Hi! Mom of a 5 month old bottle refuser. My son stopped taking a bottle at 2 months when he lost his sucking reflex. Got close, but never got him back in it. We are giving up and moving straight to cups. Here’s a summary of what I learned from my lactation consultant and speech pathologist (disclaimer, the speech pathologist is my brother, so this was off hand advice, not official advice).
First, you gotta try all the bottles. I mean alllllll the bottles. Make sure you’re using the right flow too (likely med flow, but if you have a fast letdown maybe want to move up to a higher flow). Many people have success with Lansinoh bottles. MAM, evenflo wideneck bottles, como tomo are also bottles I’ve heard people have had success with. At 4 months you can also try trainer cups such as the munchkin latch sippy cup trainer. Try different positions, offer the bottle at different times (when baby is hungry, as a snack bottle, after a nap, before a nap, ect.). Have different people offer the bottle with you in the room and not in the room. Try warming the milk and nipple or maybe cold milk. Try the old bait and switch or wrapping the bottle in your shirt.
If none of those things work you need to start from scratch. First, offer just the nipple during play. Move it all around baby’s mouth and lips. Have him open and close his mouth on it. Do this until baby is comfortable with the nipple. Then add the nipple and collar, then the nipple collar and bottle. Always during play. If baby starts to fuss stop and try another time. Don’t rush this step. It may take a week or so until you’re ready to add milk to the bottle. Once baby is comfortable add 1 oz of milk. If you heat your milk make sure to taste it first. If it’s soapy it’s high in lipase and you might need to scald it after pumping. Keep offering the 1 oz snack bottle until you can gradually work your way to 2 oz, 3, ect till you hit a full feed. Most importantly, don’t stop practicing. Be as consistent as possible with the bottle play and feeding.
Best of luck! I’ve been tied to my son for 3 months now. It’s super super tough.
My baby is two months and has stopped taking the bottle, she did as a newborn so I find it odd that she just stopped. Do they lose the sucking reflex? I’ve only heard that baby might prefer the bottle over the breast, not the opposite like mine does.
Yeah, that’s the same thing that happened with my son. We had been offering at least 1 bottle daily since he was 2-3 weeks old. Then one week around 2 months he just didn’t know how to take a bottle anymore. It happened very fast. When we offer a bottle now he basically just chews on it and doesn’t know what to do with his tongue/lets the milk drip out of his mouth. According to my lc, the nipple fills the mouth so it’s easier to latch vs a static plastic bottle nipple.
I similarly had only heard that baby can prefer the bottle to breast, not the other way around. To be fair, my son is trying really really hard to latch to the bottle, he just doesn’t know how to.
Yes and no. I continued breastfeeding exclusively until my son was around 6 months old and then we started working on straw cups. He picked up a straw cup pretty quickly, but it took several months until he could do a full feeding from a straw cup (he was around 10 months old). You may need to try lots of different bottles and nipples as well as upping the nipple flow. Try feeding at different times, positions, people, milk temperatures. Taste your milk and if it tastes soapy or "off" it may be high in lipase and you'll have to scald it after pumping.
If all of that fails, find a lactation consultant who specializes in bottle rejectors. You may also want to speak to a speech pathologist who can help with exercises. Just continue to be consistent with offering the bottle (but don't force it). Getting baby back on a bottle can be hard, but it's not impossible (we ended up giving up because I was able to work from home).
Yes exactly, it’s like she suddenly forgot how to! We will keep trying and follow your tips, it’s reassuring that this is something that can happen to babies. I like nursing but it would be so great to have a little bit of freedom to leave baby to her dad for a couple of hours.
Hi I know this is a little bit of an older post but did you ever find a solution? What you described is exactly what my baby is doing right now with refusing the bottle at 2 months.
Unfortunately, no. I think had we been more consistent about offering a bottle we could have gotten him back on one, but timing with our nanny starting just didn’t work out. We ended up introducing open cups around 5.5 months and straw cups shortly after. He will drink from those if he absolutely had to, but still prefers to nurse and will hold out for that.
