Getting a Breastfed Baby to Take a Bottle of Breast Milk (Mom to Mom #13)
March 23, 2008 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under Mom-to-Mom, breast milk, breastfeeding, pumping
As a follow-up question to this one about breast milk storage guidelines, I got this question:
My husband was supposed to feed the baby with my breastmilk while I was away but I came home too early and now, the baby would not bottlefeed. He probably sensed me. Unfortunately, the breastmilk got wasted. So how do I prevent something like this from happening again? Likewise, how do we get the baby to bottlefeed even when I’m around?
I know lots of women have struggled with this issue, whether it’s just the occasional bottle of breast milk while mom’s away or the need for baby to take a bottle during the day when mom goes back to work full-time.
How did you get your baby to take a bottle (even when you’re around)? If you found something that worked better than bottle feeding, what are some alternatives?
Unfortunately, I’m not sure we ever got past this. My husband was supposed to give one bottle a day to help this along, but he never got it done. He would hand the baby to me…straight from the tap. We eventually got him to take a bottle at daycare, but it was hard, sporadic and short-lived, though switching to the adiri natural nurser did help a lot. He would even take that one with me around, but not from me. Unfortunately, I discovered them “late” in the process, so after a few months, he stopped the bottle at daycare all together and went to the sippy cup (around 13 months).
Good luck.
Maria, thanks for your thoughts on the trying different types of bottles/nipples. I think even the sippy cup would be something to try early on too (valve in or valve out, which makes it easier but messier). Sometimes a baby will drink from a sippy when the bottle is just too much of a reminder of feeding from a real nipple.
While I can understand how frustrating it must have been to go to the effort of pumping without then feeding the milk to the baby, why not rejoice that baby was able to take his meals from the source instead of lament the “wasted” milk?
Try some of the larger nipples, like Playtex “natural latch” which are shaped more like mom’s anatomy. At first I tried the Medela nipples with my baby, since I used that kind of pump, but those were too small. He took to the Playtex ones right away, and still nurses enthusiastically when I am home from work. Just buy several kinds until you find one that your baby likes; maybe he will be happy with a different flow rate as well (medium instead of slow, for example).
Shannon, I hear you! Breastmilk and mama’s breasts are best. It’s bonding and all that. Still, there are times when mommy needs to take a break from the baby. Having the baby to bottlefeed might also be a bonding time with the other caregiver – i.e., Dad.
My daughter would never take a bottle but from an early age – maybe 6 months? – she would drink a bit from one of those Rubbermaid “drink boxes”. Breast fed babies are really good with straws, at least I have noticed this to be true.
I’ve found the same thing to be true about breastfed babies and straws! Good suggestion!
My son was exclusively breastfed from the source (ie me
) for the first six months, and getting him to take the bottle AT ALL after all that breastfeeding was initially a bit of a challenge.
If “by a bit of a challenge” I mean “a total screamfest”.
What worked for us was getting him started on the breast for a few minutes until he was in that single minded blissed out and feeding state, and once there, I slipped the bottle’s teat into his mouth alongside my own nipple (in much the same way you might slip your finger into your baby’s mouth if you need to adjust the latch or whatnot), and then I slowly and gently eased my fine self out aaaaand, Voila! Bottle feeding baby.
I think the key tips are “slowly” and “gently” because if I’d jammed the teat in too fast, or had I abruptly whipped my hooter out of there, I think he would have cottoned on to the ruse being pulled on him. We might just have been lucky, but that was the only time I needed to be there to pull the old breast-to-bottle switcheroo on him. He wasn’t often given a bottle anyway, so the whole exercise was mainly so his grandma had something to crow about (”I fed the baby!” etc) but I guess some babies might need a little more practice to understand that bottles can give ‘em all the breastmilk they need too.
Try it though. It’s not a trick I ever read about in any parenting literature, so I’m not sure how universally spectacularly effective it might be, but it WAS spectacularly effective for us.
I agree with aibee, “slowly” and “gently” works best. We tried nearly every single bottle and nipple with my son, including the Adiri breast-shaped bottle which only derived an “imposter!” scream from him. We also tried having other people (grandma, his aunt) feed him, to no avail.
So over a (very rough) period of 2-3 weeks, we attempted to feed him one bottle a day, using the same type of nipple as his paci (the brown Nuks) when he was in a calm mood and not overly hungry.
So either the daycare teachers would try to gently feed him and take the bottle out of his mouth as soon as he got upset; or my husband would try to give him a bottle while I left the house (infants can smell you).
He of course completely protested and ended up going for hours at daycare without a drop of milk. But, like any baby that is wise enough to know when he’s not getting the “real deal,” he also knew he didn’t want to starve. A couple of days of hunger strikes (coupled with non-stop nighttime nursing sessions to make up for it) ended the nonsense and he now takes the bottle with no problem.
One odd thing — many people may tell you that the a bottle-protesting infant will not take a bottle from the nursing mother. However, I found that I was the only person that could feed my son the bottle in the beginning, he wouldn’t take it from anyone else. So, each baby is different — you really have to play around and see how what tricks seem to loosen your baby up a bit.
