Tips on Getting LO to Take Bottle

[stampingqueen]

She will be starting daycare next week. She will be 9 weeks tonorrow. We've started to try to give her bottles (Avent) but she HATES IT. I know I need to try other bottles to see what she prefers. I've read on the bottles discussion that the Avent has a faster flow.

I've tried giving her bottle (she kinda sometimes will take it). Husband has given bottle (without me being home) to no avail.

Any tips/recommendations? I don't want to be the mom whose kid gets kicked out of daycare on the first day!

[mlee116]

Definitely try some other bottles, especially those designed to be similar to the breast. DS only liked a certain type for awhile and was very picky about it. Also, make sure the milk is warm enough. I would keep getting your H or someone else to try until baby is really good at taking the bottle. DS would always take one much better when someone else gave it to him. Even when he started DC he was still struggling but got much better over a week or so. Good luck, I know just how stressful it can be!

[gustierx]

To second what mlee116 said regarding temperature- DD will choke and sputter on a bottle that is too cold. She has had to be supplemented since she was 3 days old so she takes a bottle like a champ, but even at 11 weeks if it's too cold it's game over. Good luck!

[amyface813]

I've been very worried about this! My LO had formula supplement for the first four weeks or so but now he is EBF. Even when I think he needed a bottle lately he would just sorta chew on it and eventually spit it all out or choke. I was so worried that today I pumped and had DH give him the bottle. He screamed and wasn't having any of it. He got frustrated and gave him back to me.

I finally got him to take the bottle by holding him really close and standing up and rocking him to get him calm. He chugged it down once he started. We are going to try to do the same thing tomorrow evening in preparation of my return to work on Friday.

[raechay]

I've read that it helps to introduce the bottle as early as possible once BF'ing is well-established (the example I read was after 1 month old). Obvs you can't go back in time, but that might be helpful to someone else reading. As for now - when trying different types of bottles, you want to be sure it is "non-stressful" for baby, so if they start to cry/fuss/chew/swing their head back & forth, remove the bottle, soothe them, and then try again a few times. This worked well for us. He eventually took a bottle he fussed at for quite some time. Now he will take several different types (except Dr browns which he thinks are the worst ever).

[shell0417]

I'd have YH do it, without you in the room. Try positions completely different to nursing- sitting more upright, facing out, etc. Warm the bottle nipple under warm water. Try the temp either warmer or cooler than you'd expect.

[stampingqueen]

raechay, I honestly didn't feel like our breastfeeding was well established until recently. We are still having latch issues some days (and we have seen a LC). I definitely agree to start earlier and wish we had/had been able to. I'm still concerned she'll prefer the bottle to the breast.

[gdaniels77]

This is something that I'll be interested to read the advice on. Because now that I have started back to work this week, I reallllly wish we would have given LO more bottles as practice. We had tried 3 different kinds (aka only 3 times total giving a bottle) and the last two had seemed successful. But Monday she freaked out and practically starved herself and only drank 2 oz the whole time I was at work. Yesterday was a little better, but still only 5 oz. I'm just hoping that I haven't done irreversible damage and that there's something we can do by this point to get her warmed up to taking a bottle.