Help!! 6 Week Old Will Not Take Bottle

My difficult-to-take a bottle son eventually ended up using a NAM nipple on an Avent bottle (basically b/c I had the bottle and only bought the nipple; the avent ring fit). They are sort of flat.

One thing I WOULD NOT suggest are the Adiri or any of those bottles that are supposed to look like a boob, or collapse like a boob, etc. They are so messy, they leak and bottom line, they still have a silicone nipple that doesn't feel like mom's.

I have 4 kids, all BF, but in a pinch they need to know how to take a bottle. Keep trying, have dad do it, and I think if she is hungry enough she will eventually get the hang of it!

Good luck!

Definitely leave the house while your husband or as another mom said "an experienced bottle-feeder" tries to feed her. Have them wet the nipple with the breast milk or formula. Pick a feeding where she is usually hungry, but don't let her get too hungry or she may be too stressed for something new. Keep trying :)

My daughter was the same way. For the 1st 2 weeks or so of her life, she was supplemented with formula and once she started nursing exclusively, she never wanted a bottle again! My daughter would just cry when I left her with my mother-in-law or anyone else and wait until I came home. I could never leave for that long! I would just say keep trying and try out different bottles/nipples. I probably didn't out enough but also didn't have a lot of people to watch my daughter. Good luck!

~Annie

I feel your pain L.. Our daughter would also not take a bottle for THREE months. We finally took our lactation consultant's advice...bought the Dr. Brown's bottles (Babies r Us), and woke Elise up in the middle of the night. We then offered it to her in a bouncy seat in her room at 1 am. The only light on was the night light. She FINALLY took it. The doctor said that is because a baby's defenses are down when it is night time. Hope this helps.

I currently have a 3 week old and she at first would not take the bottle. I started my daughter early on the bottle from breast as I felt I didn't want to wait till my leave was over. She would not take it at all but she was left hungry and she ended up taking the bottle and now believe it or not she will not take the breast. My lactation consultant told me that would happen but my job does not allow me to take time away to pump while at work.(and I mean DO NOT ALLOW) so that was the reason why we decided to do both so early. When she is hungry and can't get the breast she will have no choice but to eat from the bottle. My lactation consultant even stayed with me and made sure she would be okay with the breast milk from the bottle. Good Luck and oh by the way below note is correct have someone else attempt because she will sense that you are home and she will refuse even more and I couldn't believe that a 3 week old would refuse that much!!

We had a similar problem with my son, who took a bottle fine at about 3 weeks old and then around 2 1/2 months decided he didn't want it anymore. We initially tried having only my husband try to give him the bottle, but it was so stressful for him that I eventually tried too even though many people tell you not to do that since he associates me with breast feeding.

One thing that eventually helped us what the ThinkBaby transitional sippy cup. It has a soft silicone, nipple-like spout. The milk came out of it more easily than a bottle when my baby sucked on it, but it doesn't just drip out on its own when you hold the sippy cup upside down like a bottle does. I think it gave my son a little more control over the flow and he didn't have to do much to get it to come out. I would give him an ounce or two in the sippy cup and then let him nurse until he was full. We slowly upped the amount to a full feeding from the cup. Once he got used to that we were able to switch back to a regular bottle with no problem. Now I still give him a bottle a few times a week so that he gets used to getting one periodically for when I go back to work in a couple of weeks.

Hi L.,

I breast fed my son as well. A lot of times what a baby is looking for when you breast feed is to connect with you (the mommy). They love to smell you and to be in your arms. Have you tried giving the baby the bottle yourself. Tried to make it seem like if you are going to breastfeed and once the baby is on your chest give her the bottle. See if that works. If it does then after a couple of times feeding her with the bottle have your husband do it. I really hope this helps. Sincerely, J.

what worked for me in similar situations is to find a calm, experienced bottle feeder to offer your baby the bottle. My oldest used to give her father and my MIL a hard time, but took it easily from her babysitter and my mom (who had been bottle feeding my nephew the year before). Your baby may never take a bottle from you because you are the one who nurses. Once baby learns there is good stuff inside the bottle, your husband should be able to help feed.

you are trying all the right things. you should consistently have someone else other than yourself give her the bottle, and leave the room/house when they are doing it. as long as she knows you are there, she probably won't take it (who doesn't prefer boop over bottle:) ).
Just be patient and work wtih her. She will learn. Not to scare you, but there are extreme cases where babies don't want the bottle at all and have to be fed with a sirenge when the mom is not around, I truly believe however that you can teach your daughter to take the bottle, you just can't be around while it's happening.
good luck!

My daughter stopped taking a bottle around 6 weeks old too. Our lactation consultant recommended the Playtex Naturalatch nipple in slow flow (with the bottles with the drop-in liners), because most slow flow nipples are too fast and not designed for breastfed babies who are accustomed to regulating the flow themselves. Then offer her bottles only (with pumped breast milk to keep up your supply) given by her dad for 24 hours. By the 3rd or maybe 4th feeding, your baby will learn to accept it, and by the end of the 24 hours, she'll be taking in a good amount. Don't worry, she won't starve herself if you keep offering the milk. Stay at home for the 24 hours so she is comfortable and not distracted. She won't drink a lot initially, but she'll learn. Then, keep her on 1 bottle per day of pumped milk (pump today for her bottle tomorrow) so she doesn't regress. I was hesitant to try this at first but I was also desperate to get her to take a bottle because I was going back to work in month 4. It worked, although a few months later we had to do it again. She learned to accept it, but she never really enjoyed bottle drinking and starting drinking from sippy cups around 6 months.

try the adiri bottle
i had the same problem
good luck

http://www.adiri.com/

I know this is a few days old, you may have already found a solution, but I went through several bottles (Adiri nurser, Dr. Browns) before finding one that worked for my BF baby.

Anyway, it was the First Years Breastflow bottle. It has two nipples and mimicks how they breastfeeed. Once I weaned off nursing, he didn't like it anymore and only likes his Avent bottle, but it got us through a few months. Good luck

I found that when I switched from breast to bottle my lil one only perfered the narrow neck over the wide neck bottle. I had the platex nursers thinking it looks just like the breast but he wouldn't take it. I switched to the evenflo glass bottles which was a narrow neck nipple and it worked. He just sucked the whole nipple right into his mouth and no problem.

Hi L.,
She is still very young and it may take some practice for a baby to take a bottle. It doesn't sound like it's urgent that she must take one now, but just a convenience. Have your husband keep practicing. Don't do it yourself, your baby should associate only breastfeeding with you - if you are in the house or the room where she can hear you, see you, smell you, she isn't likely to take the bottle. I would let your hubby know to make sure the nipple is warmed and to smear a bit of the pumped milk on the nipple so your baby knows right away that it's what she usually gets. It's been a long time for me (10 years) but we liked the Avent nipples.

You can actually give a newborn a sippy cup if she won't take the bottle. Another bottle tip, place her back to your belly so that she's looking straight ahead. Don't put her in the "breastfeeding position" as she will just turn and look for the breast.