Help Bottle feeding a breastfed 3 mo

[KTDad]

Hello, I am a first time dad in need of some help.

My wife has been off work since our DS was born 3 months ago (10-6-08 woo hoo!) and he has been breastfed since the beginning. We had some early difficulty with BF and he lost a little more weight than our doctor liked so once we got BF figured out we didn't want to do anything to risk a problem.

Unfortunately my wife needs to go back to work next month (Feb) and our little guy will be going to daycare 3 days/week. He will need to take bottles there but that is our problem...he HATES bottles. He has not been able to take one at all. I have tried feeding him at the first signs of hunger, when he is really hungry, when DW isn't in the house, still warm fresh BM, formula (just to see),different nipples (dr browns, vent-air, hospital issued) .......I don't know what to do.

Please help us find a way to convince him bottles aren't a form of punishment!

Thanks!!!

[PatioGardener]

Rememeber that bottles aren't the only way to feed a baby milk. Maybe he'd do better with a sippy cup or an open cup - do you think daycare would accomodate if needed?

Here is a great handout on bottle feeding the breastfed baby to help to minimize bottle preference. I'm not sure it will help get him to take a bottle - but it is good for the child care provider once he is taking a bottle

http://www.kellymom.com/store/freeha...le_feeding.pdf

Also, try a search of the breastfeeding forum - it is not an uncommon problem and there will be several threads there with advice from been-there-dealt-with-that parents! I bumped one thread for you. http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1002095

Good luck!

ps Congratulations on your DS and ot both you and your wife for working through the early breastfeeding issues!

[lauren]

There is also lots of information on this topic in the Working and Student Parents forum here on MDC!

[KTDad]

Thanks for the responses! I didn't really know where to look so thanks for the points in the right directions.

I haven't heard of feeding a baby this young with a sippy cup....it sounds adorable. I will look into that.

Also, thanks for the point toward the working parent thread, I never would have found that.

[rere]

Some people suggest putting a piece of mama's clothing between the bottle feeder and the baby.

[KTDad]

I haven't tried the clothing idea, thanks

[Siera]

Originally Posted by rere

Some people suggest putting a piece of mama's clothing between the bottle feeder and the baby.

This is the only way my DD will even tolerate day care!

[jecombs]

Don't know if you have tried this already: warm the nipple in warm water, then dip in BM. That way baby gets a little taste of milk, which will encourage him to start sucking. Also, make sure Mom is no where around when you try the bottle. She needs to leave the house! If all else fails, daycare can try cup-feeding or syringe-feeding your DS.

Just beware: your DS may reject all bottles during the day and REALLY make up for it at night with your DW. This is called reverse-cycling.

[ewe+lamb]

Many babies can turn to what is called reverse feeding, in that they will not feed from a bottle or anything else during the day when mama is not around but will certainly make up for lost time in the evening and during the night - you both need to be prepared for this, I suggest reading Nighttime Parenting (Sears) for some support during this can be ok if mama can sleep during nursing or not - I never count getting or waking up until I actually have to get out of bed, hid the clock and don't look at the time! However, there is an option called a Soft Cup by Medela which is like a cup but with a narrower opening and doesn't interfere with the latch with the breast which you could try if you think bb may be able to nurse from a cup.

[KTDad]

Well....not much luck so far. We have tried everything suggested including a few more bottle types (adiri, and evenflow).

In a moment of total desperation, I remembered a time when I was teasing DW that I was going to feed DS an apple and in doing so I touched the apple to his mouth. At the time he was a little fussy but as soon as that hint of apple was on his lip he calmed down and made the cutest mouth movements ever. That memory made me think I could possibly distract him again and I cut a wedge of asian pear, dabbed it on the nipple of a bottle, and touched it to his lip...sure enough, he stopped crying and even took a couple of sucks on the bottle. We repeated this process about a dozen times and he drank a bit under an ounce.

So now I have a new thought and would love some input: We bought some organic unsweetened filtered apple juice. I want to HEAVILY dilute it and give him maybe an ounce or two in a bottle. Perhaps this can change his opinions about bottles in general and then we can switch back to EBM and live happily ever after.

Thoughts?

BTW: daycare said no to cups or syringes...so far they are reluctantly willing to do cloth diapers though so I am trying not to press my luck.