Ask Joanne - Baby won't take a bottle
Categories: Babies, Just for mums, Eating & nutrition, Behaviour, Ask Joanne
What's your biggest challenge in family life? Send your questions and dilemmas to experienced life coach Joanne Mallon via this confidential form. Your name can be changed on request.Kay asks:
"My daughter turned 16 weeks old today and I have breastfed her exclusively since day one, but I really want to get her to take a bottle feed so as to free up some time for me. My eight-year-old boy had no trouble taking both but my newborn is not being fooled by any bottle!
"I have tried several teat shapes, several times, taken all the health visitor advice tips – and doctors too – but to no avail. It doesn't help that my partner isn't very helpful. The steriliser sits and sits and sits... help!"
Here's our life coach's reply:
Dear Kay
The decision as to when to cut back or stop breastfeeding is a very personal one, and every mother will know when the time is right for her. Unfortunately, as you are finding, baby doesn't always agree with what you decide is the right time to stop! Your baby is taking her first opportunity to exert her personality and show you that she's no carbon copy of her brother.
Some babies never take to the bottle at all, so one solution could be to wait a few months and go straight to a soft cup with a spout.
It's a shame that your partner isn't supportive – why do you think this is? Have you really talked this through? Does he understand how strongly you feel about this? One of the methods you can try to get baby on to a bottle is for you to leave the house for an extended period when you know she's due a feed. However, a supportive partner is essential for this to work, as they are the one literally left holding the baby. So before you do anything more, you need to talk to your partner more about this.
GPs and health visitors are not always the most helpful people to consult with what they will consider to be a relatively minor situation. I think you would get much more practical advice from a specialist breastfeeding advisor. The La Leche League has a telephone helpline you can call – details here.
Good luck
Joanne
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Do you have any advice for Kay about how to get a baby to take a bottle? Leave a comment below
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
m nicholson 1-07-2010 @ 4:53PM
I have recently experienced the same problem and the only way I managed to get my baby daughter (4.5months old) to take a bottle was to cradle her whilst standing up and as I held the bottle in her mouth I touched her cheek with my fingers and rocked her gently. The idea of your fingers touching her cheek is that you maintain skin to skin contact as you do with breast feeding and by rocking gently you are distracting the baby from the actual bottle! The first few nights were horrible and although she managed to take some milk there was a lot of angry crying! I persevered and can happily say that my baby now takes a bottle everyday and without any fuss. This strategy came from watching 'The Baby Whisperer' and from reading Tracey Hogg's book 'The Baby Whisperer solves all your problems', which I highly recommend. Hope it helps you too!
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Sally 1-20-2010 @ 5:03AM
My baby son wouldn't accept a bottle at 5 months when I was desperately trying to wean him so I could return to work. I was trying this at a child's play centre and had a hysterical baby on my hands and sweat pouring off my brow when another Mum watching nearby offered me this suggestion.
I was using a modern clear silicon breast shaped teat on the bottle. She advised that I do what worked for her. To change the teat to a basic brown rubber one (not shaped, the old-fashioned rounded end). I did this the next day and it magically worked instantly. I see that you have changed teats before but if you've not tried this type it's probably worth a go.
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pinklady 1-20-2010 @ 5:36AM
I have had the same problem with both my daughter who is now 7 and my 9 month old son!! Unfortunatly I just didn't have the patience and felt like a nasty mummy so they both stuck to the breast but my god what I would have done to get them to take a bottle for just 1 feed a day. I will have to remember this advice if we have anymore children and to tell my friends!
I did try with a sippy cup, I have found the Tommee Tippee explora cups a god send. We managed to get my son to take a little bit of milk out of one but when he realised it was formula (I find it hard to express) he refused to have it. He has been using the explora cups since he was 3 months old and I have never had any problems with them!
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pam 1-20-2010 @ 5:46AM
I have 4 children, 2 were prem the others were full term. The two that were full term had dummies (the other two would take them at all for comfort), this might be worth a try as it would give your baby chance to get used to the shape. But lets not forget that sterilising solutions smell, so i always used to scauld them off with the boiled water that i would be mixing their milk feeds up with before putting the milk into the bottles.
Good luck but you have to be ferm with your partner, as they think that the easiest thing to do when a breast feed baby is crying for food is to to give in and give them the breast. They don't realise the discomfort a crying baby is on the breasts coz our bodies also need to adjust to bottle feeding a baby.
Another tip, obviously your hands should be clean before preparing a babies feeds, so you could try gently squeezing the teat to allow small amounts of milk to leak out. Lets not forget when a baby is ready to feed the breast is also ready and will very often gush the milk out without much effort from the baby but a with a bottle the baby has to work harder to get the milk.
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Rene 1-20-2010 @ 8:48AM
I had a similiar issue with my eldest son. I took advice from a book called " The baby Whisperer solves all your problems" by Tracey Hogg with Melinda Blau, page 127 - 128, worked really will and I have friends who have done the same.
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