best bottle to try for 8 wk old who is refusing a bottle?

[ellairiesmom]

posted in life w/babe too...This thurs & fri, dh & i have our 1st nights out since dd2 was born & my Mom is watching the girls for us. We will be 2 miles away at a local theater both nights for concerts we bought tix for months ago never thinking we would be in this situation! We will be gone for 4 hrs, maybe almost 5 & DD2 is refusing to take a bottle. She is 8 weeks old today. We tried a few times over the past 2 weeks to practice & then this past fri night was the real test. I was taking dd1 to see a local high school play to do something special with just her & we would be gone for almost 4 hours...well...it wasn't good. dd2 just wouldn't latch onto the nipple at all & she even spit out the breast milk that dripped from the bottle into her mouth while he was trying. She was a mess & although he was able to calm her some of the time by walking/patting her butt, it was a rough last hour till we got home. And my mom will have both girls so i am really worried. (Mom is a L&D RN & raised 4 of us but still...a screaming, hungry baby & a toddler is rough)

We are using playtex drop ins & tried various temps of my breast milk...i even pumped fresh milk that we kept warming in it's bag in hot water. One thing i think could be a problem is that the nipple on the drop ins is making her gag? i do have very tiny nipples & she has never had a paci so maybe she isn't used to something so big? I also have an overactive letdown & oversupply.

We are going to pick up a few other bottles today to have DH try to test out...what bottles would you try?

Ironically enough-I have an SNS tube feeder from dd1 who refused to latch on for her 1st 3 weeks. I am also open to trying a sippy cup I guess. (i read somewhere here that the take & toss worked for some?)

[averlee]

For a baby that young, who is having issues with taking a bottle, I'd recommend using a dropper rather than a bottle. When my daughter was about 3 months old, she could drink from a spoon or a very small cup with help.

[texmati]

since she's so small, would your mother try finger feeding?

[MEcatlady17]

Ugh, I am having the same problem. Except I am going back to work in a week and a half (3 days a week) and starting to panic ... It devastates me to think of her sitting at the babysitters screaming and refusing to eat. Sometimes I will be able to go to her and nurse once during the day, but not always. We are also using the drop ins, she also gags and spits out the milk. And I also have OALD and OS.... so there are some strong parallels here. I can't see the babysitter spoon/syringe/finger feeding multiple feedings a day. When I told the sitter (a family friend) about her bottle refusal yesterday she got really nervous. I know she is going to feel terrible if she can't get her to eat during the day and I do NOT want my baby to be any ore stressed than she has to during my transition back to work. I really need her to take a bottle!

Suggestions I've been given is try latex nipples as they are softer. Warming the nipple in hot water. Wearing or wrapping in something that smells like me.

Tonight we are even trying a medium flow latex nipple, but it doesn't seem to flow any faster *thinking she may be used to a fast flow. Also a shorter smaller nipple (gerber, evenflo style). She seems to like them better but after what seems like a long time sucking and playing with the nipple hardly any milk has been consumed.

She just won't really latch on. I feel like I am stressing her, but don't know how to make this work. I'm already so upset about having to leave her and go back to work....

I hope this thread gets good suggestions!

[pumpkinhead]

What type of nipple are you using? Since you're using the Platex bottle, you might try their orthodontic nipple. My babies had the same problem with the breast shaped nipples. They made them gag. The latex orthodontic nipple was the first one that they'd latch onto and actually suck from. After that, they'd move onto other nipples, but it was like it had to click for them with that one first.

[octobermom]

I tried dropper feeding with my crrent NB and it actualy made BF really hard cause she then jsut wanted to lick my boobs ..

FWIW though with my first the best latch and successful bottle shes took were the old fashion gerber nuk bottles and went great from breast to bottle and back after a few months we did the playtex drop ins but at first it was the nuk shes did best with. So far with this one the breastflow are working best...

Deanna