Oh no- bottle refusal

[Nenibay]

We tried a bottle around 10 day with DD and she took it so well. I pumped a few other times and she also ate it no problem. Now we lapsed with bottles for a few weeks and she won't eat from it at all. She'll be super hungry and rooting around but won't drink the freshly pumped warm breastmilk.
I'm assuming she's just preferring the breast but I have to go back to work and it's so hard on DH.
Any suggestions? We are planning to encourage a bottle a day to get her use to it but I don't have a ton of breastmilk to waste. Ughhhhh.

[statlerwaldorf]

Does she take a pacifier? I have to start ds out sucking on a pacifier and quickly replace it with the bottle. He also would only take bottle from someone else with me out of the room at first.

[speyedr]

This was DD exactly! We introduced early and she did ok, we stopped giving them for a few weeks and then she stopped taking them. I don't want to scare you because I hope you have better luck but she didn't take a bottle again until 5 months....like 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was an all out screamfest every time we tried to give her one and we tried everything we could think of. I have heard that daycare workers usually have good luck getting them to take bottles. DD just had a switch flip one day and she started taking them voluntarily again.

[Nenibay]

Sept 28, 2014 18:18:27 GMT -5 statlerwaldorf said:

Does she take a pacifier? I have to start ds out sucking on a pacifier and quickly replace it with the bottle. He also would only take bottle from someone else with me out of the room at first.

No. She's never taken to the paci

[Nenibay]

Sept 28, 2014 18:36:41 GMT -5 tulips said:

Have you tried leaving the room or house so it's just her and DH? If she can see/smell you she may refuse because she knows the boob is right there.

Yeah, unfortunately she still won't take it. We've had two other people try and maybe she'll take 0.5-1ounce if we are lucky.

[Nenibay]

Sept 28, 2014 18:35:07 GMT -5 speyedr said:

This was DD exactly! We introduced early and she did ok, we stopped giving them for a few weeks and then she stopped taking them. I don't want to scare you because I hope you have better luck but she didn't take a bottle again until 5 months....like 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was an all out screamfest every time we tried to give her one and we tried everything we could think of. I have heard that daycare workers usually have good luck getting them to take bottles. DD just had a switch flip one day and she started taking them voluntarily again.

Oh boy. I am scared because she went 8hrs the other day without more than an ounce because she refused. I also wasting all my milk trying to get her to eat.

[Deleted]

I have limited advice because my girls recently became bottle refusers at 5.5 mos. Now at 6.5 they will take them some days and not others. There is no rhyme or reason to their refusals and it is super frustrating.

Some suggestions:
Make sure you aren't around when offering the bottle
Try different nipples
Try different temp bottles
Trick with pacifier first
Hold in position where bottle is placed like breast so same or as similar position to nursing as possible
Hold in a completely different positions
Offer bottle when sleepy/half asleep
Offer breastmilk in a sippy cup, with a syringe, an open cup, or on a spoon
Try before they are screaming starving and angry
Try when they are very hungry and may be more willing to accept it
Try fresh milk
Try frozen milk

As you can see, I have tried absolutely everything. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. Good luck! I know how frustrating it is.

[lolo]

How old is she? You could try a straw depending on her age.

[Nenibay]

Sept 29, 2014 0:42:34 GMT -5 lolo said:

How old is she? You could try a straw depending on her age.

8 weeks - I'm guessing she's too young for a straw

[Nenibay]

Sept 28, 2014 18:53:02 GMT -5 @awinter said:

I have limited advice because my girls recently became bottle refusers at 5.5 mos. Now at 6.5 they will take them some days and not others. There is no rhyme or reason to their refusals and it is super frustrating.

Some suggestions:
Make sure you aren't around when offering the bottle
Try different nipples
Try different temp bottles
Trick with pacifier first
Hold in position where bottle is placed like breast so same or as similar position to nursing as possible
Hold in a completely different positions
Offer bottle when sleepy/half asleep
Offer breastmilk in a sippy cup, with a syringe, an open cup, or on a spoon
Try before they are screaming starving and angry
Try when they are very hungry and may be more willing to accept it
Try fresh milk
Try frozen milk

As you can see, I have tried absolutely everything. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. Good luck! I know how frustrating it is.

Great options. Unfortunately, I think we have tried them as Other than be sippy cup/open cup/syringe. She takes medicine from a syringe so maybe that's an option.

[VillainV]

This happened to us too. It turned out that I have a lipase issue, and I guess C's taste buds developed to a point where he could taste it when he didn't at first.

We probably tried to feed him too many yucky-tasting bottles that he developed an aversion to all bottles for a while. At least this is our theory.