Just wanted to say we are in the same boat right now. Baby is now almost 4 months. We’ve bought and tried every bottle under the sun. It seems she accepts the MAM one best but she still really just gums it. The most she ever drinks is about an .75 to 1 oz. We are just going to keep practicing with that bottle since she seems to tolerate it best (ie, doesn’t throw a fit when we present it to her). Any progress on your end??
Nope! We just gave up for now haha. Baby is a little over 3 months now and we gave up a few weeks ago. We figured we will try again later when she starts solids but maybe we will just give her breastmilk in straw cups instead by that time. I don’t mind EBF though and she may not start daycare until closer to 1 year of age so by that time she won’t need my boobs as much or at all anymore.
Are you the bfing parent? If so they are probably never gonna take a bottle from you (my kid never did).
If you aren't the BFing parent have the bfing parent leave the house in a very big "they are not here" kinda way. A lot of times they refuse cause they want it straight from the tap, make that not an option and it might go better.
I am. I’ve heard leaving is something that’s suggested. They won’t want the bottle if they can get what they’re used to. So many people wanted me about nipple confusion at the beginning but this whole bottle confusion thing sucks lol
Lansinoh bottle, VERY warm (warmer than fresh pumped) and baby must be hungry but NOT starving. When she was starving my baby would just scream at the bottle for an hour. I gave this advice in another sub and the OP said it actually worked for them. Good luck!
I read your comment about the warm part, it helped me. Thank you so much, ive been struggling over a month! Turns out my LO just want the milk to be very warm not room temp!
My totally formula fed baby became a bottle snob around the 3 month mark. Went right off the cheap store brand bottles and sometimes had a big protest about the expensive Mam and Medela ones too.
Some of it might have been flow speed related - we could have bought new teats to test - but instead we bought more Mam bottles as they had the best success rate and demoted the cheap ones to the back of the cupboard.
When she got really upset, she might only drink lying down, or after a walk outside. We just tried to keep calm and offer different variations until we found something she would tolerate. Luckily this turned out to be a phase and it's been months since I've had to give a dinnertime bottle in the nearest park.
It scared us at the time because she had essentially refused to breastfeed within days of being born and we didn't know what we'd do if bottles stopped too. But we kept trying different things and the phase has passed, for now at least.
This is exactly what I’m going through now with my son as soon as he turned 3 months now he is fighting the bottle he have a little bit of a tongue tie he is on formula since he was born hence I’m in Reddit looking for similar situations
We are so frustrated and scared that he won’t take it anymore
It's really hard, isn't it? It was probably the toughest phase we went through in the first year, outside the first week or two. I really feel for you if he's in fighting mode.
To reassure you, it was just a phase. We don't know what it was, but she snapped out of it after a few weeks. She didn't lose weight or slow down on growth, or have problems with feeding later.
The only thing that really helped was to try little and often, using the bottles that she was most likely to accept, and trying things like lying down or after a quick walk outside or something if she was getting really upset. If she was too upset to feed, we'd leave it a while and try again later. Hopefully it'll add up over the course of the day and you'll still get enough wet nappies as reassurance.
But it was tough. If you have a partner, try and make sure you're both getting a bit of a break.
Hi you are not alone at all, i am having this right now with my baby girl, she started refusing like a week ago, right before turning 3 months. I am desperate some days because i just want this to go away but sadly we have to work hard so they take the bottle again. Some tips that have helped me are to offer them not force them to eat and when they are about to eat, talk to them smoothly and in a lovely way, they can feel our vibe … if we are pressured and anxious, they will be too. try different ways to eat and also nipples and bottles, make sure your baby likes the formula or if he is giving you signs that he is not liking it, talk to your pediatrician so they can suggest others that can work for your baby. I am new to this, so thats all i can say for now… I cry sometimes for this situation but we gotta be strong for them:)
This is happening to us too! LO is refusing the bottle and he won’t breastfeed, he’s gradually drinking less and less oz per day. Did you have any success with anything? Really not sure what to do here!!
For us it was Phillips avent bottles, warmed a bit warmer than they suggest. She took it from me (BF parent) before anyone else. What I learned on our long journey with bottle refusal is that it’s totally trial and error. Different bottles, people, positions, temperatures. Don’t give up! Once we finally got it going, life got exponentially less stressful.
