Please HELP! What is the best bottle for babies who refuse the bottle?

[Anonymous]

I dont mean to criticize, I know this is horrendously stressful for you (we went through it too), but it sounds like you are placing too much emphasis on the bottle. They are all very similar - some will be better than others but there is no magic bottle. At some point you need to just pick one to stick with for a few consecutive feedings, and then focus on your technique - different sitting positions, bottle angles, feeding him less or before he's really hungry, etc. Constantly switching bottles isn't going to help (imagine if you were learning to eat with utensils and every meal you got a different set?). Another thing to try is to start him on the breast, and when he comes up for air/a burp, switch to the bottle. Obviously it's not a long term solution but it can get him used to it. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- freaking out...just tried adiri and it doesn't work . We tried to feed him from the bottle for 3 screaming hours this weekend and he won't take it. He screams like we are torturing him.

Sorry, OP. Our DD did this too, so I know how stressful it is. Do whatever you can to calm him down before/during the feeding attempts - sing to him, have soothing sounds (like water running/white noise/whatever his favorite calming technique is). The more worked up he is, the less likely he will be to take the bottle. Also, if you haven't done so already, have your husband do the feeding while you get out of the house. (We also had my mom try - for some reason DD was more relaxed and took it from her more readily). Eventually he WILL learn to take the bottle. In the meantime, do what you have to to get through the week; not sure if you have tried using a cup or syringe just to keep him from starving during the day, or if you are able to sneak away from work to feed once or twice during the day.

[Anonymous]

Our child loves Madela bottles. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I know that this is stressful, and you've gotten lots of good advice here, but really, there are some babies who never take to the bottle and do just fine.

DD hated bottles and never drank more than 3-4 oz while I was at work (9 hours) and still managed to maintain her 95th percentiles for height and weight.

Baby will not starve. He will make up for what he isn't getting during the day by nursing more when he is with you. When he gets hungry enough, he will eat.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the previous poster. Some babies will not ever take a bottle. I went back to work when my son was 4 months old, and while we had been practicing giving him bottles from 4 weeks on, he started refusing them at around 2.5 months. We tried every bottle, technique, multiple locations, caregivers, etc. Nothing worked. In the end he would at best choke down 2-3 oz. of expressed milk over the course of an entire work day. I was panicked that I was starving my baby.

But, he continued to grow. I guess he would nurse enough during the hours that he was with me to make up for the lost feedings during the day. The stress began to slowly decrease when he began eating solids at around 6 months. He would eat all of his solids during the day, and nurse in the mornings and evenings. He was totally fine.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you everyone for your comments. I just worked out something with my job that will allow me to do a reduced work day and make up some hours from home until this issue is resolved so I'm feeling much better.