Also, you really need to start your baby on bottle feeding expressed milk around 5 – 6 weeks, and no later, otherwise it’s very difficult to get them to switch over. Be calm and persistent and you’ll get through it. Good Luck!!!
We tried every suggestion in the book and 7 or 8 different bottles. We gave up and started training her on a sippy cup at 4 months. It took a few weeks. After we saw her drink juice from the cup but refuse milk from the cup, we knew she was just being stubborn. There was a little bit (just a little bit!) of crying, but now she loves her sippy cup.
The best sippy cup is by Gerber NUK. It has a soft spout that I haven’t found on any other cup and is designed to transition from breast or bottle to cup. Also, I tried the First Years BreastFlow bottle. I think it’s the best bottle out there for breastfed babies. She sort of liked that one and I think we could have got her on it if we’d started with that.
The main problem for us was that my baby was VERY independent and didn’t like that the bottles wouldn’t let her control the flow. The sippy cup lets her control the flow of milk like she does at the breast. She also preferred latex or super soft silicone. The NUK sippy cup and the BreastFlow bottle are the only ones with SUPER soft silicone that’s almost like latex. I saw one other nipple that supposedly let the baby control the flow, but it was hard silicone.
Try the sippy cup. Ppl are amazed that my baby could use a cup at 5 months, but I think it’s bc ppl never try to give the baby a cup.
If you are avoiding BPA, Gerber might not be the way to go. http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/11/z-report-bpa-gerber.html
Also– the natural nurser is most like momma’s breast– shape and softness…and it warms with the milk.
My 7 1/2 week old daughter has also refused the bottle from my husband until just recently. We tried 3 different types of bottles/nipples, also trying different flows and latex and silicone. Nothing seemed to work. I tried to give it to her and so did dad. You would think we were sticking her with needles the way she screamed. My previous two babies had no problems with any type of nipple. I finally went out and bought the BreastFlow bottle from First Years after reading this blog last week. She took it from my sister with me standing 10 feet away in the kitchen. No fuss at all. I think the nipple on this bottle is smaller and soft – all of the other ones like Avent and Playtex she choked on. The gerber and medela and Dr. Brown nipples were too hard i think. I really am sold on this bottle. Hope this helps!
I am breastfeeding my 4 month old son and need to start showing him how to use a bottle. I’ve tried many different bottles and nipples but nothing works. Im getting surgery in 4 weeks and I will not be able to breastfeed him for 18 hours. That is why tomorrow I will try The BreastFlow bottle. Thanks for the help
I have always told people that if you are going to supplement with a bottle then you need to start right from the begining. Even it is once a day. The bottle should be given by someone other then yourself. Some people are fortunate and have easy going children who will do what the parents want, but that is not the case most of the time. I know a few babies who ended up not getting the right amount of milk the first year of life because they refused the bottle. I would suggest the straw trick as well. Both of my kids were exclusively breastfed the first year of life. I started them on sippy cups of water at 6 months. I was fortunate to be home with them.
I have a 14 week old and he’s exclusively breastfed. I’m returning to work in 2 weeks and am freaking out about bottle feeding, sippy cups and straws! I have read all the comments here and they have REALLY helped! It’s still a struggle, but perserverance is going to pay off… Many thanks!
My baby is 5 months old and refuses any bottle. We have tried the Adiri, Avent, Gerber NUK, Soothie and Playtex! She has gone 8 hours before I finally gave in. I tried a sippy cup which she really went after, but as soon as she got milk in her mouth she would let it all spill out and wouldn’t suck to get it out if the cup had a valve. Any ideas????
yep same thing here my 6 month old has gone through alot of bottles, and sippy cups. She refuses to drink milk out of them. I really need to get her on the bottle.
I can really relate to all the comments about the DIFFICULTY in getting a breastfed baby to bottle. My baby boy was born at 34 weeks and while in the hospital for 2 weeks he was fed by gavage, bottle and breast. Once we got home from the hospital, we continued breast and had to supplement with the bottle. At about 2 months we stopped the bottle b/c he was getting too much gas from it and he also has reflux. Now at 4.5 months I am not keeping up my milk supply (he still has a poor latch) and am wanting to give him a bottle at times for extra calories. He absolutely refuses the bottle and we have spent alot of money buying different bottles/nipples; we even got the nipple that matches his soother. He will take one or two sucks from the bottle and then when he realizes milk is coming from it he spits it out and then just stops sucking. Each session becomes a tearful experience and he ends up falling asleep in frustration and exhaustion. I feel like we have tried just about everything and I refuse to let him starve just to see how long it would take before he would take the bottle.
This has been great. My first took the bottle at 3 months no problem so for some stupid reason I thought the next would too. No way!! She is now 14 weeks and I am sure she isnt getting enough milk at night as she is waking up all hours. I will try the sippy cup and see how we go. Aaaagh!