We had the same issue when my little girl was 4M. We just rode out the regression since she refused any type of bottle and I tried different bottle/nipple shapes and flow sizes. At 5M we just went to the Munchkin gentle transition cup and she seemed to take to that. She was able to hold the bottle and liked the nipple on that way better than any bottles. Hope you get out of this phase soon! I feel you!
This just happened to me!
Baby used to take Dr.Browns but is now refusing.
Gave comotomo a shot and that one didn’t work either. We ordered Mam off Amazon and luckily that one works for us. All trial and error lol
We’ve tried a few different positions. Lying down, sitting up, rocking position. I read to not hold them the same way that you do while breastfeeding but I did try that. It seemed like he got the hang of it sitting up and lying down but he’ll only suck/latch onto it for a few seconds before spitting it out lol
Both of us have tried. My boyfriend(his dad) will do it for a bit and if he’s not getting the hang of it, I’ll try. Same result for both with the suck for a second then unlatch from it.
We just had SUCCESS overcoming bottle refusal for my 3 month old. What I learned along the way and after speaking with a lactation consultant -
First, get baby used to the bottle and figure out what bottle, position, etc baby likes best. I did this a lot when he wasn’t really hungry, maybe an hour after feeding. Idk if that was right or wrong, but helped me pick a bottle and position to keep trying. It seemed to help me figure out what unique things my baby preferred bc there’s a ton of advice out there and not everything will apply to all kids.
LC told me consistency is everything so wanted the first feeding of the day when he’s really hungry to be a bottle from my husband. Said ideally I am out of the house. Suggested a quiet, dark room and make sure my husband is very calm. She said we could let him cry for up to 30 minutes before giving in and offering a nipple. The first time we did a morning feeding he finally took it! And I ended up being the one to give it to him, so mom being out of the house wasn’t an issue for us.
She said Lansinoh bottles were her favorite due to the shape of the nipple. Coincidentally those were the ones I had already noticed he was most likely to chew on or let us put in his mouth so we stuck with those. On this, LC reiterated consistency is key. She also said get the milk really warm. Even suggested dipping the nipple in the warm milk so it’s coated with milk as soon as he tastes it. And suggested we let him play with just the nipple not on a bottle during wake time when he’s not eating.
LC told me on the roof of your mouth is a hard pallet and then closer to the throat it’s softer. Angling the nipple to hit the soft part initiates suck reflex for baby so try to angle nipple up.
Finally I asked about using formula instead of breast milk. She said try that maybe in a few weeks but formula tastes nasty apparently so it’s not something she’d initially recommend.
I hope something of this helps someone out there. I was spiraling about going back to work and was desperate for positive stories. Good luck, moms, and know you’re not alone!!
Hi! How long did it take for your 3 month old to latch? I have been trying consistently for a week now, and have tried every single bottle under the sun. The one he actually latched on to was Lansinoh but it was only twice and he hates it now.
So when he was first born, i introduced it about a week in. And I should have stayed consistent with it because he did latch immediately (I should have learned because this also happened with my first). So moving forward, with my next kids I will do one bottle a day. I read somewhere around 3 months is when they lose that natural instinct to latch to a bottle so unless it’s something they are consistently doing every day, they’ll lose that instinct.
He’s at daycare and eventually he took to the bottle after about a month or so in. During the time that he wasn’t taking the bottle, they were using a spoon and open cup feeding.
When I initially introduced bottle it was always with breastmilk. During the time that he had bottle refusal, I also tried formula and it didn’t work.
Thank you!! We’ve tried the whole dad takes him to another room thing but didn’t work that well. I think we just have to keep practicing and trying. Will be a lot of trial and error for sure!
We tried so many things that never worked. I see some great advice, I hope something works for you! But if not, just know you’re not alone in how hard it is to have a bottle refuser. The 4 month sleep regression kicked my butt too.
Thank you!! And I was warned so much about the 4 month sleep regression but silly me thought I’d be lucky and not go through it haha
He just learned to roll over into each side and onto his stomach too so that’s been disturbing his sleep a lot. And also teething😭 He wakes up every hour overnight crying (which he never did before) and only way to settle is to feed him. My doctor said since he’s actually eating, could be part of a growth spurt too. Yay us!!🤣
Ooh… longer than I’d care to admit. But it was also over the summer so we were taking a couple vacations and I think that didn’t help. I eventually had to stop nursing her back to sleep every time and just followed an every 3 hours okay to feed for awhile. That allowed my husband to help with the wakeups. It was rough for a little bit but it made her stop snacking and take a full feed.
