husband and I would get this intense feeling of anxiety over feedings, because it wasn't a fun time for us. Although it is a long and arduous process, you have to continue to try to get him to take to a bottle (whichever one you notice that he takes to best). A good indicator on which bottle he might have some interest in is if he plays with the nipple with his tongue and isn't completely opposed to it. With my son, I continued using the same bottle over and over... at times I tried others, but that caused him to get angrier. After three tortorous days for him (and me) at daycare, it suddenly clicked for him and he started feeding off a bottle! If he is going to a daycare provider, they usually have lots of experience with this and will continue to work with your baby to get him to feed.

I have a girlfriend that had the same problem and ended up having to spend several weeks pumping and working at getting her son to take a bottle (instead of breastfeeding him). I recall it taking her a few weeks for him to finally take to a bottle comfortably.

Good luck!
G.

I had a similar problem with my son. The doctor said no child will starve itself to death and told me to offer the bottle and nothing else. It took 36 hours but my son took the bottle and never looked back. It will be a miserable 36 hours, or however long it takes and whatever you do don't give in and nurse. It will work out. Good luck.

Have them feed him in a cup or with a spoon. Breastfed babies are also good at learning how to drink out of a straw. He has to get his milk somehow and a bottle isn't a necessity.

If you work close enough you could use your lunch break to go home and feed him. I did that for a year with one of my kids... Tiring, but so worth it!

have you asked his doc? i would think eventually your son would get hungry and take the bottle. does he take a bottle from you? you could try to get him comfortable with the bottle from you, then dad, then a stranger/friend. that is how i did it before i went back to work. it didn't work right away, but eventually my daughter took the bottle. we stuck to one type and didn't try any others until she took the bottle. we use playtex dropins. i pumped and would give/offer the bottle almost all of the feedings until she got the hang of it. then went back to giving her 1-2 bottles and nurisng the remainder of the day. good luck! and good luck with dad too!

I dont know if anyone else has suggested this to you but, I used "Second Nature" Bottles when I went back to work, they empty more like a breast than a regular bottle, and my son did fine with them, eventually he will take the bottle from someone else while you are gone at work.

http://www.secondnaturefeeding.com/

good luck

I'm not clear from reading your request whether you are trying formula in the bottle or using expressed breast milk. If you are trying formula, my suggestion would be to use breast milk instead. Good pumps are rather expensive if you don't already have one, but I consider it a great investment.

I remember someone told me this when my son was young but make sure Dad feeds him when you are around as well. This way he won't associate that feeding with you leaving. You can stay around and make sure that Dad makes him feel comfortable. Once he gets used to this he won't notice that you are gone. He is still attached to feeding with you only.

When my breast-fed daughter was 10 weeks old, I was hospitalized. I was told she went 12 hours without eating!!! She finally took a bottle when she was hungry enough. I ended up being in the hospital for a prolonged time, and never got to go back to breast feeding, but after the first day, my daughter never had a problem with a bottle of formula.

I had the same problem with my second child, a daughter. I had to be the one to give her a bottle, rather than my breast, when I got home. She soon got the hang of it. But be prepared; after one or two months of taking the bottle during the day and breastfeeding at night, she weaned herself. The bottle was so much easier to suck, that she refused the breast:( By4-5 months she was done, unlike my older son who weaned himself at 16 months. However, he never took a bottle, as I stayed home with him for 9 months, and he took a sippy cup during the day. Good luck.

Hi,
My oldest son was the same way. I went back to work at 4.5 months also and we tried tons of bottles and nipples we were using breastmilk not formula and I am not sure what you are using but either way you might try a sippy cup. We finally tried that we used the advent sippy cup with the soft spout. We actually had to take the valve out so that the milk would pour in because he didn't suck. My husband would just gently pour a little at a time in his mouth and that ended up working well.
C.