Alternatives for baby who won't drink from a bottle

[oliesmama]

I'm returning to work soon and my 6 month old, who is EBF, won't take a bottle. I want to explore my options here and would love your input.

- Bottle: our caregiver will keep trying. So far, we've had no luck and honestly, we haven't given it regularly. At this point, baby just gets frustrated and we end up with a couple ounces of wasted BM every time.

- Come home to nurse: Unless I'm traveling, I can pretty easily come home at lunch time to nurse. I can nurse right before I leave, come home at lunch and then nurse as soon as I get home. There will be some days when I'll be traveling and I'd prefer to have lunchtime to take care of some other things, but I can do this most of the time (at least until we find another alternative).

- Cup: Use a cup. This is where I could really use help. Our caregiver could use the small cup that comes with a medicine bottle at first. Other cup recommendations? How about a sippy cup? Seems that would be the same reaction as a regular bottle, but I'm not sure. Any other ideas?

Thanks for your help!

[pumpkinhead]

Try a soft spout sippy like the Avent, but remove the valve for the first little bit. It'll be messy, probably, but some milk might end up inside the baby. Spoon feeding sometimes works. You could also try putting the EBM in the freezer until it's the consistency of slush and then letting babe spoon feed himself.

[KSDoulaMama]

This situation is always HARD! But congrats on having a caregiver so willing to work with the situation!

Personally, I'd come home at lunch with the understanding that this won't last tooo long, even if it is kind of a pain. Meanwhile during the day when you are not there, your caregiver can always keep trying the bottle. Who knows, one day maybe baby will take it? I'm assuming your little one will probably start a little bit of solids soon, and after one year will probably begin nursing less and eating more solids anyway... Think of it as a transitional period?

[Beauchamp]

We like the Nuby soft spout cups. There are also good ones from Think Baby and Green Sprouts. These have a soft silicone nipple-like top, but not like a bottle.

Also my LO loves my sports bottle, which has a wide, silicone straw. So maybe a straw cup (with a soft straw.)

[texmati]

nuby also makes soft spouts that fit a standard size nipple-- ie they'll fit most pump bottles.

We've used:

finger feeding
feeding with a soup spoon (much less messy than a cup!)
feeding with an medicine dropper (hilarious!)
breastflow bottles

Also, you might want to check out lipase-- it could be that your milk tastes different after it's been out of your body for a bit, some babies mind and some don't.

[tzs]

we started with a cup around 6 months anyway, just for tastes of water.
if they're sippys i like the ones without a valve like the cheapo "disposibles" or dr. browns makes a good one that has a rubber spout with a slit so they don't really have to suck but it still has a spout so it's easier to get into the mouth.

but really really....get ready....a shot glass works the best. it's just easier with a regular non-sippy type cup and its' just small enough so that it fits their mouth and liquid doesn't spill out teh sides and all over the place.

[tzs]

and also...my babe who wouldn't take a bottle was successfully cup-fed by the nurses in the hospital. i'd go with trying a cup.