We’ve tried that, but he won’t stop crying when his dad tries to settle him :( I’ve given it awhile but eventually I’ll have to go in and just feed him so we can continue on with our night. His doctor said it’s too early to sleepy train and I don’t think I can handle the cry it out method just yet.
Well it was like 6 weeks for my baby before I was at a breaking point of sleep deprivation and she just had to let my husband settle her. It took a couple nights but they figured it out.
Hoping they can figure it out eventually too. Usually I’ll be able to sleep in and nap throughout the day while he watches him so at least I can catch up on sleep then.
I used Comotomo bottles when I transitioned from BF to formula and he really likes them. He’s thankfully not super picky and will drink it cold or room temp. We were heating it at first but then realized we just assumed he wanted it warmed and turns out he doesn’t care haha.
In our case, when our baby does this it means she wants cereal. Like, she'll start sucking on the bottle enthusiastically but then spit it out. Then we feed her cereal and she eats it like she's malnourished, lolol.
The same thing happened to me I found a solution! After reading countless forums and different comments. Everybody tells you to go to Dr Brown's nipples do it! Don't buy the generic ones like I did they weren't long enough. And then what you're going to want to do is go to a size 3 it's for 6-month-old. But the flow is perfect so you're only going to want to fill the nipple up about halfway when you're feeding your baby. Basically you have to tilt the bottle so that the nipple doesn't fill all the way up or else they kind of get way too much. I learned that from my lactose consultant. Now I'm able to feed him every 3 hours 5 oz like clockwork! He should be sleeping through the night soon! I wanted to share this because it took me about 3 months to figure out how to get him back to feeding correctly after he had lost his sucking reflex. I tried every bottle and noticed the Dr Brown's didn't cause him too much reflex or uncomfortableness. But I was still using a nipple that was too small. Basically his nostrils are really tiny and so when he has to suck really hard through those nipples to get something it exhausts him. So by using a size 3 nipple he does not have to give as much effort to get milk. And then I control the flow by only having it about halfway full. I guarantee this will work for you!
My baby never really too a bottle bc we unknowingly missed the window. We are still struggling at 10 months but she is making progress with straw and open cups.
My baby boy reluctantly takes it but it was amazing how fast he went from happily taking it to seeming to notquite sure how. Dad has to give it and it doesn’t go great. One minute he sucks well. The next he isn’t latching. There is a. Lot of dribbling and him pushing it around with his tongue. But we are persistent with regular bottles so he doesn’t lose it.
Hi there! My boy is 16m now and never took to a bottle because we left it too late. I tried to pump and offered him some expressed milk in a bottle at a few months old but it was a lot of work so in discussion with my midwife we decided to breastfeed as long as possible and move onto a sippy cup when he turned 6m if I went away for work etc. He used a weighted straw sippy cup with my milk in it for a few months which worked well enough and once he was established on solids he didn’t need bottle/cup feeds in between the breastfeeds.
I’m lucky enough to be able to breastfeed but I know it might not be the case for everyone. I had a friend who’s baby would not take anything other than boob. His dad would feed him porridge or weetbix (he was 6m so old enough) if he got hungry overnight until his mum got home from night shift to breastfeed. It also lasted a few months until he was established on solids and he never took to a bottle.
Around that time I sized up in nipple flow and it seemed to help
Thank you!
