hi
i have been exclusively breastfeeding for 9 weeks now and have tried to introduce a bottle with expressed milk, but mybaby is refusing the bottle, can anyone suggest how to introduce a bottle to breastfed baby as he doesnt want to know, he also refuses to take a dummy? and im concerned that he wont take the bottle ever! any advice would be appreciated
thanks

Hi, probably not that much help but my DD has never taken a bottle, or a dummy, and i know a lot of other breastfeeding mothers in the same situation, so although its not easy - your not alone! Have you tried using a cup? The Doidy one is quite good to get them started as it has a tilted spout. Also, have you tried letting someone else feed your baby? it may be that they can smell your milk and would rather have booby from you but would take it from someone else (i think its best to leave the room whilst they do this so they cant see you there) xxx

I also have friends whose babies have never taken a bottle. My lo also went through a stage of refusing a bottle at about the ago of your baby, but i was determined to keep trying and it eventually paid off. We kept offering him a bottle every day, and one day he just took it and now has a bottle every day so it's part of his routine. It did take probably a month or so of him refusing it before we finally cracked it, We had to change bottles too - the only one he seemed happy with was the Dr Browns bottles. My advice would be to keep offering a bottle, try different times of day, from different people as mummyskyla says, and different types of bottle. I think it was the anti-colic filter in the dr browns that finally made my lo happy to take one. Don't give up - the longer you leave it the harder it will be to get your baby to take a bottle I think! good luck xx

We had this problem as well, but Lucas now takes a bottle as long as we don't hold him in a breastfeeding position! You have probably tried it but he takes a bottle sitting in his bouncer or held in a different position to how I bf.

thanks for all your replies - it does make me feel slightly better that it isnt just my lo that wont take the bottle, i think we just need to perservere and will take the advice on trying every night. any other advice is appreciated. i read somewhere that the nuk bottles are sppsed to be good also.

thanks very much

My lo is not a fan of the bottle she will only take a max of 3oz ....... ive started trying her with beakers now as shes coming up to 6 months.

i was in boots the other day and i saw those nuk bottles and i am gonna get one to try the teat is like a dummy ... !!

xxxxxxxx

We are currently having this problem - our lo is 9 weeks. She took a bottle from about 2-4 weeks fine and then we stopped. Tried giving her one recently and although she will initially take it after about an oz she gets mad and refuses to have it back. We are currently offering her one bottle a day - trying different times, ebm and formula - in the hope that eventually she will be happy to accept it. I want to be able to have longer than 3 hours away from her at some point!!!
We are also offering her dummy (which she also took fine and recently won't) to try to get her used to the different sucking action.

x

I would say you have to be persistent. Also, the type of bottle may make a difference. My LO is exclusively breastfed (17 weeks today) and will only take EBM in a "Breastflow techonology" bottle by Firstyears. We have tried other bottles (Avent, tommee tippee) to no avail. So I would say try the Breastflow ones, hopefully it will work. As to a dummy, my LO never liked it, took it several times when he was very little but now refuses it altogether. I think it's something to do with breastfed babies... Joy...
Good luck.

I think you're right - you have to persevere. You might feel you're getting nowhere but one day it'll click. I tried (though admittedly not that hard as she protested so much!) and was only successful after 6 months.

My lo never took a bottle but I introduced an open cup at 5months and at 8months now drinks really well from a beaker,fingers crossed your lo will take to it but don't panic as it's been ok for me without xx

I'm so glad this post was here as my 13 week old won't take a bottle and kicked off last night - we have a problem that were going to a wedding where children are not invited so she is going to familys but if she won't take a bottle what am I going to do????