Once I noticed the lipase smell (soapy, metallic, kind of vomit-y), I started scalding. For a few days we had to show him the bottle, then dip a finger in to let him taste that it was okay, then he would take the bottle.

Good luck, I know how frustrating this is!!!

[thecatinthehat]

Sept 28, 2014 18:39:15 GMT -5 Nenibay said:

Sept 28, 2014 18:18:27 GMT -5 statlerwaldorf said:

Does she take a pacifier? I have to start ds out sucking on a pacifier and quickly replace it with the bottle. He also would only take bottle from someone else with me out of the room at first.

No. She's never taken to the paci

This was my DS, he was never into the paci which made it harder. It was a very difficult time for me since I worked from home and a lot of breast milk went down the sink Somtimes I gave in and breastfed him It took a long time and my nanny was so helpful during it. DS eventually got used to the bottle again.

[curbsideprophet]

Will it be DH watching her while you are at work? For now I would try practicing with only an oz in the bottle so you are not wasting milk.

[Nenibay]

Sept 29, 2014 2:16:47 GMT -5 @peggyolson said:

Dd1 would only take a very warm bottle. Have you tried varying the temperature?

We've tried ranges fe cold to freshly expressed and even warmer

[Nenibay]

Sept 29, 2014 2:57:04 GMT -5 VillainV said:

This happened to us too. It turned out that I have a lipase issue, and I guess C's taste buds developed to a point where he could taste it when he didn't at first.

We probably tried to feed him too many yucky-tasting bottles that he developed an aversion to all bottles for a while. At least this is our theory.

Once I noticed the lipase smell (soapy, metallic, kind of vomit-y), I started scalding. For a few days we had to show him the bottle, then dip a finger in to let him taste that it was okay, then he would take the bottle.

Good luck, I know how frustrating this is!!!

I'll keep an eye on this but even freshly expressed milk she refuses.

[Nenibay]

Sept 29, 2014 4:12:09 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Will it be DH watching her while you are at work? For now I would try practicing with only an oz in the bottle so you are not wasting milk.

Yes, DH will typically be with her.

[VillainV]

Sept 29, 2014 4:23:00 GMT -5 Nenibay said:

Sept 29, 2014 2:57:04 GMT -5 VillainV said:

This happened to us too. It turned out that I have a lipase issue, and I guess C's taste buds developed to a point where he could taste it when he didn't at first.

We probably tried to feed him too many yucky-tasting bottles that he developed an aversion to all bottles for a while. At least this is our theory.

Once I noticed the lipase smell (soapy, metallic, kind of vomit-y), I started scalding. For a few days we had to show him the bottle, then dip a finger in to let him taste that it was okay, then he would take the bottle.

Good luck, I know how frustrating this is!!!

I'll keep an eye on this but even freshly expressed milk she refuses.

Yes, C did this too. After tasting the lipase-milk, he turned away all bottles for a while because he associated them with yucky-tasting milk. This threw me for a MAJOR loop. We had to prove to him that each bottle was okay by letting him taste the milk off our finger first. We also switched to a completely different kind of bottle. After a few days of this, he took bottles again.

[curbsideprophet]

Sept 29, 2014 4:23:41 GMT -5 Nenibay said:

Sept 29, 2014 4:12:09 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Will it be DH watching her while you are at work? For now I would try practicing with only an oz in the bottle so you are not wasting milk.

Yes, DH will typically be with her.

Has he tried feeding her somewhere other than at home? Yard, out and about, etc?

[water*drop]

Sept 29, 2014 5:57:35 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Sept 29, 2014 4:23:41 GMT -5 Nenibay said:

Yes, DH will typically be with her.

Has he tried feeding her somewhere other than at home? Yard, out and about, etc?

Ditto this. DD would only take a bottle if she was totally distracted and not being held at all. She had to be on the floor or in the bouncer or something, and there had to be something for her to watch for her to take more than 0.5 oz or so (the cats were favorites at home; at daycare they had to make sure she could watch the other babies).

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2014 5:57:35 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Sept 29, 2014 4:23:41 GMT -5 Nenibay said:

Yes, DH will typically be with her.

Has he tried feeding her somewhere other than at home? Yard, out and about, etc?

This did work one day for us. My mom took the bottles with her when they went to the park and both of them did take a few ounces that day.

[Nenibay]

Sept 29, 2014 5:57:35 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Sept 29, 2014 4:23:41 GMT -5 Nenibay said:

Yes, DH will typically be with her.

Has he tried feeding her somewhere other than at home? Yard, out and about, etc?

I don't think he's tried outside. Great idea! I'll suggest that tonight.