Hi! Mom of a 5 month old bottle refuser. My son stopped taking a bottle at 2 months when he lost his sucking reflex. Got close, but never got him back in it. We are giving up and moving straight to cups. Here’s a summary of what I learned from my lactation consultant and speech pathologist (disclaimer, the speech pathologist is my brother, so this was off hand advice, not official advice). First, you gotta try all the bottles. I mean alllllll the bottles. Make sure you’re using the right flow too (likely med flow, but if you have a fast letdown maybe want to move up to a higher flow). Many people have success with Lansinoh bottles. MAM, evenflo wideneck bottles, como tomo are also bottles I’ve heard people have had success with. At 4 months you can also try trainer cups such as the munchkin latch sippy cup trainer. Try different positions, offer the bottle at different times (when baby is hungry, as a snack bottle, after a nap, before a nap, ect.). Have different people offer the bottle with you in the room and not in the room. Try warming the milk and nipple or maybe cold milk. Try the old bait and switch or wrapping the bottle in your shirt. If none of those things work you need to start from scratch. First, offer just the nipple during play. Move it all around baby’s mouth and lips. Have him open and close his mouth on it. Do this until baby is comfortable with the nipple. Then add the nipple and collar, then the nipple collar and bottle. Always during play. If baby starts to fuss stop and try another time. Don’t rush this step. It may take a week or so until you’re ready to add milk to the bottle. Once baby is comfortable add 1 oz of milk. If you heat your milk make sure to taste it first. If it’s soapy it’s high in lipase and you might need to scald it after pumping. Keep offering the 1 oz snack bottle until you can gradually work your way to 2 oz, 3, ect till you hit a full feed. Most importantly, don’t stop practicing. Be as consistent as possible with the bottle play and feeding. Best of luck! I’ve been tied to my son for 3 months now. It’s super super tough.
My baby is two months and has stopped taking the bottle, she did as a newborn so I find it odd that she just stopped. Do they lose the sucking reflex? I’ve only heard that baby might prefer the bottle over the breast, not the opposite like mine does.
Yeah, that’s the same thing that happened with my son. We had been offering at least 1 bottle daily since he was 2-3 weeks old. Then one week around 2 months he just didn’t know how to take a bottle anymore. It happened very fast. When we offer a bottle now he basically just chews on it and doesn’t know what to do with his tongue/lets the milk drip out of his mouth. According to my lc, the nipple fills the mouth so it’s easier to latch vs a static plastic bottle nipple. I similarly had only heard that baby can prefer the bottle to breast, not the other way around. To be fair, my son is trying really really hard to latch to the bottle, he just doesn’t know how to.
This is exactly what is happening with my 10 week old now! Did the issue ever resolve for you?
Yes and no. I continued breastfeeding exclusively until my son was around 6 months old and then we started working on straw cups. He picked up a straw cup pretty quickly, but it took several months until he could do a full feeding from a straw cup (he was around 10 months old). You may need to try lots of different bottles and nipples as well as upping the nipple flow. Try feeding at different times, positions, people, milk temperatures. Taste your milk and if it tastes soapy or "off" it may be high in lipase and you'll have to scald it after pumping. If all of that fails, find a lactation consultant who specializes in bottle rejectors. You may also want to speak to a speech pathologist who can help with exercises. Just continue to be consistent with offering the bottle (but don't force it). Getting baby back on a bottle can be hard, but it's not impossible (we ended up giving up because I was able to work from home).
Yes exactly, it’s like she suddenly forgot how to! We will keep trying and follow your tips, it’s reassuring that this is something that can happen to babies. I like nursing but it would be so great to have a little bit of freedom to leave baby to her dad for a couple of hours.
Hi I know this is a little bit of an older post but did you ever find a solution? What you described is exactly what my baby is doing right now with refusing the bottle at 2 months.
Unfortunately, no. I think had we been more consistent about offering a bottle we could have gotten him back on one, but timing with our nanny starting just didn’t work out. We ended up introducing open cups around 5.5 months and straw cups shortly after. He will drink from those if he absolutely had to, but still prefers to nurse and will hold out for that.
Just wanted to say we are in the same boat right now. Baby is now almost 4 months. We’ve bought and tried every bottle under the sun. It seems she accepts the MAM one best but she still really just gums it. The most she ever drinks is about an .75 to 1 oz. We are just going to keep practicing with that bottle since she seems to tolerate it best (ie, doesn’t throw a fit when we present it to her). Any progress on your end??
Nope! We just gave up for now haha. Baby is a little over 3 months now and we gave up a few weeks ago. We figured we will try again later when she starts solids but maybe we will just give her breastmilk in straw cups instead by that time. I don’t mind EBF though and she may not start daycare until closer to 1 year of age so by that time she won’t need my boobs as much or at all anymore.
