Todays post is a plea. A plea for help, ideas, solutions. How do you get your baby to take a bottle when they really really really don't want to?!
Finn is now 5 months. I have breastfed him exclusively up until now. (Thinking all through, this is a great idea, it's the easy option, his food is so portable ie: it's me, yadda yadda yadda!)
Now I am sooooooo annoyed at myself! Why I didn't think to introduce a bottle early?! Now the little mite is strictly a boob man. No bottles for this kid! He may only be 5 months old, but he is the most stubborn little person I have ever met!
I am pretty much desperate to get him on a bottle as the night feeds are getting me down, way down.
Last night when Finn woke at 2am and I was willing him to go back to sleep, Richard gave me a little tickle to say 'hey are you awake?' and I whacked him one! Sock! Poor Rich!
So far I have tried Avent, Tommy Tippee and Nuk brand bottles. They all seem to make him gag or he just chews on the end. I have tried the milk cold & warmed up. I have tried various brands of formula. I tell you our 'baby' cupboard is pretty rammed right now!
So, do you have a tip or trick I could try? Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
xxx
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Hi, I am a long time reader of your blog but have never commented before, I always find it an interesting read and your two boys are gorgeous. I understand your problem and am going through a similar thing, not with my own, they are way past the bottle or breast feeding stage but with my Granddaughter. Emily is six months old and fully breast fed, my daughter is going back to work next week and I will be looking after Emily three days a week. We are having the same problem as you, she will not take any milk from a bottle, I am just hoping that when she is hungry enough and realises there is no other source that she will take it from the bottle, hope this is not to optimistic of me!! I would be very interested if anyone has any suggestions, will pop back to see if you manage to sort it out.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, Sandra x
Dear Sandra,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment.
It's nice for me to know I am not going through this alone!
The following is a comment from my friend Megan who has been a nanny and I think it's good advice......
oh honey just wrote a long response to your blog
but wouldnt send
To sum it up they all get there in the end
I have had to do lots of boob to bottle being a nanny ( mine don't work)
after all. Try his happy feed or hungry feed
use the same bottle each time to let him get him use to it. Infact try to keep each feed the same
same room, person,bottle temp this way it becomes less scary
always pre soilds. It my sound mean but they need to be a little hungry to try something new.
I know its hard but hang in there. Would be lovely for you if you could share feeds with Rich.
love you xx
Thanks for sharing that, I will just keep trying!!
DeleteHi, I have been through the same with both of my daughters (my son we introduced the bottle quite early).
ReplyDeleteWith my third, she was 8 months old and refused a bottle. We went to various feeding clinics etc, no one could get her to feed. Friends came and I hid in another room ...still wouldn't feed. In the end (it sounds so cruel) I went away for a weekend and my hubby, armed with bottles and a lot of patience and persistence, offered her bottles ... she held out for over 24 hours (with little sips of water from a cup) and finally took a full bottle as I walked in the door the following day. After that she loved the bottle and went on to reject breastfeeding a few weeks later. It may sound like we were harsh, but we did it as loving, desperate parents. My hubby said she never cried or got distressed during the whole transition (and I would have come home if she had).
The ironic part is when she was three we had to painfully wean her off her bottles!!
Leonie, thank you so much for sharing that with me! You must have been feeling desperate! Wow, your hubby sounds like an amazing man. Good on him. It's just too easy for us to give in and offer the boob eh?!
ReplyDeleteJo x
My first two were dual (breast and bottle) and my last was bottle only (yes, I still feel terrible, that's what a 17 month gap does to you!)So I can't really help, but feel for you and hope little Finn gets a taste for silicone very soon. Hugs, B xx
ReplyDelete