Bottle Refusal

[scout251]

I need hair pats or advice or something. DD1 never had a problem going back & forth between bottle and nursing because we gave her bottles consistently since birth. With DD2 she took bottles in the NICU but once she was home I was concerned about my supply (I was always making just barely enough for DD1) and it was just easier for DH to deal with DD1 and I would deal with DD2. Well now she won't take a bottle at all and just screams and screams. Please tell me that your kid did this and then magically took a bottle. 😩

[activebaby]

Yes. Both, especially ds1. Daycare teachers were magic and were able to help both.

[meggypoo1]

Maybe try a different bottle? Is your H doing it or you?

[scout251]

Apr 6, 2017 20:26:00 GMT -5 meggypoo1 said:

Maybe try a different bottle? Is your H doing it or you?

DH both times so far. DD2 doesn't seem all that comfortable with him to begin with unfortunately because he spends less time with her than he ever got to with DD1. I'm going to have my mom and him keep trying as much as possible but I'm so stressed now.

[savigirl]

When my dd did this we had to heat the milk extra warm and go to a faster flow nipple. When we did that she stopped refusing. Good luck. I remember how stressful that was.

[becole]

Apr 6, 2017 20:45:03 GMT -5 scout251 said:

Apr 6, 2017 20:26:00 GMT -5 meggypoo1 said:

Maybe try a different bottle? Is your H doing it or you?

DH both times so far. DD2 doesn't seem all that comfortable with him to begin with unfortunately because he spends less time with her than he ever got to with DD1. I'm going to have my mom and him keep trying as much as possible but I'm so stressed now.

Oh I had a terrible time with bottle refusal with the second baby for pretty much all the reasons you said. I never had to supplement and baby was always with me so very limited time to try a bottle. I went to an LC who said his gag reflex/ protection of his soft palate was most likely causing his. So I got the shortest nipple I could find (the nipples that come with formula samples) and made the hole bigger to fast flow. At first, he needed to be facing away from the body and walking/ moving to drink it. My sister and mom worked with him most because he also didn't like DH much. We tried lots of bottles and I found a weird latched shape one he would take but the daycare eventually got him to take the medela ones. They have small short nipples too. The LC also showed me some exercises where I basically sweep my finger across his soft palate to dull his gag reflex. After that, he started also taking the smallest infant paci (mam brand) and I could use that to help with the gag reflex.
I wound up talking to daycare and the week before he started, I took him up to the school everyday for the teacher to try one feeding per day. It got better and better and by a month, he was fine.
There's a girl on my O16 bmb whose baby never did take it (still doesn't at 6 months) and she went to an LC as well. You just have to figure out what the babies issue is and then that helps to work around it. I bought like 15 types of bottles, tried all kinds of flows and temperatures, and different holds. He now will take a bottle from anyone but me and he won't take it if I am close by. But otherwise he's good.

[scout251]

becole it definitely looks like she's gagging. Maybe I'll make an appointment with an LC since I didn't when she was born.

[becole]

Apr 7, 2017 8:41:47 GMT -5 scout251 said:

becole it definitely looks like she's gagging. Maybe I'll make an appointment with an LC since I didn't when she was born.

If you google techniques about bottle refusal and gagging with nursing- you could probably try some of the things I mentioned on your own. You basically draw a rainbow in the roof of her mouth, and then quickly and softly swipe across the back. You also draw rainbows on the palate starting at the front and going further and further back. I think it helps to do it right after nursing when she's pretty happy. You can do the same with a paci- just swipe it in there over and over and often as you remember.

[scout251]

Apr 7, 2017 8:46:29 GMT -5 becole said:

Apr 7, 2017 8:41:47 GMT -5 scout251 said:

becole it definitely looks like she's gagging. Maybe I'll make an appointment with an LC since I didn't when she was born.

If you google techniques about bottle refusal and gagging with nursing- you could probably try some of the things I mentioned on your own. You basically draw a rainbow in the roof of her mouth, and then quickly and softly swipe across the back. You also draw rainbows on the palate starting at the front and going further and further back. I think it helps to do it right after nursing when she's pretty happy. You can do the same with a paci- just swipe it in there over and over and often as you remember.

I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!

[becole]

The LC also showed me cup feeding an infant (use like a little medicine cup) and syringe feeding. That's if all else fails. But I put all my energy the month before he went to daycare on finding someone, anyone, to try to feed my baby a bottle once/ day and it really only clicked once it was consistent when he was at daycare. It was one of the most stressful things I can recall with an infant, especially if you know you HAVE to work. My work was also very gracious in letting me check in frequently and was willing to let me take leave nurse if I needed to.

[scout251]

I don't go back until June 1st so I've got some time. The days my mom or DH are with her they could always drive her over to my school at least at lunchtime but the days other people are with her I can't/won't ask them to do that. It's almost more annoying that it's literally for only 15 school days and then I'll be home again in the summer. By September I'm hoping she'll be drinking from some type of cup anyway.

[activebaby]

With ds1 I had a hard time getting him to take a bottle (as i Mentioned earlier), so I pumped so that Dh could do a bottle with ds2 every other day during maternity leave. I have no clue if that helped or if ds2 was just a little easier....but I believe it helped.

[becole]

Apr 7, 2017 10:20:37 GMT -5 scout251 said:

I don't go back until June 1st so I've got some time. The days my mom or DH are with her they could always drive her over to my school at least at lunchtime but the days other people are with her I can't/won't ask them to do that. It's almost more annoying that it's literally for only 15 school days and then I'll be home again in the summer. By September I'm hoping she'll be drinking from some type of cup anyway.

For 3 weeks, baby will be okay even if she doesn't take it. She'll just nurse all night 😜

[scout251]

Apr 7, 2017 10:57:17 GMT -5 becole said:

Apr 7, 2017 10:20:37 GMT -5 scout251 said:

I don't go back until June 1st so I've got some time. The days my mom or DH are with her they could always drive her over to my school at least at lunchtime but the days other people are with her I can't/won't ask them to do that. It's almost more annoying that it's literally for only 15 school days and then I'll be home again in the summer. By September I'm hoping she'll be drinking from some type of cup anyway.

For 3 weeks, baby will be okay even if she doesn't take it. She'll just nurse all night 😜

Awesome....

[scout251]

Still not taking a bottle. I've been trying to just get her to suck on a pacifier during the day which she's been a bit better about but she doesn't really suck on it. I have an appointment with an LC tomorrow and I'm hoping they have some insight.

[activebaby]

Apr 11, 2017 16:00:05 GMT -5 scout251 said:

Still not taking a bottle. I've been trying to just get her to suck on a pacifier during the day which she's been a bit better about but she doesn't really suck on it. I have an appointment with an LC tomorrow and I'm hoping they have some insight.

Good luck!