Low milk supply, need to supplement: HOW do I get baby to take a bottle?

[love2mother]

Baby (9 mos) wants nothing to do with anything artificial in her mouth- bottles (tried many different types), sippy cups, pacifiers, etc. 

Milk supply isn't keeping up with her & I need to supplement now. If anyone has any tips or advice (encouragement only, please!) to share, I would appreciate hearing from you! 

[Parker'smommy]

First, how do you know your supply isn't keeping up with her? Is she losing weight? Labeled failure to thrive? Is she eating solids?

I think it would take a lot to get an exclusively breastfed baby to take a bottle for the first time at 9 months. I would probably just go straight to a cup.

[love2mother]

Anyone?? 

Yep- I have tried a few different sippy cups as well. I really don't have a preference cup vs. bottle. . ..whichever she will accept at this point is what we will use. I should mention we have tried (several times) the SNS system you can use for supplementing at the breast. . .but she won't nurse with the little plastic tubing on my breast. 

[Parker'smommy]

I was thinking a straight cup...not a sippy. I would give a 9 month old a regular cup. Obviously, she would need help holding it so that she wouldn't spill. But it's worth a try. Or you could take the valves out of a sippy cup so that it pours out easily and she doesn't have to "suck" to get the milk out?

[Somemyrrh]

Some babies prefer either rubber or silicone nipples, but strongly dislike the other. Sippy cups have such a wide range of textures, that maybe trying a sample of lots of types is the way to go.

But if you are offering formula in the cup/bottle, she may just prefer the taste of your milk. Pumped milk might help her acclimate to a new feeding method, then you can mix formula with what's pumped I till the child finds an acceptable taste combo.

[love2mother]

Thank you for your replies, ladies. FWIW, we are now having success with the "Breastflow" bottle. Babies are intuitive little people and figure out where the food is. 

For Parker'smommy- for anyone else reading this thread with low milk supply, I hope you are not suggesting that low milk supply is synonymous with failure to thrive?

[Vegan Princess]

You could also try supplementing at the breast with a lactaid if you don't think she is getting enough from the bottle. Good luck!

Cindy

[starling&diesel]

I'd go straight to a cup.  She can easily learn to drink from an open cup at that age, or a sippy cup.  We used a Lactaid too and loved it.  We used it from when she was about 8 weeks old until she was a year. 

ETA: We started DD on a regular cup (shot glass) at five months.

[love2mother]

Originally Posted by Vegan Princess 

You could also try supplementing at the breast with a lactaid if you don't think she is getting enough from the bottle. Good luck!

Cindy

What is that?

[Vegan Princess]

It is a bag you fill with milk or formula, etc. and a little tube that comes off of it goes next to your nipple. So as the baby nurses, they suck the milk from the tube. Usually you let the baby nurse bare until your milk is gone and then use the lactaid -so you get extra nipple stimulation and help to increase your own supply as well. You can just tuck the lactaid bag into your nursing bra or nursing cami. It's pretty discreet. I used one w/my daughter from 5 months until 15 months. You can google lactaid nursing trainer. It is a small family run company.

Cindy

[love2mother]

Thank you for the suggestion. I did Google it, and it looks a lot like the SNS system (Medela I think?) we got from the LC. DD doesn't want to latch on with the little plastic tube being there, but perhaps I just need to be more persistent. 

[Vegan Princess]

It is the same concept as the SNS. Just a little more user friendly, I think. But if your babe isn't into the tube, you'd likely have the same problem. Do keep trying though, if that is the way you want to supp. I started at 5 months and it was a huge, frustrating learning curve for me. But worth it in the end. But by 9 months, baby has a mind of their own!

Cindy