[gottaknit]

Tomorrow is my first day back at work and we still can't get DS (9 weeks) to take a bottle. I'm only going back part-time, and DH will watch him while I'm gone. It'll just be four hours at a time, but it includes the

hours. (I work evenings.)

I'm afraid DS will be hungry and upset and scream the whole time. Poor DH thinks DS is starting to associate him with "bottle torture" and will hold it against him forever.

We've been trying practice runs where I leave the house for a few hours and DH tries to give him a bottle. He took it once (the first time) three weeks ago, but never since. We're using the Avent newborn bottles/nipples, which are supposed to be slow-flowing. We've also tried some cheapie bottles I got as gifts. No luck.

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

 

[carolsly]

You don't have to give db a bottle. You know what we did? We got one of those flexible medicine cups (go to the pharmacy and ask for a few) and dh gave our babe bm from one of those. Sip sip. It worked well..it takes a lot of patience, but we got no screaming from dd at all..she still screams at bottles (she's 2.5 and hasn't nursed etc. for a long time).

 

[SiValleySteph]

We were having some problems with DS taking a bottle recently which freaked me out since I'm going back to work in 4 weeks, so we got "tough" with a bottle a day regiment. (It was just too easy to go straight from the tap when I'm at home, so we'd gotten lazy.)

Things that really helped us were to warm the milk until it was really warm and to move up to the #3 nipple from Avent. Poor son was having to work at a 4oz bottle for an hour, while I pumped that amount in less than 10 minutes. Now, he drinking from a bottle he ties me pumping. This might not help depending on your supply situation, but I always had milk flying everywhere, so this is more like getting it straight from me.

Anyways, none of this might help, but I empathize with you.

It was stressing me out ALOT that he wasn't taking a bottle and I still had 6 weeks to work on it, not a day or two.

 

[CJ 5]

I am sorry to say this but avent sucks!! I have 50 dollars worth of bottles and I use them to pump and store milk but my baby absolutely goes on a bottle strike if I use an avent nipple. We had the same problem exactly with me being gone for 4 hours a day and DH watching the baby. I found an awesome article that DH read and used

http://www.ilca.org/pubs/jhl/j18h1l10.pdf

We used this to the letter with the bottle that they recomended. Even now at 6 months my little girl will only take the evenflow or gerber traditional soft nipples that are slow flow. I just barely let her move up to medium flow.They are soft and bendy like the breast and work well with the technique above.

This article saved our life and it worked very well. Sadly I guess all these avent nipples will have to wait around for baby #2 because I can not risk another nursing strike.

Let us know how it goes. I searched for this for an hour and DH came in and pointed right to it.

 

[clynnr]

Livi is 9 weeks, and she just chose a nipple today! It really is true that the baby will choose the nipple. Keep trying different bottles--we went through a couple before we found a match. Livi likes the Playtex original slow flow. We also tried the Medela orthodontic and the Avent--she didn't suck on either of those, just rolled them around in her mouth and spit them out while milk ran out of her mouth.

Some other tips I've heard, and/or what worked for us: Warm the nipple by running it under warm water. Leave the room when your DH is giving the bottle. Have DH hold the baby facing out against his chest--this position isn't associated with breastfeeding. Have DH walk around while he's feeding; the motion can be distracting. Offer the bottle before the baby gets super hungry and mad.

You can also syringe or cup feed if your DS really opposes bottles. Good luck!

 

[CJ 5]

At 12 weeks we did find that distraction does help. It was the only time DH let the baby watch baby einstein on TV. Also I really want to recomend the book "Happiest baby on the block" it is soo helpful for firstimers. I learned that sucking is the most soothing reflex but only works when the baby is calm. jiggling rocking and distraction as well as swaddling work to get the baby calm and then sucking is helpful.

your baby probalby won't take a bottle if he/she is crying.

 

[mandalamama]

ditto on the swaddling (i love that book!). also, i warm the bottles and before i start feeding her, i put my finger over the hole and tip the bottle upside down, even though the milk may be warm the nipple is cool/cold so that helps. she drinks best when i line up the bottle with my breast. when all else fails, just let the milk drip into the baby's mouth, they'll swallow it.

i'm just starting to nurse Willow again (she weighs enough that my meds won't affect her *crossing fingers*) and we have to switch between bottle and breast even during a feeding because i don't have enough flow to satisfy her yet, but she hates the formula she's on for reflux. i offer the formula first so she's not overly hungry, then my nipple. if she gets frustrated we go back to the bottle, and so on and so on. so i've got a lot of trial and error experience with nipple confusion. she loves the "preemie" nipples because she has to work harder, just like at my breast. so you have to match the nipple to your flow style. HTH.

 

[gottaknit]

i'm just starting to nurse Willow again...

Yay for you Meli! I know switching to the formula was very upsetting for you. So glad to hear you'll be able to go back to bfing!

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. We're going to try cup feeding. Hadn't thought of swaddling him first; good idea! Also, warming the nipple is a great idea, too. We'll also get some other nipples and try them out....

Tonight's the night! I plan to top off his tank just before I leave and just hope he doesn't get hungry. I only work a 5-10 minute drive away, so DH said if all else fails, they'll drive over to my lab and I can nurse.

 

[mamabear&babybear]

I work at night also. I am gone for 3 hours or so. My dd was resistant to bottles at first so we experimented with nipples and found that Playtex Ventaire worked the best for us. She is 5 months old now and doesn't eat at all while I'm gone. I feed her before I leave and when I get home. I am going to start her on a sippy cup tonight but I'm pretty sure that she'll just wait for me. I would imagine that you will get into a schedule too. Good luck!!

 

[Thia]

I tried a sippy cup instead of a bottle and dd didn't want that either. I didn't push it b/c it looked like there would be a lot of bm that would get stuck in the cup and not make it over the bumps to the spout part. I certainly don't want to be wasting precious liquid gold. Can anything be done about that?

 

[CJ 5]

For a sippy cup I did find that the avent soft suck was the best option. TJ will take that even during her bottle strikes. I am not sure how much gets stuck in the valve but I am really picky about breastmilk as well and treat it as liquid gold. I haven't noticed a lot of waste and I have found that at 5 months she took the avent valve in a regular avent bottle better than anything else.