I am having the same issue.. my 9 week old will not take any bottle… i tried avent, nuk,playtex nurser, playtex ventair, and nothing.. i am going this evening to try the breast flow bottle this is the last bottle i am trying! If i knew that it was going to be this hard i never would have breast fed her.. i would have pumped directly into a bottle instead..
My breastfed baby never liked the bottle. Part of me wishes that I just pumped, but I know that our nursing times together is plain bliss. Anyway, we tried every nipple and bottle out there. She would take some (NAM) but not enough (as little as 2-3oz on some bad days). Luckily, I only work 3 days, so she’s fed full 4 days a week. Finally, I started trying to feed her using a cup around 6 month – pretty good, but still wasted a lot of milk. Then I tried a straw at 7 month – at first, she chewed on it for a bit then she sucked and never turned back. Now, at 8 months, she take 10 oz/day at daycare using a straw (plus cereal and baby food). Perhaps if I had started her on the straw earlier I would have been a lot less stressed… Anyway, hope this helps.
I was just wondering about introducing the sippy cup to my 4 month old breastfed baby. I had a similar experience to Rose…my baby was a premie born at 33 weeks. She was fed via gavage, bottle and breast during her 2 weeks in hospital. We continued bottle/breast at home, then transitioned to exclusively breast (Yipeee!). My husband and I went out for Valentine’s and left munchkin with Grandma and Grandpa for the evening. She refused the bottle from them all together even though I did a bottle trial earlier in the day (expressed milk) with no problems! I thought she’d be fine given that she used the bottle earlier in life…guess I was wrong! I wonder if a sippy cup with expressed milk would be a better option, or perhaps a straw as other Mums have suggested…? It would just be nice to have an occasional evening out with hubby and not worry that bubs is home starving
i’m in the same boat. I’m trying to get my 6 month old to take milk in any way shape or form. We’ve gone through 5 different bottles/sippy cups. We’ve bought eye droppers and syringes. Even a mini-bottle used to give babies medicine. And she hates them all. I’m going to try the nuk but wanted to ask what you ladies mean by “straw”. You dont’ mean a straw like I’d get in a restaurant right? You mean like a kids sippy cup with a straw. Can you give me brand names/types? Thanks!
We have a 4.5 month old that were trying to get to take a bottle of breast milk so that mommy and daddy can have some alone time when gramma babysits. Its also a scream fest and were trying different bottles and flows. I notice that if I let him play with the bottle or nipple for a bit he sort of gets used to it. I just finished getting him to take a bottle after 1.5 hours of trying. What finally worked was to start him on the breast and then switch it up, seemed to work. Tomorrow Ill try that again and if it works again, Ill slowly try to transition him to just bottle alone. Im really hoping this works because Daddy and I could really use some alone time, without having to be called back to feed baby.
wow! I thouhgt I was one of very few unfortunate mothers to be going through this issue! my son is almost 7 months old and he freaks at even the sight of a bottle…we have spent a ton of money on different formulas, bottles, nipples, sippy cups…everything and he refuses. when he was about 3 months he had taken a bottle and now nothing! it is very frustrating…i have to leave toen in 3 weeks for a day and can not take him and i am scared…he will not take the bottle and thats alot of stress on baby AND daddy when i am gone. thanks for the idea about a straw..i will go out and pick something up right now, and as tanya had mentioned. what kind of straw?? please help haha! my next baby is getting bottle fed at least once a day fom day one!
I feel like I am totally reading my situation from you other moms! So, I have been pretty much exclusively breastfeeding for 8 1/2 months now, however we introduced the bottle around 2 months and he has been getting a bottle every evening (1/2 b.m., 1/2 formula) so daddy could feed him (although he’d take it from me too). I decided to throw in the towel on breastfeeding because I am sick and tired of multiple mastitis and plugged duct attacks. I thought my baby would be fine on the bottle because he had taken it well before, but now it seems as though he is just TICKED! The sight of a bottle makes him mad since I have begun to wean him. I am only nursing before bed and first thing in the am, but he’s fighting the bottle all day. I tried a new sippy cup (the nuk) because he does well with sippy cups, and that worked a little. Got him to take about 5 oz all day with that. Made a big production of the sippy cup and even made up a song about it! AHHHH. I hope I am more stubborn than him and I win in the end. We are having a two night getaway next week and I’m hoping to leave my in-laws with a pleasant baby. We’ll see!
Wow, I’m relieved to know that my son isn’t the only stubborn baby! He’s 4 months old and won’t take a bottle either. My story is so similar to you ladies. I’ve spent so much money on bottles & nipples, I’m trying the sippy cup but he just spills it, doesn’t suck on it. At this point I am willing to try anything.
I’m curious about the “straws”. Did anyone have an answer for that?
Ladies, ladies, ladies, it feels so good to know that I am not alone. Neither of my little women took the bottle. My 2 1/2 month old absolutely refuses to take the bottle. I have returned to work, and I have to leave several times to go and feed her. I have tried everything possible. I will continue to try with the sippy cup and the straw. Thanks so much, and hang in there.