Returning to Work - refusing bottle

[Boo07]

My DS is 16 weeks old and I am returning to work full-time in about 3 weeks. My mom will be watching him while I work and I will be pumping.

We have been offering bottles since he was 5 weeks old and it is not going well at all. At 6 weeks, he took a little from the bottle no problem. Since then, it's been tough and he flat out refuses. The last few weeks, I have left him with my mom for a few hours every day so she can work on it without me being around. He will play with the nipple and occasionally suck on it. But the most he's taken at a time is half of an ounce. I had to take my DD (4.5 years old) to the ER two weeks ago and was gone from him for 6 hours. He only took a few sucks from the bottle the whole time (he normally nurses every 2 hours). We've tried several different bottles/nipples. The one he's sucked on a few times is the Playtex drop in Latex nipple so we've been sticking to that.

DD was tough taking the bottle too but was taking it by 10 weeks.  I am sick over this thinking he is going to be starving and crying all day while I work. I am very stressed. Quitting my job isn't an option (although I wish it was). He's a pretty easy going baby (and my mom is great at comforting him) but some days when my mom has tried the bottle he has gotten very upset. I am so stressed picturing him crying for 8 hours a day. :(

Please help! Has anyone been through this? Any more advice?

[mennofied]

I have different experiences with this with different babies.

Some babies reverse cycle, and sleep most of the day, content to go up to 10 hours with no intake. They are just as healthy and fine as babies who sleep through the night, but their mother's pay the price when baby wants to nurse all night. More frequently a baby will be content to go about 4 hours without their mother or any intake. This is normal too and the baby will make up for it later. (Reverse cycling can happen even if the baby decides to take a bottle as it's not the same as Mommy-time). This is definitely not what you want but just goes to show that babies are better at handling this than we think.

Another option: after 4 hours I have had luck with confidently insisting the baby will take a bottle. I put up the bigger fight so to speak but would not have persisted if the cry became seriously distressed. To bottle feed a nursing baby, hold baby in crook of arm with head elevated and make sure entire nipple is in mouth and lips are flanged up to the neck of nipple. A sleepy baby is also more willing to suck. And a sleeping baby may not wake up enough to realize they are sucking on a bottle, not a nipple. It may also help if you leave behind a shirt with your scent on it to encourage baby to nurse the bottle.

My baby has trouble with the nipples on bottles and gas. Cup feeding works great for him. An LC told me this is how babies are fed in most of the world when Mom can't be with baby.

This link has more information: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/alternative-feeding/