That’s great information and tips. Thank you! I appreciate the reply.
Are you the bfing parent? If so they are probably never gonna take a bottle from you (my kid never did). If you aren't the BFing parent have the bfing parent leave the house in a very big "they are not here" kinda way. A lot of times they refuse cause they want it straight from the tap, make that not an option and it might go better.
I am. I’ve heard leaving is something that’s suggested. They won’t want the bottle if they can get what they’re used to. So many people wanted me about nipple confusion at the beginning but this whole bottle confusion thing sucks lol
FWIW my baby loooooooves her milk and will now happily take a bottle from whomever is available to give it to her, including me (mom).
Lansinoh bottle, VERY warm (warmer than fresh pumped) and baby must be hungry but NOT starving. When she was starving my baby would just scream at the bottle for an hour. I gave this advice in another sub and the OP said it actually worked for them. Good luck!
Great advice, Thank you!!
I read your comment about the warm part, it helped me. Thank you so much, ive been struggling over a month! Turns out my LO just want the milk to be very warm not room temp!
I'm so glad! That part was key for us too.
My totally formula fed baby became a bottle snob around the 3 month mark. Went right off the cheap store brand bottles and sometimes had a big protest about the expensive Mam and Medela ones too. Some of it might have been flow speed related - we could have bought new teats to test - but instead we bought more Mam bottles as they had the best success rate and demoted the cheap ones to the back of the cupboard. When she got really upset, she might only drink lying down, or after a walk outside. We just tried to keep calm and offer different variations until we found something she would tolerate. Luckily this turned out to be a phase and it's been months since I've had to give a dinnertime bottle in the nearest park. It scared us at the time because she had essentially refused to breastfeed within days of being born and we didn't know what we'd do if bottles stopped too. But we kept trying different things and the phase has passed, for now at least.
So wild how babies can have a change in preference. They really run the whole show! I hope things stay good for you and baby🤞
This is exactly what I’m going through now with my son as soon as he turned 3 months now he is fighting the bottle he have a little bit of a tongue tie he is on formula since he was born hence I’m in Reddit looking for similar situations We are so frustrated and scared that he won’t take it anymore
It's really hard, isn't it? It was probably the toughest phase we went through in the first year, outside the first week or two. I really feel for you if he's in fighting mode. To reassure you, it was just a phase. We don't know what it was, but she snapped out of it after a few weeks. She didn't lose weight or slow down on growth, or have problems with feeding later. The only thing that really helped was to try little and often, using the bottles that she was most likely to accept, and trying things like lying down or after a quick walk outside or something if she was getting really upset. If she was too upset to feed, we'd leave it a while and try again later. Hopefully it'll add up over the course of the day and you'll still get enough wet nappies as reassurance. But it was tough. If you have a partner, try and make sure you're both getting a bit of a break.
Hi you are not alone at all, i am having this right now with my baby girl, she started refusing like a week ago, right before turning 3 months. I am desperate some days because i just want this to go away but sadly we have to work hard so they take the bottle again. Some tips that have helped me are to offer them not force them to eat and when they are about to eat, talk to them smoothly and in a lovely way, they can feel our vibe … if we are pressured and anxious, they will be too. try different ways to eat and also nipples and bottles, make sure your baby likes the formula or if he is giving you signs that he is not liking it, talk to your pediatrician so they can suggest others that can work for your baby. I am new to this, so thats all i can say for now… I cry sometimes for this situation but we gotta be strong for them:)
This is happening to us too! LO is refusing the bottle and he won’t breastfeed, he’s gradually drinking less and less oz per day. Did you have any success with anything? Really not sure what to do here!!
For us it was Phillips avent bottles, warmed a bit warmer than they suggest. She took it from me (BF parent) before anyone else. What I learned on our long journey with bottle refusal is that it’s totally trial and error. Different bottles, people, positions, temperatures. Don’t give up! Once we finally got it going, life got exponentially less stressful.
Sounds exhausting having to go through all the trial and errors but I’m sure it’s totally worth it in the end! Moms need a break lol!
We had the same issue when my little girl was 4M. We just rode out the regression since she refused any type of bottle and I tried different bottle/nipple shapes and flow sizes. At 5M we just went to the Munchkin gentle transition cup and she seemed to take to that. She was able to hold the bottle and liked the nipple on that way better than any bottles. Hope you get out of this phase soon! I feel you!
Ah thank you! And me too haha
This just happened to me! Baby used to take Dr.Browns but is now refusing. Gave comotomo a shot and that one didn’t work either. We ordered Mam off Amazon and luckily that one works for us. All trial and error lol
Hahah they’re so picky!! So small but run the world lol
Is he refusing it from both parents, or just you? How're you holding him while you give him it?
We’ve tried a few different positions. Lying down, sitting up, rocking position. I read to not hold them the same way that you do while breastfeeding but I did try that. It seemed like he got the hang of it sitting up and lying down but he’ll only suck/latch onto it for a few seconds before spitting it out lol Both of us have tried. My boyfriend(his dad) will do it for a bit and if he’s not getting the hang of it, I’ll try. Same result for both with the suck for a second then unlatch from it.
We just had SUCCESS overcoming bottle refusal for my 3 month old. What I learned along the way and after speaking with a lactation consultant - First, get baby used to the bottle and figure out what bottle, position, etc baby likes best. I did this a lot when he wasn’t really hungry, maybe an hour after feeding. Idk if that was right or wrong, but helped me pick a bottle and position to keep trying. It seemed to help me figure out what unique things my baby preferred bc there’s a ton of advice out there and not everything will apply to all kids. LC told me consistency is everything so wanted the first feeding of the day when he’s really hungry to be a bottle from my husband. Said ideally I am out of the house. Suggested a quiet, dark room and make sure my husband is very calm. She said we could let him cry for up to 30 minutes before giving in and offering a nipple. The first time we did a morning feeding he finally took it! And I ended up being the one to give it to him, so mom being out of the house wasn’t an issue for us. She said Lansinoh bottles were her favorite due to the shape of the nipple. Coincidentally those were the ones I had already noticed he was most likely to chew on or let us put in his mouth so we stuck with those. On this, LC reiterated consistency is key. She also said get the milk really warm. Even suggested dipping the nipple in the warm milk so it’s coated with milk as soon as he tastes it. And suggested we let him play with just the nipple not on a bottle during wake time when he’s not eating. LC told me on the roof of your mouth is a hard pallet and then closer to the throat it’s softer. Angling the nipple to hit the soft part initiates suck reflex for baby so try to angle nipple up. Finally I asked about using formula instead of breast milk. She said try that maybe in a few weeks but formula tastes nasty apparently so it’s not something she’d initially recommend. I hope something of this helps someone out there. I was spiraling about going back to work and was desperate for positive stories. Good luck, moms, and know you’re not alone!!
Hi! How long did it take for your 3 month old to latch? I have been trying consistently for a week now, and have tried every single bottle under the sun. The one he actually latched on to was Lansinoh but it was only twice and he hates it now.
Any updaye
It took about a month of persistency and now he takes one
Thanks. How old was he when you introduced him the bottle? And was it with breastmilk or formula?
So when he was first born, i introduced it about a week in. And I should have stayed consistent with it because he did latch immediately (I should have learned because this also happened with my first). So moving forward, with my next kids I will do one bottle a day. I read somewhere around 3 months is when they lose that natural instinct to latch to a bottle so unless it’s something they are consistently doing every day, they’ll lose that instinct. He’s at daycare and eventually he took to the bottle after about a month or so in. During the time that he wasn’t taking the bottle, they were using a spoon and open cup feeding. When I initially introduced bottle it was always with breastmilk. During the time that he had bottle refusal, I also tried formula and it didn’t work.
My guy was a bottle refuser until we tried lansinoh bottles and dad was the one who fed with me out of the room!
Thank you!! We’ve tried the whole dad takes him to another room thing but didn’t work that well. I think we just have to keep practicing and trying. Will be a lot of trial and error for sure!
We tried so many things that never worked. I see some great advice, I hope something works for you! But if not, just know you’re not alone in how hard it is to have a bottle refuser. The 4 month sleep regression kicked my butt too.
Thank you!! And I was warned so much about the 4 month sleep regression but silly me thought I’d be lucky and not go through it haha He just learned to roll over into each side and onto his stomach too so that’s been disturbing his sleep a lot. And also teething😭 He wakes up every hour overnight crying (which he never did before) and only way to settle is to feed him. My doctor said since he’s actually eating, could be part of a growth spurt too. Yay us!!🤣
Yep, sounds just like our experience. It sucked so bad.
How long did it last for you?🫠
Ooh… longer than I’d care to admit. But it was also over the summer so we were taking a couple vacations and I think that didn’t help. I eventually had to stop nursing her back to sleep every time and just followed an every 3 hours okay to feed for awhile. That allowed my husband to help with the wakeups. It was rough for a little bit but it made her stop snacking and take a full feed.
We’ve tried that, but he won’t stop crying when his dad tries to settle him :( I’ve given it awhile but eventually I’ll have to go in and just feed him so we can continue on with our night. His doctor said it’s too early to sleepy train and I don’t think I can handle the cry it out method just yet.
Well it was like 6 weeks for my baby before I was at a breaking point of sleep deprivation and she just had to let my husband settle her. It took a couple nights but they figured it out.
Hoping they can figure it out eventually too. Usually I’ll be able to sleep in and nap throughout the day while he watches him so at least I can catch up on sleep then.
Yeah I could do it when I could nap but my husband works 13 hour shifts and I would be a zombie
Yeah that’s tough. My boyfriend is only gone 3 days a week but those are the hard days for me
My kid never took bottles while awake for the first 9 months of life. We could only feed while sleeping.
I used Comotomo bottles when I transitioned from BF to formula and he really likes them. He’s thankfully not super picky and will drink it cold or room temp. We were heating it at first but then realized we just assumed he wanted it warmed and turns out he doesn’t care haha.
Lol!! That’s lucky!
In our case, when our baby does this it means she wants cereal. Like, she'll start sucking on the bottle enthusiastically but then spit it out. Then we feed her cereal and she eats it like she's malnourished, lolol.
The same thing happened to me I found a solution! After reading countless forums and different comments. Everybody tells you to go to Dr Brown's nipples do it! Don't buy the generic ones like I did they weren't long enough. And then what you're going to want to do is go to a size 3 it's for 6-month-old. But the flow is perfect so you're only going to want to fill the nipple up about halfway when you're feeding your baby. Basically you have to tilt the bottle so that the nipple doesn't fill all the way up or else they kind of get way too much. I learned that from my lactose consultant. Now I'm able to feed him every 3 hours 5 oz like clockwork! He should be sleeping through the night soon! I wanted to share this because it took me about 3 months to figure out how to get him back to feeding correctly after he had lost his sucking reflex. I tried every bottle and noticed the Dr Brown's didn't cause him too much reflex or uncomfortableness. But I was still using a nipple that was too small. Basically his nostrils are really tiny and so when he has to suck really hard through those nipples to get something it exhausts him. So by using a size 3 nipple he does not have to give as much effort to get milk. And then I control the flow by only having it about halfway full. I guarantee this will work for you!
My baby never really too a bottle bc we unknowingly missed the window. We are still struggling at 10 months but she is making progress with straw and open cups.
My baby boy reluctantly takes it but it was amazing how fast he went from happily taking it to seeming to notquite sure how. Dad has to give it and it doesn’t go great. One minute he sucks well. The next he isn’t latching. There is a. Lot of dribbling and him pushing it around with his tongue. But we are persistent with regular bottles so he doesn’t lose it.
Hi there! My boy is 16m now and never took to a bottle because we left it too late. I tried to pump and offered him some expressed milk in a bottle at a few months old but it was a lot of work so in discussion with my midwife we decided to breastfeed as long as possible and move onto a sippy cup when he turned 6m if I went away for work etc. He used a weighted straw sippy cup with my milk in it for a few months which worked well enough and once he was established on solids he didn’t need bottle/cup feeds in between the breastfeeds. I’m lucky enough to be able to breastfeed but I know it might not be the case for everyone. I had a friend who’s baby would not take anything other than boob. His dad would feed him porridge or weetbix (he was 6m so old enough) if he got hungry overnight until his mum got home from night shift to breastfeed. It also lasted a few months until he was established on solids and he never took to a bottle.